Discussion as a Way of Thinking

                I have been a large supporter of class discussions since I first enrolled at Eastern Washington University and started my journey towards teaching Secondary Education. Because of my experiences at EWU I have come to view class discussions as a way for everyone to effectively voice their opinions on the issues and topics a class is learning about that can come up both in the classroom and in our everyday lives outside of it. This can allow a class to learn just as, if not more, effectively from each other than they can from an instructor alone.

                However, my experiences within my practicum as well as my own experiences from my years in high school have also shown me lots of ways that a discussion can go wrong, from students who monopolize the conversation and get everyone off track to students that do have brilliant thoughts regarding the topic but are too afraid to speak up. Fortunately, after reading through Stephen Brooke’s “Discussion as a Way of Thinking” I have discovered methods to address many of the problems that I have seen and personally dealt with.

                One of the strategies from Brookfield’s work that I think would be helpful in solving both the problem of students monopolizing the conversation and the problem of silent students that are too afraid to speak up is his “Circle of Voices” strategy. I think this would work well because it allows every student a chance to speak in turns by going in a circle from one student to another commenting on each other’s ideas. (Brookfield 6) This allows all the students’ thoughts and voices to be heard and prevents monopolization. A silent student’s voice would also more likely be heard by using this method especially if he or she has helpful partners because they are given a clear chance to speak their minds without interruption.

Another strategy that I feel would help silent students is Brookfield’s concept of a “speech policy” which basically states that students are not obligated or forced to speak in a discussion if they do not wish to do so. (Brookfield 12) I feel like a few minutes of silence as well as a clear statement that students do not have to speak if they do not wish too would help these students become more comfortable in a discussion environment and thus encourage them to speak and contribute at their own pace.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post I am a huge advocate for discussions in classrooms but I can also see their flaws. Hopefully by using the strategies that Brookfield has outlined in his work I can make class discussions a more productive and enjoyable experience for my students.