Discussion as a Way of Teaching - Response

While reading the selected chapters from Discussion as a Way of Teaching, my prevailing impression was that everything the authors were saying made a lot of sense.  I agree with all of the benefits of discussion and that it is an integral educational tool.  I have heard before that discussion at its best exemplifies the democratic process, but I particularly liked how the authors explained that this is because both discussion and democracy promote and nurture human growth; I feel that this explanation gets to the core of why discussion is so important.  I agree that it fosters a collective wisdom, challenges and consolidates meaning, and expands the horizons of all participants.  However, while I read this article, underlying my thoughts was the impression that having high-quality discussions of this caliber and impact in the classroom will require a lot of foresight and planning by the teacher.  At first glance, discussion can appear quite simple, but in reality it cannot operate effectively unless certain conditions are met.

I have experienced a lot of high-quality discussion firsthand in my own education, and when I look back at my experiences, I realize that the most meaningful discussions occurred in classrooms that had a strong sense of community.  Because of this, I think that the first step for teachers towards facilitating effective discussions (in addition to creating an overall successful classroom climate) is to foster a communal atmosphere.  In tight-knit classrooms, students are more willing to work with each other because they have established feelings of respect, care, and trust in one another.  Discussion as a Way of Teaching makes the necessity of a close classroom apparent when it explains the essential dispositions of democratic discussions.  Classes with a strong sense of community will almost certainly be able to achieve six of these dispositions: hospitality, participation, mindfulness, humility, mutuality, and appreciation.  Hope and deliberation will also be much more likely to occur because students who are close work well together (and often desire to work together), support each other, and have a positive outlook (in my experience).  All that remains is autonomy, which is largely dependent on the individual, but in classrooms where students feel comfortable with each other (i.e. in close classrooms), students are more likely to feel comfortable voicing their dissent and retaining their unique opinions.  For these reasons, I feel that the crucial first step towards achieving meaningful discussion is to foster strong bonds between students within the classroom.