Student Panels: Student-Lead Discussions

Important but often neglected intellectual skills are speaking-and-listening and leading discussions. In this course, there are many different formats where you are thinking-out-loud and thinking-along-with-others. One is general class discussion. Another is small group discussions. Peer-editing is yet another format. Still other forms are student-lead discussions. In this case a small group of students are responsible for leading and directing class discussion.

 

The focus of discussion is critical thinking. Whether it is a literary text or a philosophical essay, critical thinking gets you below the surface to engage in the complexity of the ideas and values involved. In the case of a literary text, the panel can get the audience involved in a penetrating rhetorical analysis. Study questions in the Study Aids will help get all students prepared for the discussion. But the panel needs to present those questions and other ones in a way that encourages other students to engage the texts.

 

So the panel’s job is not just to ask questions and try to get answers, but to push the audience into deeper thinking and feeling about the writing. One of the most important ways the panel can do that is by projecting a certain attitude, a particular persona. The panel has to communicate that they take the questions seriously and see them as significant – if the panel doesn’t, the audience isn’t likely to. The panel also needs to embody the qualities that characterize critical thinking:

  • Seriousness and inquisitiveness concerning the material.
  • Respect but also criticalness toward the writer.
  • Imagination but also precision in thinking about the writing.
  • Openness to ambiguity yet thoroughness in thinking through the complexity.

There are various challenges to leading a discussion. The most obvious one is when no one responds to the question, or only a few people do all the talking. There are various ways to deal with this.

  • Don't give up too soon. Don't be a afraid of a moment's silence. Give your audience time to consider a response.
  • After a pause, rephrase the question. This may trigger some ideas in the audience, it gives them more time to think about the question, and it signals that the audience needs to respond.
  • Have another panel member offer a response to the questions. But DO NOT use that as the response. Present it as a hypothesis, as one possible answer, and then ask the audience if they see it a different way.
  • Call on someone. Students in the audience should be prepared to discuss questions, especially those that were handed out.
  • Present a particular, ideally controversial view, and ask the audience how the respond to it, and why. Or present two or more different answers or interpretations, and ask the audience to evaluate them.

In addition to having study questions, another way to get discussion going is to read an important and complex passage. Perhaps point out in what way it is important and complex, and then ask the audience what they think the passage means, or whether they agree with it.

 

Panels will be evaluated in terms of

  • The degree they presented the questions as part of critical thinking, pushing the class to think deeply
  • The success they had in getting the audience to participate
  • The balance among the panelists’ participation: all should participate equally.

The panel will lead the discussion, and I will play only a minor role. However, I may add some ideas or questions if it might help push the discussion deeper. But don’t expect me to take over, and don’t direct questions and answers to me. This is a time for the students to take over.

 

The panel should take at least 60 minutes but no more than 75 minutes. Be sure to keep track of time as you are going through the questions so you cover all the material.

 

 

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Last updated: March 14, 2007