This document provides 10 motivational strategies and 10 guidelines for effective classroom discussion using the Classroom Discussion Model (CDM). Some key strategies include setting clear expectations for student participation, using informal talk to build rapport before discussions, arranging desks to promote interaction, using eye contact purposefully, and asking good open-ended questions. Guidelines emphasize the importance of listening, asking for clarification, challenging ideas respectfully, staying on topic, and coming to agreements through discussion. The overall goal is to create an engaging environment where all students actively participate in shared learning.

1. Module 6 lesson 2
6. Give at least ten motivational strategies in using the Classroom Discussion Model (CDM)
Because learning is both about sharing different views and actively listening to those
with different views, students in this class are expected to do both. Besides learning is
maximized when many different viewpoints are expressed in the classroom. It is better
for teacher to keep the discussion and comments on the topic, not on the individual.
Here are some strategies for fostering classroom discussion model suggested by Karl
Krahnke, 2010
1. Set clear expectations for student participation in discussion sessions.
Teacher or facilitator might specify a class rule: "You are not allowed to say ‘I
don’t know’ in this class when asked a question. You are not required to know,
but rather say you are expected to think. So if I ask you a question and you don’t
know the answer, you are responsible to think of an answer, to guess, to
speculate, and to wonder aloud."
Facilitator can also foster effective discussions by helping students move out
of the narrow, reductive agree/disagree formula that constitutes so much of the
public and civic discourse that they are exposed to and have internalized.
You can begin the course by expanding their notions of how to productively
respond to comments in class, by asking them what they do when they talk to
their friends over lunch, for instance, and filling the board with options outside
simply agreeing and disagreeing with what the previous speaker said, such as
adding new ideas, wondering, compromising, telling jokes, questioning,
complaining, telling stories, challenging, and
analyzing.http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_digest/ed422407.html
2. Break the ice with informal talk outside of class.
Enter the classroom five minutes early each day, and while the students file
in, ask them about their other classes, their progress on writing projects, current
events, or other lighthearted topics in an informal manner. For many students,
composition is their only class with fewer than thirty students. The composition
classroom may be the only course in which they are asked to speak; conditioned
by other large lecture classes, they may feel intimidated or "out-of-place" when
called on. Informal "small talk" may help break the ice before a discussion, and a

2. relaxed and comfortable student will invariably feel more inclined to add her or
his opinions to the conversation.
3. Control and use classroom space strategically
Observes that situating students equidistant from each other breaks down
their protective space, gives the teacher access to them, and sets the stage for
communication. In other words, having the students put their desks in a circle or
horseshoe shape prevents them from hiding in corners or behind other students’
bodies. The circle improves communication by allowing them to see each other’s
faces and hear each other’s responses without straining. And having them move
their desks from rows and columns into a circle explicitly and concretely signals
that a particular kind of class participation will soon be expected of them.
The circle or horseshoe shape also allows the teacher easier physical access to
students than does the narrow passages of the row/column grid. This is
important, because moving toward a speaker, lessening the physical distance
between yourself and the student, establishes and narrows a communication
channel. Think, for example, about how talk show hosts move out into the
audience. Moving toward the speaker is a physical and unmistakable indication
that you are interested in what he or she is saying and that others should be
listening too.
Conversely, we can say, moving away from a speaker, increasing the distance
between yourself and a student, widens a communication channel. As we back
up, in other words, the audience grows as more people move into the speaker’s
gaze.
4. Use eye contact purposefully and strategically.
It is also suggests that establishing eye contact opens a communication
channel and selects the student for a turn to speak.
Breaking eye contact during a student’s turn and scanning the class, he notes,
can distribute the student’s communication throughout the class. That is, when
the teacher breaks eye contact with the speaking student, he or she will follow
the teacher’s gaze and seek out someone else to talk to. The teacher’s scanning
eye also signals other students that they should be paying attention to the
speaker.

3. Finally regular scanning can keep students engaged and can provide
important feedback to the teacher. This is, in short, a surveillance function. If we
are making eye contact with all the students in class, they are more likely to stay
involved—and if they are not involved, we will know it immediately.
5. Avoid open questions; call on individual students.
Facilitator is urges to direct questions to specific students and distribute turns
around the room. This will increase the level of attentiveness on the part of the
students, and increase the number of students who participate. In other words,
consistently asking questions that are open to anyone in the class to answer
allows the hyper-verbal students to dominate and allows others to hide.
6. Ask good questions.
The kinds of questions we ask can make all the difference between an
engaging and fruitful discussion and the verbal equivalent of pulling teeth. It is a
good idea to write down a skeleton script of questions you want to ask during a
class discussion, being open, of course, to follow a productive thread should it
move away from your plan.
There are forms of questions to avoid. Listen to yourself in class, and if you
find yourself working with these kinds of questions, consciously work to
transform them into more productive forms.
1. The "Guess What I’m Thinking" Question—in which the teacher asks a question
to which he or she already has a specific answer in mind. This makes "class
discussion" into an attempt at mind reading for students. Questions like "What
should…?" ask the students to guess at the answer hiding in your skull, whereas
"What could…?" actually asks for their input.
2. The Yes/No Question and the Leading Question—in which the teacher’s
question can be answered with a simple yes or no, which stops a discussion dead.
Questions like "Do… is effective?" or "Wouldn’t you agree …?" ask students to
engage in nothing more than simple affirmation or negation, simple agreement
or disagreement. Transform the question into something that asks for an analysis
or interpretation.
3. The Rhetorical Question—in which a declarative statement masquerades as a
question to soften its blow and make it more likely to be accepted. Rhetorical
questions allow us to foist our interpretations and ideas on our students while

4. deluding ourselves that we are actually asking for their opinions. Questions like
"Don’t we have an ethical and moral responsibility to inform parents that a
convicted pedophile is moving into their neighborhood?" aren’t really questions,
of course. Transform such sneaky assertions into actual questions: "What
arguments, pro and con, can we generate about informing parents that a
convicted pedophile is moving into their neighborhood?"
4. The Information Retrieval Question—in which students are asked to simply
look in the text at hand, find specific, concrete information, and bring it back
to the teacher.
7. Keep the flow going with questioning, responses, wait times, paraphrasing,
summarizing, and so on.
8. Summarize the discussion.
9. Students self-evaluate the discussion and thinking processes.
10. And lastly it is important for class participants to treat each other with
respect.

5. 7. List down at least ten guidelines when implementing effective classroom
discussion
Lynn Weber Cannon (1990) argues for informing students explicitly about the goal
of shared learning in the classroom. As one of her ground rules for class discussion, she
asks that all students “acknowledge that one mechanism of institutionalized racism,
classism, sexism, heterosexism, and the like is that we are all systematically misinformed
about our own group and about members of other groups.
Here she recommended these Guidelines for Classroom Discussion
1. Everyone in class has both a right and an obligation to participate in discussions,
and, if called upon, is expected to respond.
2. Always listen carefully, with an open mind, to the contributions of others.
3. Ask for clarification when you don’t understand a point someone has made.
4. If you challenge others’ ideas, do so with factual evidence and appropriate logic.
5. If others challenge your ideas, be willing to change your mind if they demonstrate
errors in your logic or use of the facts.
6. Don’t introduce irrelevant issues into the discussion.
7. If others have made a point with which you agree, don’t bother repeating it (unless
you have something important to add).
8. Be efficient in your discourse; make your points and then yield to others.
9. Above all, avoid ridicule and try to respect the beliefs of others, even if they differ
from yours.
On the other hand, “the purpose of a good discussion is to work with others to come up
with the best set of ideas or ways to deal with a situation”. Jennifer Barton, Paul Heilker,
and David Rutkowski (English Department Virginia Tech) underscored. They then imply
that in leading classroom discussion we have to established good guidelines. Here below
are their suggestions.
1. Think before you speak.
2. Listen carefully to what others have to say.
3. Do not interrupt when some one else is speaking.
4. Make use of what others have to say when it is your turn to speak.
5. Only say what you truly believe.
6. Do not remain silent. Make sure to contribute to the discussion.
7. Let other people speak. Do not hog the discussion. Once you are done speaking, let
at least two other people talk before you speak again.
8. Support good ideas that other people have, even if they are different from your own.
9. Search for the best solution even if it is different from the way that you thought at
first.