low angle photography of man jumping

How to Level Up Your Class Discussions

Class discussions are a great way to deepen learning and increase student engagement. They have been a daily part of my class activities. I cannot recommend them enough to my fellow teachers. However, even though they should be a staple in every classroom, class discussions are not always the easiest activities to complete as a class. Our lack of training and preparation can lead to a quasi class discussion that is really more of a lecture or a teacher Q&A. Read on to learn some practical ways to have more genuine class discussion in your classroom.

Article Overview

Why Use Class Discussions

What Does a Successful Class Discussion Look Like?

How to Prepare For a Class Discussion

Best Practices During a Class Discussion

Things To Do After the Class Discussion

Why Use Class Discussions

It provides better processing of information. Class discussions help students interact with information in a more meaningful way. It helps them go beyond simple memorization of facts. Discussing ideas with each other allows students to question, debate, and analyze the information. When they do this, their brains also have more chances of associating new information with things they already know. This helps their brains process the information so that it can be filed into their long term memories. This is more effective than memorizing information for the sake of the test, which only engages their short term memory.

Learning is enhanced by others. Class discussions make classrooms into genuine learning communities. When students discuss with one another, they are exposed to ideas and perspectives that are not their own. This helps them expand and deepen their world views. 

Students are more engaged. Humans are social creatures. For many, being able to talk ideas through with other people makes the learning more fun. More kids are more involved when there is a true class discussion happening. In a lecture, the teacher is doing most of the talking. However, when more kids are more involved, as in a class discussion, they tend to pay attention for a longer amount of time. 

It improves communication skills and empathy. These skills are so important right now. You can see on social media and in the news how conversations can sometimes deteriorate into screaming matches, and our country is becoming increasingly polarized. There is a decline in the understanding and acceptance of differing views. It is more imperative now that we teach our students how to communicate and navigate through differences. 

What Does a Successful Class Discussion Look Like?

Students take the lead. In a successful class discussion, the students are doing most of the talking, and the teacher facilitates when needed. He/she helps to redirect or ask prompting questions when the whole class gets stuck or when one or two people are monopolizing the conversation. Otherwise, the students are doing most of the talking. They are the ones generating most, if not all, of the questions. They are asking and responding to each other. They validate, affirm, or respectfully challenge one another.

All students are engaged in the conversation. They may not all be actively talking, but they are listening and participating in some manner. There should be opportunities for more reserved students to get involved, such as times to share thoughts with partners only or times to write individual thoughts down and share with small groups. 

Respect is key. Students are practicing active listening and do not cut each other off. Ideas are challenged respectfully. There is no name calling or any form of demeaning a person, even subtly. The tone and the words are always respectful. Ideas are challenged by questioning any gaps in their logic or accuracy, not described by demeaning labels. Labels are usually uninformative and can be a subtle way to put down the person who had the idea or comment.

The ideas being discussed are relevant, meaningful and compelling. The content should challenge, expand, or deepen existing ideas that participants have about the topic they’re learning. At the end of the conversation, participants walk away still thinking about the ideas discussed. They might even bring the discussion back home or to their peers outside of class. They’ll have a higher interest and eagerness to participate in the next class discussion. 

How to Prepare for a Class Discussion

Teach respect. From the very beginning of the year or as early as you can, create a respectful classroom culture. Train students to listen and be respectful. They should know how to disagree respectfully and constructively. Give them structured practice with sentence starters and ample opportunities to apply what they’ve learned. Teach them how to affirm and validate their peers’ ideas in a genuine way. Model and practice how to encourage and uplift in your classroom. 

Some Resources:

Simple sentence starters: 26 Sentence Stems For Higher-Level Conversation In The Classroom by Terry Heick

Video on listening: Active Listening: How to Be a Great Listener

Know the end goal of the discussion. Just like a regular lesson, the objective should be clear. When you have a clear objective for the discussion, it will be easier to create a road map and anticipate roadblocks and challenges that your students may have during the discussion. This will help you redirect or restart the conversation when you need to.

Objectives can either converge onto an idea you want them to ponder or they can diverge to bring in multiple ideas and perspectives from class. It is convergent if you want students to narrow in on one idea. It is divergent if you want them to consider other ideas or perspectives that they never have before. It’s helpful to identify if you want kids to converge on a single idea or to consider diverging perspectives. It will help you think of or search for types of questions you can use to prompt students to help move the discussion. Have these questions written down and on hand during discussion just in case you’ll need them.

Some example objectives: 

Discussion around a compelling question: Was the _______war a just war?  

Possible objectives: Analyze and clarify the criteria for a just war. Apply just war criteria to ________ war. 

Analyzing and clarifying the just war criteria would be a converging type of discussion. Whether you want the class to narrow down to a particular idea of just war or to create their own criteria for what they think it means, the goal is to have one specific list that you can apply to situations. 

The objective of applying the criteria to a particular war, on the other hand, will probably be more nuanced and layered. In wars, there are multiple perspectives to consider and there might not be a simple answer.

Use a specific structure. I highly recommend using a specific structure – Here is an excellent resource from the Cult of Pedagogy which describes a variety of specific structures to ensure maximum participation.

Plan for the time you have. Consider how much time you have for the class discussion. How many class periods are you dedicating? How will you manage your time? This can be a tricky area of planning because you don’t necessarily want to use a timer, especially when there’s a lively debate and great ideas being explored. However, timers may be a good way to prevent just a handful of students from monopolizing the conversation. I highly recommend having another way to continue the discussion off site. In my class, we used Flipgrid a lot to carry on discussions and respond to multiple people in and out of class. It was a great way for more introverted students to get involved. I highly recommend it.

Plan your physical space. Think about the structure you will use for the class discussion. What seating arrangement would work best for students to discuss and listen to each other? If you need to change the configuration of your desks in your classroom, plan for when you’ll do this. Is it possible to do it the day before? Will you need to do it during a prep period or the passing period right before class because your other classes are doing other activities?

Craft compelling questions that help you reach your objective

Compelling questions challenge fundamental or assumed beliefs. Compelling questions should lead to more questions. They should be debatable, and there isn’t an immediate one clear answer. For example, consider the question: Was the Revolutionary War really revolutionary? Most people automatically assume that it was revolutionary because it’s in the name. And, hey, the government did change. A lot of things changed. But was that true for everyone affected?

Here are some more resources on compelling questions:  

What are Compelling Questions

Develop the Compelling Question by Smore.com

300 Sample Compelling Questions for the Social Studies by Glenn Wiebe

Ideally, students should be generating the questions. However, you should begin the discussion with either one or a few compelling questions to give the students focus and direction. Have a few more on hand that you can use to redirect or restart the discussion if your students hit a roadblock.

In lieu of or in addition to compelling questions, you can also use compelling readings, photos, political cartoons, etc. 

Prepare by mapping the discussion. Write down your compelling questions and map more questions that they may lead to. Map possible answers your students might have. Anticipate roadblocks and blind spots – any perspectives they might overlook or any assumptions that might need to be challenged. This will help you come up with prompting questions.

Prep the students. If you can, give your students your main compelling question or prop beforehand. This will give them time to think and generate thoughts and questions.

Have a backup for what to do just in case it’s a complete fail. Not all of us are naturals at this, and even with the most careful preparation, sometimes things still go wrong. Have a backup plan. It can be a relevant movie or reading or student art activity, etc. just in case discussion falls flat or ends sooner than you anticipate. Then reflect, reflect, reflect. What went well? What could have gone better? How can you do it differently next time for a more desirable result?

Best Practices During A Class Discussion

Here is a list of best practices for when you’re actually having the class discussion.

  • Give students individual quiet time to process at least the meatiest questions and to write down their thoughts. Allow them to share with a partner, which is a low risk setting, before asking them to share with the whole group. It’s very helpful to go through this process whenever discussion seems to get stuck. 
  • Record and display student thoughts. It’s not possible to record every comment depending on the structure you’re using for your class discussion. However, it’s good to record what you can whenever you can. I’ve found that it increases engagement tremendously when students see their thoughts recorded and displayed. Sometimes I just type them onto the projected screen. Sometimes I have student groups spread around the classroom next to whiteboard space where they can write down their thoughts as they discuss them.
  • Use wait times. Be okay with the silence. Refrain from “rescuing” the class by talking and answering the questions. Count ten to fifteen seconds in your head if you have to. Remember, your job is to facilitate when needed, not lead, the discussion.
  • Promote critical thinking and deep dialogue. Encourage students to question assumptions and ideas that aren’t supported by evidence. Have them push each other to connect their claims and opinions with evidence and examples. Get in the habit as a class to look out for logical fallacies, errors, and inconsistencies. To ensure more authentic dialogue, have students make sure that they understand the argument being made by their peers before they respond to one another. They can clarify by summarizing statements they want to respond to before they actually respond. 
  • Write down unanswered questions or unexplored ideas for extension projects, research, or additional debates later.

Things to Do After the Class Discussion

Have students write a reflection. You can give them broad questions that ask them to analyze their own engagement or more specific questions that relate to the topic you discussed. This will help them continue to explore and expand their ideas about the topic. They can tie up loose ends or present more questions. This will also help make the information more memorable. 

You as a teacher should also reflect. How successful was the discussion in achieving the objective? What worked and what didn’t? Why? Were there areas you would have liked to do differently?  Reflect on the engagement and participation of each of your students and look for wins and for areas of improvement. Think of ways to repeat successes. 

Well, I hope this has been helpful! What are some things you find helpful in your class discussions? Comment below to let us know. 

Scroll to Top