Discussion is one of the greatest tools that can be used in
the classroom if it is used correctly. After reading chapters one and two from,
“Discussion as a Way of Teaching,” I have learned a great deal about what
discussion can do for students if teachers give specific guidelines and
direction.
When I was in middle and high school, I hated the days where
we would have a huge class discussion for a whole class period. Even though I
had been keeping up on the reading and homework, I felt inadequate. There were
those few in my class who knew everything and when people like me wanted to
speak, I felt like they would just rip me apart and I would not be able to
defend myself. Those people were of course not practicing the disposition of
hospitality! In the reading many things were said that were once my beliefs,
such as, a fear of looking stupid in front of peers for not knowing enough
about the subject, or spending so much time rehearsing what to say in your head
that by the time you want to say it, the discussion has moved on. If my teachers had gone over the dispositions
of discussion perhaps I would look at discussion as a positive experience.
As a future teacher of English I found that my mind set for implementing
classroom discussion has been off. When I prepare to have a discussion as a
class activity, I usually write down points I want the students to hit in order
to guide them toward a specific direction. Now I know that discussion is not
supposed to reach one conclusion. It is a chance for us to explore all sides of
a subject and change the opinions of others or allow students and teacher to
have a more open mind view. As chapter
one said, “It wasn’t my duty always to make connections for students.” It was
awesome to read and realize that just because I am now a teacher and not a
student, it is not my job to know everything, but to learn along with my class.
