Discussion as a Way of Teaching - a Response

What strikes me (although at this point in my educational career, it really shouldn't) about the reading is that we have to pay equal mind to the form, function, and features of discussions as much as to what is discussed. As with any teaching method, the form and function need be tended before the content within can be adequately transferred. Students who aren't engaged or who don't feel included will be negatively impacted by the exercise at hand. It's true for day-to-day classroom instruction, and it's true for class discussions. I like that the author presents a wide variety of possible discussion formats, allowing us, the audience and prospective teachers, to pick and choose what will work depending upon our class compositions, relevant course material, and the needs of the students.

As a prospective English teacher, myself, discussion is imperative to pushing students to think about what they read critically. It allows me as a teacher to model what critical thinking looks and sounds like, and encourages participation by putting the students all on an even playing field. The whole reason I had opted to teach Secondary students was for the opportunity to explore deeper concepts, read between the lines, and pursue more difficult or mature subject matter. You can't expect a third-grader to sit and have a discussion with you about the importance of foreshadowing in To Kill a Mockingbird. However, getting into highschool, students have the developed mental chops to take a bite out of more abstract concepts and link otherwise nakedly unrelated ideas. While language is the lynchpin of communication, it, by association, becomes a lynchpin for understanding humanity, and opening the doors to explorative thought. How can a student hope to put their complicated thoughts and complex feelings into words if the importance of language isn't stressed? With this notion in mind, it becomes apparent that practice makes perfect, and it follows that open, explorative (yet directed) discussion chips away at the granite of linguistic ignorance and therefore the slate of real, honest thought. Poetic, I know.