Reaction to Readings (Blog #2)

This week's readings covered important information in regards to preparing weekly for class, running a discussion, and various trusted class plans. In this blog I will discuss what I felt was most useful, how I could implement some of the ideas in the readings in my field, and what I would like to incorporate into my own teaching.

I felt the most useful information I learned from this weeks readings was found in the "Why students may not talk" section of the Running a Discussion chapter. As both a student and a TA, and I'm sure everyone else with classroom experience has, I have been there. I have been sitting in the classroom, hearing the buzz of the fluorescent lights, watching the teacher struggle to breathe some sort of life into an attempt at a discussion. I have everything from the student who dominates the conversation to the student who stares at the floor praying the teacher doesn't call her out. This section of the reading was useful because it not only outlined various reasons why students may not be talking but also gave helpful hints for what the teacher can do to put an end to the silence. I've outlined those problems and solutions here:

• Peer Pressure - The teacher should ask opinions rather than answers with a distinct right or wrong answer in order to avoid potential embarrassment
• Time to Think - Sometimes, students may need to ponder the question just posed to them and in this instance, the teacher should count to 20 slowly. Eventually, one of the students (this is so me) will be unable to withstand the silence and will break it.
• Very Difficult Material - Here the teacher should empathize with the students, letting them know you are aware of how difficult the material is and that at some points you also needed clarification and that the class as a whole can work through it together.
• Lack of Preparation - The teacher should be straight forward and ask the class if they read the material
• Class Dynamics - Often the silence in the class is due to the dynamics of gender, race, and age in the class and the teacher should be aware of these issues
• Quiet Students - If making direct eye contact does not drive the quiet ones into breaking the silence, this is a good example of a situation in which the pair and share method works wonders. Teachers can pair students and ask that they discuss what they believe the answer to the discussion question is first before sharing ideas with the class.
• Outside Forces - During particularly busy times in the semester, students may be more apt to sit silently. Teachers should be cognisant of these times and empathise with the students, perhaps planning discussions during weeks that seem to be less busy, weeks without midterms, finals, or homecoming.

This video, although about younger students, explains why some students are silent from the teacher, researcher, and children's perspectives.

Something from this week's readings that I thought could be implemented into my field more was the idea of discussions in the classroom in general. Often in the field of psychology, topics are very open for discussion and opinions, since many of the ideas are relatively new and being researched. There are many many theories available in the field explaning things related to each of us, such as personality, anxiety, depression, substance use, etc. I believe it would be valuable for more teachers in this field to implement student discussions about these theories. First, these students are future researchers and it may be beneficial to hear bright new ideas from young minds. Second, since most topics are up for debate, it would be interesting for students to hear eachothers opinions and compare them to popular theories and research. Most of my undergraduate psychology courses lacked the discussion element. I feel it would be very beneficial for this element to be implemented on a regular basis.

Lastly, something I learned from this weeks readings that I would like to implement into my own teaching in the future is the idea that class formats should vary among the different types, never using the same one format all the time. The three teaching formats are as follows:

1. more loosely planned discussion sections
2. lectures
3. more highly structured classes with preplanned student activities.

How I visualize myself implementing this is that on the first day of a unit, I would focus entirely on lecture. The main purpose would be to get the information out there and clarify it so the students have a general knowledge of the chapter. Once that is met, whether it be the next class period or the next week, I would then like to have the third option of preplanned student activities. I feel these would help to ensure the step beyond knowledge, comprehension. Once I feel the students generally know and understand the ideas, then I would like to implement the loosely planned discussion section. I would wait to utilize this format until last because I feel the discussion would be most useful and beneficial for the students when they have that general knowledge and comprehension basis and feel enough with the material to make contributions to the discussion.

I recommend checking out the following links for further helpful information:

UCSC'S Teaching Toolbox: Getting More out of Classroom Discussion

Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology's Active Learning Strategies: Suggestions for Classroom Discussion (particularly the five types of discussion questions that cause inherent problems)