Reflection on “Academic Classroom Discussions”
This chapter was enriched with practical advice and tips on the difficult but essential task of fostering classroom discussion. I recently heard from one of the instructors in this program that BC’s Ministry of Education is beginning to refer to teachers as “facilitators of learning”––an apt title I think for the topic of this chapter. There is no surprise that current teacher education is moving away from what Pablo Freire refers to as the “banking concept of education” where we simply store a wealth of information into the minds of our students, hoping with all out hearts that they can retain it. I like how one of the ways the reading challenges this is through the questioning of our the questions we use as teachers. Thinking of my experiences, I realize I need to definitely give people more time to think about my questions before quickly jumping in to rephrase it or add another layer onto it. I also found the various “activities to improve discussion” section highly informative. My personal favorite is that “simulation” activity––I think that is a wonderful way, if done correctly, for students to tangibly and critically step into the content, and to begin to engage with the ideas on a more close level. Overall I found this chapter exploding with relevance and usefulness for us teachers, it is definitely worth revisiting when I start planing my lessons for my practicum.