DAY 6: The mechanics of discussion.

Today, we started our study of vocabulary, and looked at the dynamics of conversation about a story, using Terry Tempest Williams' "The Village Watchman."

For homework, you were to read the story and flag evidence in answer to five questions found at the end of the story (see the copy provided to you).

In class, you were randomly assigned a role designed to isolate a specific aspect of class discussion. Each student drew a slip of paper from a bag. Seven slips said “SPEAKER”; seven said “OBSERVER” (four of which had pink dots) and four said “NOTE-TAKER.” Each job had a job description, as noted below. The speakers then discussed the story for fifteen minutes. Then observers discussed the speakers' behavior and ideas for fifteen minutes. Note takers then had a chance to say what helped them be successful and what worked against them.

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SPEAKERS

· Your job is to address the question with other speakers in a substantive, useful, civil way.

· Your goal is to come to a larger understanding about the work as a whole, and to be able to summarize not only that understanding, but the reasoning and interpretation that got you there.

OBSERVERS

If you have a pink dot:

· Your job is to pay close attention to HOW people are speaking, with consideration to the following:

• Are they civil?
• Are they relying on one another for help?
• Are they using the text for evidence?
• Are they staying on topic?
• Are they keeping their goal in mind?
• What specifically are they doing well?
• Who is exercising good leadership and how?
  

· Your goal is to create an effective assessment of how the participants work together, and to generate a list of suggestions about what to continue doing, and how to improve. You will give a grade to the discussion, and three specific reasons to substantiate it.

If you do not have a pink dot:

· Your job is to pay close attention to WHAT people are saying, with consideration to the following:

• Are ideas being fully developed before participants move on?
  
• Are ideas being supported with strong evidence?
  
• Is the logic people are pursuing sound and true?
  
• Is the larger understanding a useful, detailed one?
  
• Does what they are saying help make the rest of the story make sense?
  

· Your goal is to create an effective assessment of the quality of their ideas, and to assess the degree to which the speakers have met their goal. You will give a grade to the discussion, and three specific reasons to substantiate it.

NOTE TAKERS

· Your job is to take notes on the conversation as it progresses.

· Your goal is to generate a list of key points made by each speaker and to note the larger understanding the speakers have reached. You will be explaining what helps you do your job and what is problematic. From this, we will generate a list of suggestions that make good note taking easier to do.

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All three sections offered similar results:

1. To participate effectively, one must be prepared.
   
2. Leaders lead not by speaking most, but by asking questions that get more people involved. Follow up questions to other speakers work well, but an even higher level of leadership is shown when participants look for ways to get quieter students involved in a way that is not uncomfortable to them.
   
3. "What makes you think that?" is an essential question to any substantive discussion and should be uttered often. It is OK to challenge other people's ideas with this question because it allows one to be civil while disagreeing, and also demands a higher quality of scholarship from everyone.
   
4. More is gained from discussion when the text is used. Closely investigating the language of a text makes it easier to talk about, and yields more nuanced understandings.
   
5. We need to work on genuinely responding to other people's ideas, rather than waiting for our turn to speak. In every conversation, discussion seemed to go around the room with not much connection between what speakers were saying. This was especially the case when conversation started. One person would give her answer to the question, then the next person would give him answer to the same question, but the two speakers didn't talk about how their answers related. We need to work on that.
   
6. It is important to pause and summarize what has been said from time to time. This makes it much easier to take useful notes.
   
7. We should have an idea of what we want to understand more fully by the end of class when we begin our discussion, and save a few minutes at the end of class to figure out what we have learned.
   

YOUR HOMEWORK FOR TONIGHT: Read "Miriam" in Junior Great Books and write two interpretive questions based on the story. You should use the handout from class to help you.