Discussion Methods in an Issues-Centered Curriculum by Passe and Evans
In the readings I found Passe’s and Evans’s article to be the most useful and applicable. As a teacher I have always wanted to implement personal journals into my classroom and even include them as a part of the students’ overall grade because like this article I think that reflection and writing are an essential component to the learning process. Also journals are a great way to summarize or relearn a particular discussion that went on during class.
I really enjoyed this article’s dissection of discussions, especially concerning the management of the discussion. Along with maintaining the rule that only one person talks at a time, which I have learned from experience is imperative, the article also talks about letting the discussion flow rather than set up something overly rigid. Although I understand that a discussion needs to have structure and planning, I also believe that once a structure is taught to the students that they will be able to steer the discussion in a way that is beneficial to all and that satisfies the curiosities of those who wish to dive further into the topic.
The role of “committed impartiality” I also find extremely important to having a successful discussion, as reviewed in Kelly’s article. The article notes that students may misinterpret teachers who are vague about their ideas, which may have an adverse effect on the students’ behavior. Although it is also noted that a teacher’s influence may be overrated I would still rather my behavior be a positive example of a democratic citizen rather than be misconstrued and misunderstood. Furthermore our students need to see that we can trust them with our personal ideologies so that they can really get to know us, and so in turn we can get to know them, and thus engage them in meaningful learning. There is a two way street in the classroom that is grounded in trust, openness, and the fruition of knowledge, and all of these aspects need to be observed by those in the classroom so that both student and teacher can learn together.
Joe—
ReplyDeleteFrom a teacher’s perspective, the idea of journaling is great. But when I was a student in middle/high school, I always hated journaling in class! The teacher would write the question on the black board, and then time after time I was uninspired. If the teacher had implemented the journal prompt in a more innovative manner, say with the idea of learning objects introduced in Cramer’s article, then the product would be more innovative also. Maybe if we as teachers showed an interesting video clip and posed a thoughtful question for our students to reflect on and make connections to previous concepts, our students will be more inspired than I had been.
I also agree with you that committed impartiality is the role that I would like to take in the classroom during discussion. If our students know that we as teachers have an opinion supported by facts about controversial topics in our world, then we are, as you said, modeling a positive example of democratic citizenship that we would like our students to follow, even if their ideas and opinions are different than our own.
Wow, very well stated Joe. I believe *meaningful* classroom discussion is either part of a teacher's classroom culture and philosophy, or it's not. If it is, you can really tell that the teacher has made a commitment to seeing it through fairly and giving students time to learn how to discuss issues just like they need time to learn how to write an essay or do algebraic equations. Both of you make excellent points about journaling. And, most importantly, about democratic citizenship dispositions!
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