Unit 3: The Elements of a Discussion
Welcome to Unit 3!
Unit objectives:
- Given research on or readings about collaborative inquiry discussions, the learner will be able to describe the elements involved in inquiry discussions and reflect on why each is an important piece in the process.
- The learner will be able to use the information and tools to prepare for, participate in, and reflect on an inquiry discussion, taking on various roles.
Guiding questions for this unit:
- What are the elements of an inquiry discussion, and why is each one important?
- What roles do the teacher and students play?
1. Read: What are the elements of an inquiry discussion?
An inquiry discussion has four main parts:
- Setting discussion norms/guidelines
- Pre-discussion activity
- The discussion
- Post-discussion activity
Each of these will be discussed in its own section.
Part 1: Setting discussion norms/guidelines
| Purpose & Explanation | Teacher & Student Roles | |
| Setting discussion
norms/guidelines |
This is an important step, since we are building a community of learners and a safe, collaborative environment.
This step occurs before the first discussion. It is a good reminder for students to have these visible somewhere. The community may choose to modify or amend these guidelines as needed. |
Students lead this, with teacher guidance. Using a Turn and Talk strategy or Think Pair Share can get all students involved before discussing it as a class and finalizing.
Teachers may lead students to desired outcomes, but students generally seem to know what respectful dialogue looks like (especially the older ones). Younger students may need more support.
|
Example: At the beginning of the year, my 6th grade Social Studies and ELA students collaborated to establish these guidelines for class discussions. I made a poster which is on the classroom wall for the year.
Part 2: Pre-Discussion Activity
| Purpose & Explanation | Teacher & Student Roles | |
| Pre-discussion activity | This includes reading the text(s) and preparing to discuss the question.
Giving students time to prepare their points before the discussion helps them think through their ideas and positions and gather evidence to support them. This leads to more effective argumentation. |
The teacher often selects the text (or texts) and prepares and presents the discussion question. Students may also suggest questions.
The texts can be fiction or nonfiction, as long as they lend themselves well to a good question! Teachers may also consider primary source documents (good for both Language Arts and historical discussions). The students read the selected material. The teacher may choose to do a read-aloud or have students read independently or in partnerships. Students think about the discussion question and prepare talking points. A graphic organizer can be very helpful here. Opinion writing or argumentative writing organizers are useful, and can be differentiated by grade level. |
Part 3: The Discussion
| Purpose & Explanation | Teacher & Student Roles | |
| The discussion | Begins with a review of discussion guidelines (norms) and setting or reminder of a goal for the discussion based on the four criteria (perspectives, clarity, acceptable reasons and evidence, logical validity-See chart in Unit 2). For example, will students be working on doing better with providing evidence? Will students be working on inviting others to speak?
Exploration of the discussion question. Students use both textual and anecdotal evidence to discuss ideas. The discussion itself may take several forms. It can be a whole-class discussion, a “fishbowl”, in which some students are discussing while others are observing (these students will have their own job to do), or smaller group discussions. Be cautious about the last, though, because it may limit the perspectives available during the discussion. The time this takes can vary, based on factors such as:
|
Typically someone is nominated to begin the discussion.
Students then control the flow of the discussion by nominating one another and/or inviting each other to speak. Students on the outside of the fishbowl (if that is how the discussion is arranged) track the discussion and take notes. The teacher sets the stage for the discussion by beginning with the review of guidelines and goals. The teacher tracks and facilitates the discussion. Taking notes is important. An easy way to organize this is with a T-chart (or triple T-chart if there are more than two positions) with the positions as the headings. Then, you would note reasons, evidence, and connections under each heading. A sample is linked here and underneath this table. (It is a simple chart to make on paper.) The teacher and all students together wrap up and reflect at the end of the discussion. (For example, did we come to an answer? If not, what reasons did we come up with on each side? Are we satisfied with those reasons? How did we do in terms of our goal for today? For this last question, a thumb gauge is a good starting point.) |
Links to resources:
Criteria and Questions for Facilitation
Sample Discussion Tracking Tool (Includes a blank one and one for "Ovatniah" discussion in the "Do" section later)
Sample Observation Tool: This link leads to a tool for all four criteria. The image below shows the first.
Part 4: Post-Discussion Activity
| Purpose & Explanation | Teacher & Student Roles | |
| Post-discussion activity | A good post-discussion activity focuses on argument, rather than general reflections.
This is an activity that allows students to transfer the ideas, skills, and attitudes learned from the collaboration to their individual development argument skills in the domains of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. This can also help them in applying this learning to new situations. (Wilkinson et al., 2017 p. 62) |
Teacher designs/suggests. Students may all work on the same task, or the teacher may provide a choice.
Students complete independently |
Ideas for Post-discussion Activities: These are not all the options, just some suggestions!
Students might:
- Write an essay or an article explaining their position
- Write to compare their position before and after the discussion, explaining what changed and why and/or what strengthened their position
- Write a letter to the author, protagonist, publisher, etc. explaining their position
- Make a Flipgrid video discussing any of the above
- If the topic is something that students can take action on, students can write a letter to a congressperson, local representative, or the like.
- Discuss with a peer whether or not they changed position and explain why
- Listen to a podcast or watch a video on the same topic as the text and identify reasons and evidence to support each position
2. Do: Try it yourself! (Please wait to do this until you have completed both Unit 2 and Unit 3).
It is now time to try this out! It would be ideal to do this with a group of other learners. However, there are still parts you can do if you are working independently.
Steps:
- Read "Ovatniah" with this big question in mind: Should Marie tell her mother where the ivory is buried?
- Prepare your thinking on this question. As a pre-discussion activity, highlight or otherwise annotate parts that support your position as well as possible counterarguments. Also jot notes to yourself, ask questions of the text, reactions, parts you connect with, etc. (This can be done independently.)
- If you have a group to work with, great! Set yourselves a specific focus on one of the four criteria. Then try taking on the roles of facilitator and students. Remember, the facilitator must also track the discussion. Don't forget to do the reflection and goal-setting part at the end! Assess your discussion on the observation tool based on the focus you set. If you are an independent learner, imagine what arguments would be made on both sides.
- Post-discussion activity: Discuss with your group (or with a partner if your group is large) what you found to be the most and least compelling evidence and reasoning for both positions and why.
Reflection: What did you find valuable from this experience? What did you find challenging? What did you do well and what do you think you could improve? (These things sure do take practice!)
Jot down the answers or discuss with your group.
And now on to the final unit--Planning a Discussion!
Links to other units:
Unit 1: The What & the Why of Inquiry Dialogue
Unit 2: Arguments-- What They Are and How To Facilitate
References & Resources
Olathe Public Schools, Beers, K., & Probst, R. (n.d.). Notice & note [PDF Document]. https://www.olatheschools.org/cms/lib/KS01907024/Centricity/Domain/3238/Notice%20and%20Note.pdf
Reznitskaya, A., Wilkinson, I. A. G., & Snow, C. E. (2017). The Most Reasonable Answer: Helping Students Build Better Arguments Together (Annotated ed.). Harvard Education Press.
SAPEREP4C. (n.d.). 27 questions for facilitating philosophical dialogue [PDF Document]. Searchable Library of P4C Resources. https://archive.sapere.org.uk/Default.aspx?tabid=289
Smith, R. (2012, September 3). Ovatniah. Scholastic Scope, 26–31.