Effective discussion require that teachers perform planning, interactive, management, and assessment task. Planning and conducting discussion are described in this section.
A. Planning for Discussion
There are two misconceptions held by many teachers in planning classroom discussion. First, planning for discussion requires less effort than planning for other kinds of teaching. Second, discussion cannot really be planned at all because they rely on spontaneous and unpredictable interaction among students. The truth are planning for a discussion necessitates every bit as much effort, perhaps more, as planning for other types of lessons, and even though spontaneity and flexibility are important in discussions, it is a teacher’s planning beforehand that makes these features possible.
1. Consider Purpose
Although the particular uses of discussion are practically infinite, teachers generally want their discussion to accomplish one of three purposes:
a. to check for student understanding of reading assignments or presentations through recitations
b. to teach thinking skills
c. to share experiences
2. Consider Students
Experienced teachers must consider their students’ prior knowledge and students’ communication and discussion skills. They consider, for instance, how particular students in the class will respond differently to various kinds of questions, they predict how some will want to talk all the time whereas others will be reluctant to say anything. It is also important to devise ways to encourage participation by as many students as possible, and to be prepared with questions and ideas that will spark the interest of a diverse student group.
3. Choose an Approach.
There are several kinds of discussions. The approach which is chosen by teacher is based on the teacher’s purpose and the nature of the students. Three approaches here are:
a. Recitations
One important use of this approach is when teacher ask students to listen to or read about information on a particular topic. Teacher generally ask students to read or listen with a definite purpose in mind. Brief question and answer sessions (recitation discussion) about assigned reading materials or a lecture can provide teachers with a means of checking students understanding as well as motivating students to complete their reading assignments or to listen carefully when the teacher is talking.
b. Inquiry or Problem Based Discussion
Discussions are sometimes used to engage students in higher order thinking and, thereby, to encourage their own intelectual investigation.
When using this approach, teachers encourage students to ask questions, to generate empirical data, and to formulate theories and hypotheses to explain the puzzling situation. In this type of discussion, teachers help students become conscious of their own reasoning processes and teach them to monitor and evaluate their own learning strategies.
c. Sharing-Based Discussion
Often teachers hold discussions for the purpose of helping students develop shared meaning from common experiences or to confront one another with difference of opinions. Sharing – based discussion help students to form and to express thought and opinions independently.
4. Make a Plan
A lesson plan for discussion consists of a set of objective and a content outline. The plan also include the targeted content, well conceived focus statement, the description of a puzzling event, and/or a list of questions. If the discussion is to follow a lecture, it is likely that the teacher already has the content firmly in mind and has explored the important conceptual relationship. When the discussion follows assigned readings, experienced teachers know that they must have extensive notes about specific facts, main idea, points of view, and key relationships highlighted in the reading.
Sometimes teachers find using the conceptual web. It provides a visual image of the characteristics and relationships around a central idea.
For some types of discussions, asking student questions become a key feature. In preparing their questioning strategy, teachers need to consider both cognitive level of questions and their level of difficulty. Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives can be used for classifying the cognitive level of teacher questions in classroom discussion.
Table 3. Six Question Types According to Bloom’s Taxonomy
| Level | Cognitive Processes | Examples of Questions | |||
| 1 | Knowledge | Recalling factual information | What is the formula for the area of a circle?How many sides does a pentagon have? | ||
| 2 | Comprehension |
| Find the area of a circle which has a radius 7 cm!
| ||
| 3 | Application | Applying principles | Solve for x: x2 + 2x – 3 using the technique of completing the square?By the substitution method, find the solution of this equation:x + y =5 2x + 3y = 6 | ||
| 4 | Analysis | Explaining relationship or making inferences | Pencils come in packages that contain 12 each and cost $2.00 each. John has $5.00 and wishes by 24 pencils. How many packages does he need to buy? “Which numbers are needed to solve this problem? (a) 12, $2.00, $5.00, 24, (b) 12, $2.00, $5.00, (c) 12, $2.00, 24, (d) 12, 24.” | ||
| 5 | Synthesis | Making predictions | What alternative methods could you use to find what whole numbers yield 60 when multiplied together?How is the way to find combination r element from n element ? | ||
| 6 | Evaluation | Making judgement or stating opinions | Judging whether it is better to find all prime factors of 60 or to produce an algebraic equation to solve the problem “what are the possible ways you could multiply to whole numbers to get 60”.Reduce this binomial using Pascal’s method and binomial Newton! Then, compare both of them! Which one is more effective?
|
Beginning teachers should keep in mind one important truth, that is, that different questions require different types of thinking and that a good lesson should include both lower and higher level questions.
5. Use Physical Space Appropriately
Another planning task involves making arrangements for appropriate use of physical space. The best seating arrangements for discussion are the U-shape and the circle formations. Both seating patterns allow students to see each other, an important condition for verbal interaction. Both have some advantages and disadvantages that should be considered.
The U-shape seating pattern, gives a bit more authority to the teacher, an important feature when working with groups of student who lack discussion skills or where behavior management is a problem. This shape also allows freedom of movement for teachers to the chalkboard or flip chart, which may be important during the course of a discussion, and they can move into the U to make closer contact with particular students when that is needed. The disadvantages of the U is that it establish some emotional distance between the teacher, as discussion leader, and students. It also puts considerable physical distance between students who are sitting at the head of the U and those sitting at the end.
The circle seating pattern, on the other hand, minimize both emotional and physical distance among participants and maximize opportunities for students to talk freely with one another. The disadvantage of the circle is that it inhibits the teacher from moving freely to the chalkboard or among students.
B. Conducting Discussion
For whole-class discussion to be successful, some rather sophisticated communication and interaction skills are needed on the part of both teachers and students. It also requires norms that support open exchange and mutual respect. The syntax for most discussion consist of five phase : establishing set, focusing the discussion, holding the discussion, bringing it to close, and the briefing As discussion leader, teacher also responsible for keeping the discussion on track by refocusing student digressions, encouraging participation, and helping to keep a record of the discussion.
Table 1. Syntax for holding Discussion
| Phase | Teacher Behavior |
| Phase 1. Clarify aim and establish set | Teacher goes over the aim for the discussion and gets students ready to participate |
| Phase 2. Focus the discussion | Teacher provides a focus for discussion by describing ground rules, asking an initial question, presenting a puzzling situation, or describing a discussion issue. |
| Phase 3. Hold the discussion | Teacher monitor students interactions, ask questions, listens to ideas, response to ideas, enforces the ground rules, keeping record of the discussion, and expresses own ideas. |
| Phase 4. End the discussion | Teacher helps bring the discussion to close by summarizing or expressing the meaning the discussion has had for him or her. |
| Phase 5. Debrief the discussion | Teacher asks students to examine their discussion and thinking processes. |
Hold the discussion.
As a whole-class discussion proceeds, many circumstances can get it off track. In some cases, students will purposely try to get the teacher off the topic, as, for instance, when they want to talk about last Friday’s ball game instead of the causes of World War. Talking about Friday’s game is fine if that is the objective of the lessons, but it is not appropriate if the aims is to encourage student reasoning.
A second example of wandering is when a students expresses an idea or raises a question that has little or nothing to do with the topic. This happens often, particularly with students who have trouble concrete-ting in school. It also likely to happen with younger students who have not been taught good listening and discussion skills.
In both instances, effective discussion leaders acknowledge students’ offtrack remark and then refocus their attention to the topic.
Keeping records.
Verbal exchange during a discussion proceeds more orderly if teachers keep some type of written record of the discussion as it unfolds. Writing student’s main ideas or points of view on the chalkboard or flip chart provides this written record. Or it may consist of constructing conceptual webs that illustrate the various ideas and relationship being discussed.
A dilemma faced by beginning teachers in keeping a discussion record is how much detail to include and whether or ot all ideas should be written down. These decisions obviously, depend on the nature of the students involved and the purpose of the discussion.
If the teacher has asked students specifically for their theories or ideas about a topic, it is important to list all ideas and treat these equally, regardless of their quality. On the other hand, if questions focus on direct recall of right answers, then only right answer should be recorded. How to respond to incorrect responses will be discussed in a moment.
Listening to Students’ ideas.
A favorite discussion technique used by many teachers at the high school and college levels is “playing the devil’s advocate”. Teacher using this technique purposely take the opposite point of view from that being expressed by individual students or groups of students. Event though this approach can create lively exchange between a teacher and few of the more verbal students, it does not work well with younger students or with many older students who lack good verbal and communication skill. Debate and argument arouse emotions, and despite their motivational potential may divert the student’s attention from the topic. They also cause many-less articulate or shy students to shrink from participation. If the teacher’s goal is to help students understand a lesson and extend their thinking, then the teacher should listen carefully to each students’s ideas. In this case, the teacher should remain nonjudgmental and inquiry-oriented, rather than challenging or argumentative.
Using Wait-Time.
Earlier we discussed how many teachers do not give the students sufficient time to think and to respond. There are probably several reasons for this. One is the strong cultural norm in our society against silence. Silence makes many people uncomfortable and, consequently, they jump in to keep the conversation moving. Although many contextual conditions influence wait-time, the general recommendation are for beginning teacher to practice waiting at least three second for a student’s response, to ask the question again or in a slightly different way if there is no response, and never to move on to a second question without some closure o the first. The amount of wait-time should probably be less for direct recall questions and more for questions aimed at higher-level thinking and more complex content. After a student response, teachers should also wait a sufficient time before moving on.
Responding to student Answer.
When student respond correctly to teachers’ questions. Effective teachers acknowledge to the correct answer affirmations such as, “ That’s right”, “ Oke”, or “ Yes”. They do not spend time providing overly gushy praise. Most teacher learn these behaviors quite quickly. However, responding to incorrect or incomplete responses is a more complicated situation. There is the guide :
a. Dignify a student’s incorrect response or performance by giving a question for which the response would have been correct.
For example, “George Washington would have been the right answer if I asked you who was the first president of the United State”.
b. Provide the student with an assist, or prompt.
For example, “ Remember, the president in 1828 was also a hero in the war of 1812.”
c. Hold the student accountable.
For example, “ You didn't know President Jackson to day, but I bet you will tomorrow when I ask you again.”
Responding to student Idea and Opinions.
Although the art of questioning is important for effective discussions, other verbal behaviors by teachers are equally important, especially those for responding to students’ ideas and opinions. These are responses aimed at getting students to extend their thinking and to be more conscious of their thinking processes. Statements and questions such as the following provide illustrations on how to do is.
Expressing Opinions.
Many beginning teachers are uncertain about whether or not they should express their own ideas and opinions during discussion. Although teachers do not want to dominate discussion or make it appear that they are the only ones with good ideas, expressing ideas appropriately can be beneficial. It provides opportunities for teachers to model their own reasoning processes and to show students the way they tackle problems. It also communicates to students that the teacher sees himself or herself as part of a learning community interested in sharing ideas and discovering knowledge.
End the Discussion.
In the end of the discussion some teachers ask students to summarize the discussion by posing a final question such as, “ what is the main thing you got from our discussion today?” or “ What do you thing was the most provocative point made during our discussion?”.
Debrief the discussion.
From time to time discussions should be debriefed. Here, the focus is not the content of the discussion but on the way the discussion proceeded. To conduct a successful debriefing, teachers must teach students the differences between the discussion itself and the debriefing and then pose questions such as :” How do you think our discussion went today? Did we give everyone a chance to participate? Did we listen to one another’s ideas? Were there times when we seemed to get bogged down? Why? What can we all do next time to make our discussion more stimulation or provocative?
No comments:
Post a Comment