DISCUSSION GUIDE
Teaching it
- Give students discussion prompts to reflect on.
- Help the students have a discussion about the prompts.
- Have the students reflect on what they gained from the discussion.
Group size: For each activity, consider whether it would be better to have a whole class or small group discussion – or both!
Preparation: Consider giving the students access to the discussion prompts ahead of time. You can also ask them to prepare for a discussion by writing about the prompts.
“One at a time” discussion: Pause between discussion prompts to give students time to reflect (either in writing or in small groups).
“Fish bowl” discussion: Organize the students into groups. Have one group sit in the middle of the room in a small circle, and have the rest of the students sit in a circle surrounding them. The group in the middle will have a discussion, and the rest of the students will take notes. After a few minutes, the next group will have a chance to discuss in the middle. Periodically, allow the students in the outside circle to ask questions and make comments.
Spiderweb discussion: Ask the students to sit in a circle and have a class discussion. During this discussion, keep track of which students are talking by drawing lines between them (you will need to sketch a quick diagram of the circle before you begin). You should also keep track of individual students’ performances by taking notes next to their names. The result should look like a spiderweb, with lines crossing between many different students – unless some students are contributing to the conversation much more than others. This type of discussion is designed to help students improve their discussion skills over time. For more information, see this website.
Discussion roles: To increase engagement and student accountability, consider assigning specific discussion roles to each student. For example, some students might be in charge of coming up with discussion prompts. Others might be in charge of making sure that everyone gets a chance to speak (i.e. no one dominates the conversation). Still others might be assigned the role of “devil’s advocate.” As you have discussions throughout the school year, have the students switch roles. This practice helps ensure that class discussions are productive, and it also helps students develop a variety of different discussion skills. See this handout for more information about discussion roles.
Post-discussion reflection: Rather than giving them a loose-ended writing prompt to answer after a discussion, consider having your students fill out a reflection handout like this one.
ASSESSING IT
Discussion activities may be used to measure students’ mastery of the knowledge and/or skills they were meant to obtain during a lesson or lesson activity. They make great summative performance tasks.
You can use discussions to assess the following:
- Appropriate amount of participation in conversation (i.e. not too much, not too little)
- Accuracy and relevance of comments
- Ability to ask questions that send the conversation in new, productive directions
- Ability to stay on-topic
- Ability to draw more students into the conversation and seek out multiple perspectives
- Ability to make arguments supported by evidence
- Ability to disagree and debate respectfully
- Ability to draw logical conclusions
- Correct use of learned knowledge and skills during discussion
Content-based criteria for specific discussion activities can be found within the Protecting Our Waters lesson plans.
Discussions: If you choose to use the discussion itself to assess students’ learned knowledge and skills, it might help to develop some sort of short-hand system of taking notes. This will make it easier for you to keep track of students’ individual performances during discussion. You should also consider recording discussions, so that you can look back on them if you need to. If you show these recordings to your students, they can critique their own performances and witness their progress over time.
Written reflections: Rather than grading the discussion itself, you could have your students turn in written reflections instead. This way, you don’t have to try to keep track of individual students’ performances during the discussion. It also ensures that all students have a chance to show you what they have learned, regardless of how active they were during the discussion. At the same time, however, using this method might encourage students to let a few of their classmates carry the whole discussion. If you choose to grade just the written reflections, consider keeping this information to yourself.
Hybrid assessments: Using both the discussion itself and written reflections might be the most effective and efficient way to grade a discussion. For example, if a student demonstrates proficiency in all areas of assessment during the actual discussion, you don’t have to look at her written reflection, but if she doesn’t, you can use her written reflection to fill in the gaps. Similarly, if you base part of every student’s assessment on the discussion itself, this might encourage more students to participate.
This detailed guide outlines strategies for conducting and grading discussions. It contains assessment ideas, as well as a number of teaching strategies and scaffolding techniques.
More resources