The document discusses best practices for facilitating classroom discussions, including establishing expectations, ensuring students complete prerequisite reading assignments, structuring discussions with prompts and assigned roles, and assessing discussions through shared responsibility and rubrics. The goal is to create an environment where all students actively participate in meaningful discussions.

1. Reinventing Discussions
Center for Faculty Development

2. Curiosities?
 What are your concerns,
questions, and ideas about
facilitating discussions?

3. Community
 Expectations
 Trust
 Relevance
 Modeling
 Practice
 Shared responsibilities
 Balanced voices

4. “Maybe if I sit in the back
she won’t call on me…”

5. Ensuring prereading
 Setting expectations
 Garnering enthusiasm
 Establishing relevance
 Assigning readings carefully
 Framing with questions, structure

6. Ensuring prereading
 Setting expectations
 Garnering enthusiasm
 Establishing relevance
 Assigning readings carefully
Framing with questions, structure

7. Using thought-provoking
prompts
Neil Postman once wrote, Neil Postman once wrote,
“Computers are merely ingenious “Computers are merely ingenious
devices to fulfill unimportant devices to fulfill unimportant
functions. The computer revolution functions. The computer revolution
is an explosion of nonsense.” is an explosion of nonsense.”
Do you agree or disagree with Why do you think Postman wrote
Postman? this? What evidence do you
believe he would reference to
support his perspective? What
would you say to change his mind,
or at least present an alternative
perspective? What is your
viewpoint, and why?

8. Ensuring prereading
 Setting expectations
 Garnering enthusiasm
 Establishing relevance
 Assigning readings carefully
Framing with questions, structure

9. Prompting discussion prep
 Responding to prompts in advance
 Reviewing discussion expectations in advance

10. “If I’m lucky, the same people who
always answer the questions
will do so again today…”

11. Structuring discussions
 Basic format
 Role assignment
 Discussion protocols

12. Structuring discussions
Basic format
 Physical space
 Group size
 Length of time
 Modeling
 Extension questions
 Time-outs

13. Structuring discussions
Role assignment
 Time manager
 Summarizer
 Questioner
 Recorder
 Devil’s Advocate

14. Structuring discussions
Discussion protocols
 Provides structure
 Defines roles and level of
participation
 Balances voices and time

15. “How many times do I
need to talk to meet
the participation requirement?”

16. Assessing discussions
 Shared responsibility
 One-minute papers
 Discussion rubric/assessment tool

17. Assessing discussions
Shared responsibility

18. Assessing discussions
One-minute papers

19. Assessing discussions
Discussion
rubric/assessment
tool