I was completely blown out of the water by what my students did with this assignment. I could not believe that they took my idea so far beyond my expectations. I have been using different discussion techniques such as debates, Socratic discussions, newscasts, and inner-outer circles. All of these work pretty well but they rarely live up to my expectations. So what might work better?

Recently I was listening to a NPR radio discussion. It was so smooth. The speakers stayed on topic. They asked all the right questions. The answers were logical and well thought out. The discussion sounded so impromptu, yet I knew it was so choreographed. This got me to thinking, how can I set up student discussions?

My civics classes were studying the 14th Amendment on equality. Many topics fall under the umbrella of equality ranging from abortion to suffrage. This looked like the perfect topic for testing a new discussion technique.

 First I told my students about the NPR discussions and roughly outlined my idea. I even gave them links to three NPR program discussions for their listening pleasure.

Each team, consisting of five to seven members, then chose a discussion topic from my list. I told them to select a moderator who would guide the discussion with questions and a panel of students who would become experts on their piece of the topic. They also opened a team Google doc where they would record their team script.

My final contribution was to tell them to think of this as an oral essay. The moderator would provide the introduction including the hook, thesis, and summary of points. She/he would then direct the discussion to each participant who would provide her/his evidence and commentary. Finally, the moderator would provide the conclusion and open the discussion for questions from the audience.

This is where things got interesting. Many teams did not completely follow my instructions. Instead of being a bad thing, their permutations actually improved the discussions. The first innovation was that, instead of referring back to the moderator after each speaker, some teams had the speakers themselves made the transitions to the next speaker. This improved the flow of the discussion, giving it a more natural feeling. The second was to use different speakers to introduce major transitions. For example, when transitioning from women’s voting rights to felons’ voting rights, a speaker other than the moderator would provide the transition. Finally, instead of having one conclusion, each speaker would conclude by voicing her/his takeaways and opinions about the discussion topic. These three changes all enhanced the discussions.

The audience listened respectfully as each team enthusiastically gave its presentation. The audience showed its enthusiasm with questions and comments when it came time for its part in the Q and A. Team members answered questions and responded to comments with the expert knowledge they had gained while studying for the presentations. Best of all, the discussions needed minimal participation on my part. I could spend most of my time enjoying listening to the discussions taking notes for my assessments.