"Discussion As A Way Of Teaching" by Stephen Brookfield

“Discussion As A Way Of Teaching” by Stephen Brookfield is full of tips and tricks to achieving a successful discussion with your students. In order to achieve a successful discussion, one must understand what makes a discussion fail, and he explains precisely different reasons for a failed discussion.  

I remember the worst discussions I experienced were in one of my high school English classrooms. Our class had a student teacher, and I don’t think she really knew how to properly navigate a discussion. The students were not prepared for the discussion, and we didn’t really understand what she wanted from us. When no students talked, the teacher just sat there and waited for someone to speak up. Instead of guiding the students to what the discussion should look like, we all sat in awkward silence. This happened many days in a row.

Brookfield’s “Hatful of Quotes” on page 10 was one of my favorite pieces of advice for getting students to want to participate in discussion. In high school, I was the student who never spoke up during a discussion unless the teacher required it. By the time the semester was half over and I finally had something I wanted to say, I had been quiet for so long that it felt incredibly awkward for me to even think about sharing my opinion and speaking in front of the class. Thinking back to high school, I would have felt much more comfortable to participate in a discussion if I had gone through a few exercises like the hatful of quotes. To me, the exercise seems like something that would be very beneficial to do in the beginning of the year and possibly a few times throughout the year.

“Snowballing” on page 13 is another method I will probably use in the future. I remember doing this method once or twice in high school, and it was the only way I felt confident to share my opinion. Being able to share your thoughts to a smaller group at first, and then a larger group is less daunting.

In my placement, I have already tried to have a discussion in the class. Overall, they turned out well! When having a discussion, there are so many things to keep track of. Brookfield mentions that you must have rules and “moves,” and that is so correct, otherwise it just becomes a classroom full of students talking all at once sharing their opinion (what my first discussion led to), or a classroom full of silence leading the students nowhere (what happened to my class in high school). Both are not ideal, and that is why Brookfield’s methods are going to be so helpful for me when I plan out future discussions.