I wonder if a fishbowl approach would be helpful in generating class discussions. If your class is divided into learning communities (as they are in Louis' classroom), you could assemble two or three communities to sit in a circle and discuss the main points of the readings and discuss their questions. If your class is not divided into these learning communities, you could assemble five or six students to sit in a small group and discuss the material. During this process, the rest of the class could sit in a larger circle around them and observe (but not participate in) the content and process. After doing this for some period of time (maybe 10 or 15 minutes?), you could then open up the floor for a larger class discussion.
I can see a number of struggles that would arise for me in doing this type of approach: How much do I let the smaller group determine the direction of their discussion? Should I interupt the smaller group if they are getting off-track or if they seem stuck? What if the smaller group doesn't have much to say and stay silent for the whole 15 minutes? Should I jump in and rescue them if this happens? Should I play a more active role when the discussion is open to the whole class? What topics is this kind of approach better suited for? And what topics would this approach not be appropriate for? When I was in school, I really got the most out of seminar-style class discussions, but I'm an ENFJ on the Myers-Briggs and love to do this kind of thing. My more introverted students might be uncomfortable with this approach or might not learn as much with this approach. Comments and thoughts? Rod ______________________________________________ Roderick D. Hetzel, Ph.D. Department of Psychology LeTourneau University Post Office Box 7001 2100 South Mobberly Avenue Longview, Texas 75607-7001 Office: Heath-Hardwick Hall 115 Phone: 903-233-3312 Fax: 903-233-3246 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage: http://www.letu.edu/people/rodhetzel -----Original Message----- From: Louis_Schmier [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, November 09, 2001 8:48 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Subject: RE: discussion questions Joe, what I do is "run silent." I have two communities get together and talk of their issues, questions, articles read, whatever. This goes on for about ten minutes. I then ask the students, "who has an issue to put on the table for us to discuss." And, then I sit down and wait, and wait, and wait and watch them become fidgety. I let silence be my friend. Inevitably, and it never fails, as the students figure out I am not going to jump in and fill the vaccuum, someone starts. As the semester progressing, the silence becomes shorter and shorter. When I first used this technique, it was never racking to this recovered talkoholic. Make it a good day. --Louis-- Louis Schmier www.therandomthoughts.com Department of History www.halcyon.com/arborhts/louis.html Valdosta State University Valdosta, GA 31698 /~\ /\ /\ 229-333-5947 /^\ / \ / /~\ \ /~\__/\ / \__/ \/ / /\ /~\/ \ /\/\-/ /^\_____\____________/__/_______/^\ -_~ / "If you want to climb mountains, \ /^\ _ _ / don't practice on mole hills" - \____ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
