"Discussion as a Way of Teaching" comes across as
a very useful and informative piece. It gets right to the point, offering clear
and specific advice. Here’s my take on a
few of the ideas it puts forward.
Hatful of Quotes definitely seemed like an excellent way of
opening up discussion. By forcing students to listen to the same quotes over
and over again, the students can both hear others' perspectives on the matter
while simultaneously incorporating those views into their own analysis.
However, I disagree slightly with the piece’s perspective on
the limited number of quotes. Such an approach can backfire if applied without
forethought. If students are not familiar enough with the subject matter, they
might simply agree with what was said previously or restate what was already
said without adding anything of what they thought about that matter.
Quotes to Affirm or Challenge was another one that caught my
attention. We’ve used this one (with some slight variations) in a few of the
classes I’ve taken at Eastern and I love it whenever we do. For instance,
students would spend a few minutes after reading a piece in order to find a
quote we wanted to use to encapsulate the reading as a whole. Then, after
everyone had shared their quote, we went around the classroom talking about
whether or not we agreed on the quote and if it still had significance in
modern society. Like, if a quote about Freud came up, a student might talk
about how we disagreed with him but still recognize that Freud’s theories are
still important in his field today.
The last one I’d like to write about will be the Speech
Policy. It’s a small thing, but acknowledging your own nervousness (past or
present) regarding public speaking and taking the pressure off of having to
speak for a teacher’s approval goes an awfully long way. Personally, I would
have benefitted tremendously from hearing this in high school. I know I’m not
the only one who feels that way, either.
No comments:
Post a Comment