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After completing the reading for this week’s module, recognizing and identifying
After completing the reading for this week’s module, recognizing and identifying some of the underlying principles for teaching using discussion were evidence. Realizing that active learning is the teaching method for talks and that discussions help engage students in the material and encourage them to think more deeply about an issue or concept (Svinicki & McKeachie, 2014). Discussions help the teacher assess students’ understanding and performance. Teaching using discussion can help engage the students, which can be challenging when students need to speak up or participate in the discussion. Teachers must design focused discussions to promote relevance and knowledge transfer to challenge and encourage students’ critical thinking. Ways to enhance essential thinking include framing the discussions, stimulating conversation, asking questions to probe and generate deeper understanding, and mixing students into small groups to enhance learning because discussions can be as flexible as needed, depending on the intended purpose (Davidson & Lopez, 2022). The following measures can help to start a discussion:
Creating a shared experience
Watching a short video clip
Reviewing a short reading
Presenting an issue exposed to everyone
Clarifying difficult content
Determining solutions for a problem
Comparing and contrasting
Collecting student opinions about a topic
Clearing up misconceptions
Discussion is a highly used strategy, and instructors find the use of discussion supports students in establishing and communicating those ideas. Discussion with peers exposes students to the attitudes and perspectives of others. It can promote active listening, which provides opportunities for students to discuss the lesson content in pairs, small groups, or as a whole group. Discussions can start a controversy and can lead to disagreement because almost anything can be considered controversial due to students’ backgrounds, experiences, and beliefs that are a combination of their own and influenced by their family and community; therefore, active learning relies heavily on the instructor’s creation of high level, intentional questions according to “The University of Chicago,” Asking Effective Questions – Chicago Center for Teaching and Learning, 2022: Methods that can generate controversy through higher learning may include:
Stimulating critical thinking
Motivating students
Encouraging curiosity
Assessing student knowledge
Promoting a safe and positive learning environment
When stimulating critical thinking for higher-level students, Bloom’s taxonomy can be helpful as it is the thinking framework for organizing thinking. Utilizing questioning from lower-level skills to higher-level skills allow the teacher to ask a variety of questioning to assess students’ knowledge within the level of thinking exposing the students to viewpoints outside of their knowledge to help with changing their perspective and engage them in thinking about topics they otherwise would not have considered and acquiring meaning in what they are learning. Teaching controversial topics helps build structures in students’ brain processes while they learn information and not memorize it.
Utilizing questions can help assess comprehension of knowledge of the discussion, leading to a deeper discussion. Case studies help stimulate students’ engagement and focus on resolving the problem—questions designed to assess pre-reading material or background knowledge comprehension or ignite deeper discussions. Showing a problem stimulates students to consider the many factors needed to resolve the problem and keeps students focused on the same goal. Ensuring that students feel comfortable participating in discussion can be accomplished by getting things started right from the beginning, setting expectations for participation, and utilizing icebreakers in the first few sessions to help students get comfortable with each other and feel safe sharing their level of knowledge and perspectives, provide ground rules, and guidelines to respect various both the teacher and the students and reiterating expectations and guidelines for discussion throughout the semester will help both protect students and divert students from behaving in unacceptable ways.
Students will have varying learning styles, and some will be more comfortable with discussion than others. For example, extroverts prefer to process information through talking, whereas introverts prefer to process information internally. Consider conversing about different learning styles and having students reflect on their preferences by making various learning activities that accommodate the different learners. Before having the class discussion:
Have students take two minutes to write ideas or responses to a prompt.
Have students share their thoughts with a partner and then with another partner.
Open the discussion up to the whole group.
Ensure everyone can think about and speak about the topic in smaller and larger groups. Integrating diversity and using inclusive teaching practices helps ensure students feel safe participating and consider how discussions might influence students. Include statements for diversity and students with disabilities. A statement in the syllabus communicates the dedication to adhering to related policies. It will motivate students to come forth, allowing the teacher to work with them on accommodations that might be required. Once the teacher learns about the students, consider how the material or teaching strategies will affect them. Check in on the classroom atmosphere and incorporate a classroom climate assessment that addresses this. Ask everyone to respond anonymously to the following prompts, and reviewing these answers will give a good assessment of what is happening in the section.
Another underlying principle to bear in mind is keeping student discussions on track. A few things can help to keep students on track so that the discussion leads to anticipated learning experiences includes: displaying the agenda outlining what topics are going to be covered, how long to spend on the topic, sharing the learning outcomes for the session, facilitating discussion effectively by guiding students in the right direction, redirecting the students when the topic goes in the wrong direction. Motivate students to refer to the text by providing pages and paragraph numbers and be prepared for when discussions ignite relevant issues that lead to further discussion leading to positive and worthwhile learning experiences. Techniques exist when there needs to be more time to finish discussions or to explore issues that come up on a deeper level. Have students write a response after class. Teachers can manage the various personalities influencing the discussion, such as quieter or dominant students. In every group, there will be various personalities that affect discussions. Some common personalities that challenge the productivity of a discussion are dominators, students who remain quiet, and students who are forceful in their opinions. The following are some general strategies, according to (Svinicki & McKeachie, 2014):
Keep an inclusive learning environment
Structure discussions to be low-risk learning activities at the beginning of a class to higher risk
Keep topics relevant
Make the learning outcomes clear and explain justifications for learning goals
Track the discussion content and the progress made
Ask questions that do not have one single correct answer
Motivate participants to look beyond reaching a consensus and to dig deeper into an issue
Keep to the facilitator and give the group sufficient time to explore all sides of an issue before concluding
A common barrier to discussions is the fear of looking less than intelligent in front of peers and the instructor. Students may feel that getting involved in a discussion is not a worthwhile learning experience or may have developed a habit of passivity in classrooms due to past experiences in less interactive learning environments.
As I facilitate my teaching demonstration, I hope to present a well-developed discussion to provide higher-order thinking skills utilizing discussions by:
Promoting interaction between students
Offering opportunities for students to apply knowledge
Providing opportunities for students to acquire in-depth reflections and responses
Developing analytical skills and critical thinking skills
References
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