DISCUSSION AS A WAY OF TEACHING- Stephen Brookfield

DISCUSSION AS A WAY OF TEACHING- Stephen Brookfield

Brookfield’s conversational roles can help promote a group discussion to its peak potential. The leader of the discussion (teacher) can either assign roles to students’ or have students create their own roles naturally. There should be at least one theme poser to get the conversation started. The theme poser can be the teacher or a student. A teacher’s role within the conversation is critical. How a teacher talks or acts during a class discussion can shape how the students participate. There should always be ground roles for a class discussion including the teacher giving the students enough time to prepare. All students should respect others’ opinions- including those they do not agree with (as should the teacher). After discussion and the roles are done- it is important to have students reflect on what they have learned. A question a teacher can ask the students is, “What can you teach someone else to know or do now that you couldn’t teach them this time last week?”.

                Having a follow up conversations with students after a discussion can be the most helpful part of the process. Students should be able to write down or speak out loud what they have gotten from the discussion- if not, the discussion has failed. One of my favorite questions from the reading is, “What new perspectives on the issue suggested themselves to you?”. Every question from Brookfield’s text can be transformed to fit a certain age group and subject. Students will be able to understand the discussion and the texts if they are most prepared and can ask questions openly to the teacher and peers. Putting a class discussion as a part of a students’ grade can have major wins and losses. It can be intimidating to get graded on how often you talk- especially the student is shy. But, grades are a good motivator for students to get involved. Making sure every student has access to conversation and can speak their mind is a huge part in promoting student involvement. Assigning conversation roles can be the best way to make ensure student involvement in group discussions.