Academic Success in the classroom DAY 3

TOPIC: GROUP DISCUSSIONS

• Whole-Class DiscussionTo be successful during whole-class discussions, students must learn to participate appropriately: listen to one’s comments, take turns speaking, respect each others’ opinions and show respect to the speaker.  

Discussions can quickly fall apart when students blurt out answers, monopolize the conversation, avoid participating, ask irrelevant questions or give inappropriate answers.

The teacher asks questions that cause students to build, combine, synthesize and extend their learning, i.e. ‘what do you think, how does this relate to what we already know.  How is that different, why do you think this might be?”

Our goal is to have students simply speak one at a time w/o raising hands.

1. Introduce the lesson “We do many types of activities in our class.  One of them is having a group discussion. What are group discussions? Why do you think that they are important?”

2.  Teach behavior For students to be successful during group discussions, it is important sit quietly at your desk, focus on the speaker without talking until it’s your turn.

3.  Model the behavior Let’s have a demonstration lesson.”  Read the highlighted parts of the handout dealing with communication use by teens.

4.  Check for understanding“Who can tell me one way to be successful during group discussions?”