Even if you use small groups a good deal of the time, much of your teaching will inevitably be done in the context of the whole class engaging in activities together. This tends to be particularly true when you come to that part of the class in which you want everyone to talk about readings or films that they were assigned. What follows are four proven techniques for shaping such discussions, for moving them quickly toward specificity whereby concrete details of the text/ film become the jumping-off point for critical thinking.
CONCRETE IMAGERY
Go around the room and ask each student to mention one concrete image or scene that stands out in his or her recollection of the text/ film. No analysis is necessary, just recollections and brief descriptions. As each student reports, the collective images are to be listed on the board, thus providing a visual record of selected content from the text/ film as a backdrop for discussion. Usually the recall of concrete scenes prompts further recollections and a flood of associated images from the students.
At this point, you might invite the class to study the items on the board and then to pose the following questions.
- What themes seem to emerge from these items?
- What connects these images?
- Is there a pattern to our recollections?
This is an inductive approach to the text/ film. Facts precede analysis, and everyone gets to say something early in class. Further, every contribution gets written down, which aids in the group’s collective memory and work.
STUDENT-GENERATED QUESTIONS
Assign each student the task of coming up with one or two questions about the reading, or other outside work, in preparation for the next class. You can vary the assignment by specifying the kind of questions they should develop:
- Questions that are speculative and open-ended
- Questions asking that connections between certain things be made
- Questions requiring a value judgment
A slightly different version of this strategy is to ask students right at the beginning of class to write down (perhaps anonymously) one or two questions about the text/ film to be discussed. Specify that these questions should pertain to issues or themes which the student would like the group to explore.
Normally, you would put the questions (whether homework or done in class) in some sort of sensible order. However, on certain occasions, you may want to vary the pattern.
- Break up the class into pairs or triads and have each group choose one question to ask the rest of the class.
- Hand all of them to one student who, at random, makes the selection.
- Have each student lead the discussion about one of his or her own questions, staying with it until he or she feels that there has been a satisfactory exploration of the issues.
ILLUSTRATIVE QUOTATIONS
Ask each student to prepare for class by writing down one or two particularly significant quotations from an assigned text/ film. When using films, this obviously requires good note taking on the part of the students and makes them focus on dialogue in a way that most of them never would otherwise. You can vary the instructions in a number of ways.
- Find one quotation you especially liked and one you especially disliked.
- Select a quotation you found difficult to understand.
- Find a quotation which underscores a key motif in the text/ film.
Lively and illuminating discussion is guaranteed because not all students will use the same quotations, nor will they all interpret passages in the same way.
CONSTRUCTING TRUTH STATEMENTS
This exercise develops critical skills and creates a good deal of friendly rivalry among small groups. Each group decides upon three statements that everyone in the group feels comfortable presenting as the truth about some particular issue. For example:
- It is true that, when it comes to same sex marriage….
- We have agreed that the truth about universal healthcare is….
- It is true about international politics since “9/11” that….
- Such a strategy is useful in introducing a new topic where students think they know a great deal, but have never challenged their own assumptions.
As groups present their truth statements, and other students raise questions or attempt to refute the statements, the complexity and ambiguity of knowledge becomes apparent.