Transcript Discussion in Academic Support

Discussion in Academic Support
What is Dialogue/Discussion?
How Dialogue Helps Learning
Preparing for Dialogue
Keeping Dialogue Going
Final Thoughts – the 4 R’s
Discussion in Academic Support
What Is Dialogue?
“ A stream of meaning flowing among and
through us and between us,” making
possible the emergence of some new
understanding.
D. Bohm
Dialogue is…
A way of thinking together
A shared inquiry
Stopping, stepping back and seeing things
with new eyes
A way of thinking and reflecting together
in relationships that may lead to a totally
new basis from which to think and act.
Dialogue is not…..
Argumentative
Restrictive
Competitive
Judgmental
Appropriate when answer is definitive
Making assumptions
How Dialogue Helps Learning
 Invites a diversity of
perspectives
 Encourages
questioning of
assumptions
 Promotes close
listening
 Improves
communication skills
How Dialogue Helps Learning
 Shows respect for
others’ voices and
experiences
 Develops habits of
collaborative learning
Role of the Facilitator
 DO NOT TEACH
 Need to be more selfeffacing!
 Be a positive role
model
 “Experts” need to
realize/recognize they
don’t know it all
 It’s all about Balance
Preparing for Dialogue
 Frame comments as
inquiry
 Include periods of
silence
 Introduce alternative
views
 Allow for assumption
hunting
Preparing for Dialogue (cont.)
 What was the best
dialogue you have ever
been in?
 What was the worst?
 What made the good ones
work well?
 What can we do
concretely to create better
dialogues in the future?
 Close with questions
Ground Rules
I will listen to what
others say
I will not interrupt the
person speaking
I will participate
I will give others my
respect
Five Keys to Keeping
Discussion Going
Listening
Looking
Lingering
Leading
Letting Go
Listening
 For what students say
 For how they are
building on and
adding to what others
have said
 For the shared
understanding and
meaning being
created
Looking
 For body language,
eye contact, and facial
movements
 For how students
direct their comments
to their peers or
facilitator
 For evidence of
engagement, distance,
surprise, discomfort
Lingering
 By purposefully halting
the discussion to aid
reflection or to help
people gather their
thoughts
 By waiting a reasonable
interval between a
question and an
expectation for a response
 By using strategies to
give each person
opportunities to speak
without interruption
Leading
 By modeling a
respectful way of
listening
 By exemplifying a
thoughtful, engaged
and constructive way
of posing questions
 By recognizing and
affirming valuable
contributions to the
conversation
Letting Go
 By avoiding too many
questions for which you
know the answers
 By leaving room for
students to speak and
respond to one another
 By letting students take
the lead in asking
questions or guiding the
direction of the dialogue
Techniques
 Reflective Listening
 Interpretive Listening
 Good Questions
 Helpful Feedback
 Tender Confrontation
Conversational Moves
 Use body language to
show interest
 Take turns speaking
 Respect others space
 Express appreciation
for comments
 Disagree respectfully
 Use listening skills
Listening Skills
 Make eye contact
with speaker/group
members
 Listen for meaning
– Ask for clarification
 Check body posture
 Be in the moment
 Use silence for
reflection
The Four R’s
Reflect
Relationships
Research
Responsiveness
Respect
 If you:
 The root meaning of
listen with respect
respect is to regard
closely, to look again, • understanding
to see and hear
discerningly.
•
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•
•
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•
trust
learning
a new perspective
a new truth
growing
resolving
adapting
will result.
(from Consensus Associates Manual)
Research
 How are students feeling
about the discussions you
are conducting?
 What are they learning?
 What else can you be
doing to enhance
discussion?
 Who is being heard?
Who is not?
Relationships
If you don’t know the kind of person I am
and I don’t know the kind of person you are
a pattern that others made may prevail in the world
and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.
For there is many a small betrayal in the mind,
a shrug that lets the fragile sequence break
sending with shouts the horrible errors of childhood
storming out to play through the broken dike.
And as elephants parade holding each elephant’s tail,
but if one wanders the circus won’t find the park,
I call it cruel and maybe the root of all cruelty
to know what occurs but not recognize the fact.
And so I appeal to a voice, to something shadowy,
a remote important region in all who talk:
though we could fool each other, we should consider –
lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark.
For it is important that awake people be awake,
or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep;
the signals we give - yes or no, or maybeshould be clear: the darkness around us is deep.
-William Stafford
Responsiveness
 Perhaps there is nothing more important for a
facilitator of discussion, for an instructor in
general – to acknowledge learners, to take their
ideas seriously, and to consider carefully their
concerns. How we respond to our students, how
we show them we care about them, and how we
go out of our way to support their learning are all
critical aspects of good discussion leading and
teaching.
10 Top Reasons We Keep
Coming Back to Dialogue
 Dialogue is joyous
 Everyone wins
 Everyone teaches
 Dialogue strengthens
relationships
 Dialogue allows us a
chance to Be
 It unleashes the power
of creative elaboration
 It honors every
person’s uniqueness
 It gives voice to the
silent
 It builds trust
 It can transform our
lives and maybe the
world