Materials from discussion groups workshop

Wondering what you missed at the workshop on leading effective discussion groups? You can find the powerpoint slides here. Also, Liz Martin, my always thoughtful and hard-working partner in TA mentor crime, typed up notes on the best take-away tips that came out of the discussions in both workshops. They're copied and pasted below.

Remember that Monday's workshop on grading will be in St. Pat's room 472 at 11:30. That's conveniently nearby and immediately after J5000, but not right next door so the MJ1s don't have to guiltily avoid looking me in the eye as they shuffle past like last time. I try to be thoughtful.

Facilitating Effective Discussions: Sample Scenarios

For the following situations, how could they be handled effectively? How could you prepare yourself to avoid these situations?

1. Only four or five students show up to your discussion group.
• Make the session as fun and useful as possible. Don’t give up because many students are missing.
• Address specific concerns of these students
• Emphasize that the session is still important.
• Have activities or questions prepared in case attendance is low.
• Emphasize importance of regular attendance to students. Let them know you record attendance.
• Keep in touch with students through WebCT or email to let them know what will be happening in upcoming sessions.
• Find out from students how to make discussion groups more useful to them so they want to attend.
• Relate the discussions back to lecture material and readings.
• Emphasize points that might show up on exams.
• Incorporate different media to make your sessions more interesting.

2. One student keeps monopolizing the discussion and bringing it off track.
• Identify the relevant points to what the student says. Paraphrase what the student said and re-focus the discussion
• Make eye contact with other students.
• Call on other students if they are attempting to contribute but are being cut-off.
• Regain control of the discussion by emphasizing that you are the moderator.
• Emphasize that others should get a turn to speak
• Politely interrupt the student if they are becoming obnoxious
• Use smaller-group activities to allow quieter students to have their ideas heard

3. No one in the class has done the readings.
• Have an alternate activity prepared in case students haven’t done readings.
• Divide the reading into sections. Have students break into pairs or small groups, read the section and summarize
• Come prepared with 5-10 key points from the readings. Go through the text in small groups and have groups discuss these points
• Ask at the beginning who has completed which readings. If lots of people did one reading, you can focus the discussion on that reading. If some did another, you can break into smaller groups to discuss individual readings.
• Give pop quizzes at the beginning of sessions to encourage students to read regularly
• Provide students with focus questions a week in advance as a preview to next week

4. You have to lead a discussion after a paper was just handed back that many students did poorly on.
• Address some of the main issues from the essay
• Provide students with resources to help with their next essay
• Have a fun, light activity prepared to get their mind off the essay

5. A student makes a comment that offends another student.
• Handle the situation immediately. Ask the student to explain their comment
o Ask the student if they can restate their point in a less offensive way
o Ask the student to take a moment to think over their statement and give them a chance to reformulate it
• Point out why the comment was offensive
• Focus on the comment, not on the person
• Allow students to take a break if the situation is emotionally charged. Take the opportunity to talk to the individuals privately.
• Establish ground rules with your students in the first class. Outline what kind of behavior is not appropriate.
• Have students create a contract of respect for the classroom.

Interviews and discussion groups: strangely similar.

As I got ready to run some workshops on effective discussion groups, I realized something. A discussion group is just like an interview.

Usually you don't interview 30 people at once, of course. And in a real interview, you're trying to learn something instead of trying to teach something. But other than that, the basic idea is the same: you're trying to get them to say something interesting and intelligent by asking questions.

Here are the basic concepts that apply to both running a discussion group and conducting an interview:

Ask open-ended questions. Don't ask yes or no questions (ex: Do you think the NDP will continue to prop up the government?). Don't ask leading questions (ex: Do you think the NDP is propping up the government because they struck a deal with the Conservatives?). Don't ask long-winded questions (ex: Given Layton's past strategy of using his party's record of consistently voting against the government to demonstrate the NDP's strength, what kind of strategy change does this signal for the NDP and why are they changing tactics now?). Don't ask double-barreled questions (see previous: the person answering will pick whichever part of the question is easier to answer and ignore the other part). Ask simple, direct, open questions that start with words like how and why (ex: Why would the NDP choose to prop up the government?). You'll get the most direct, interesting and honest answers in return, and they'll generate further discussion.

Research your subjects. It drives students crazy when profs and TAs assume they know nothing when they actually know a lot. It's just as bad when they assume students understand difficult foundational theories that are actually going over their heads. And it drives sources crazy when you don't know basic things you could have found out on the internet.

Be focused. I have been in so many classes where I've spent the entire time wondering where the prof or TA is going with this line of questioning or activity and how it's supposed to help me write a better paper or exam. Same thing in an interview. If it's clear what you're trying to find out and why, you'll get better answers.

Think fast. Sometimes you'll have a page full of interesting, open-ended questions prepared, and no one will have done the readings. Likewise, sometimes you'll book an interview and your subject will be a dud. This web resource from Concordia has some good ideas for things to do when you realize your original plan isn't going to work out. Keep a few of them in mind.

Listen. Ask follow up questions based on what's been said instead of sticking to a script. But...

Don't be afraid to cut people off. If you have limited time and it's obvious the discussion is going astray, guide it back to your focus. Because you should always:

Remember that you're in charge. It doesn't matter how important the person you're interviewing is - it's your interview. Don't let them turn it around and start asking you questions, or try to bluster their way through tough questions by making you feel stupid for asking them. In a discussion group, remember that THEY have a stake in impressing YOU - not the other way around.

Also, remember that both of them get a lot easier with practice.