Teaching Inclusively |
Facilitating Effective Discussions & Dialogues
What & Why?
How do we engage students in meaningful discussions and dialogues that align with our learning outcomes while also ensuring the respect and dignity of each person is maintained—even when they don’t agree? Discussions and dialogues are most effective when they are intentionally structured using principles and strategies that promote deeper learning, personal reflection, and perspective-taking while stimulating intellectual curiosity and growth.
This involves listening for understanding instead of waiting for a rebuttal, applying and interrogating disciplinary norms related to course content, viewing students’ experiences and prior knowledge as assets in the teaching and learning process, as well as creating invitations and norms for participation that give students options for engagement. The primary goal is to provide each student the opportunity to engage with the instructor, their peers, and the content in some way throughout the class session.
Viewing in-class engagement or even-out-of-class activities where students work in teams as spaces for developing effective ways of thinking and interacting across differences and similarities provides both instructors and students opportunities to:
- meaningfully listen to and engage with a variety of perspectives, even those that run counter to their beliefs and values;
- practice applying disciplinary norms;
- interrogate disciplinary practices and norms to promote critical thinking;
- grapple with assumptions about people, places, and things;
- create a space where all students are heard and feel included.
Intentionally structuring discussions and dialogues moves us away from inducing negative affect about important topics or limiting conversations about identities to changing classroom demographics (Grant, 2020) and prepares instructors and students to talk about potentially polarizing issues.
How to Structure and Facilitate Effective Discussions and Dialogues
Before
Cultivate a classroom environment for and with your students by helping them develop skills and courage to discuss challenging topics (Arao & Clemons, 2013). Instructors, in collaboration with students, set the tone and expectations for active engagement and agency of all participants in order to support learning (Cook-Sather, 2016).
- Use strategies to get to know your students, for them to know you, and know about each other using a pre-class survey or low-stakes pre-class assignments and in-class activities, which can be later connected to topics or concepts in the course.
- Develop community guidelines/class norms together and revisit them throughout the semester—not only at the beginning or when something happens, but as a regular practice to keep them salient in the classroom.
- Gather students' thoughts and reflections anonymously or for credit before class using Canvas (or other discussion post platform) posts submitted to the instructor. Review posts beforehand and attend class prepared to address misconceptions or assumptions before the dialogue starts.
- Facilitate teams or groups in developing contracts before starting major projects. Contracts can also include ways to keep each other accountable to the guidelines and terms of the contract.
- Create an intervention plan in case of controversial moments. Having a plan for “I will say this if/when …” helps you to respond effectively and appropriately instead of freezing or simply reacting.
During
- Utilize high-structure instead of low-structure openings. Low-structure openings tend to elicit comments from the most confident students with the strongest opinions. High-structure openings provide all students the opportunity to reflect on the prompts and engage with the content of the course.
| Low-Structure Openings | High-Structure Openings |
|---|---|
| “Who would like to start?” | A five-minute writing activity, electronic or manual poll |
| “What is your opinion?” | A brief discussion with a neighbor |
| “How would you respond to that?” | Value Lines or Four Corners activity |
- Incorporate closing or concluding questions to help students process and connect with the core ideas and concepts from the discussion or dialogue. Example processing questions include:
- How have your views changed as a result of our discussion?
- What new insights did you gain from your peers? Give a specific example.
- What was the best/most insightful idea or argument you heard about a position you didn’t hold?
- What was the best/most insightful idea or argument you heard about a position you do hold?
- Pause to facilitate a check for understanding, reflection, and reconciliation as needed.
- If a particularly controversial moment occurs, acknowledge it and state you will return to it (and actually follow up!). Have a “parking lot” for ideas/comments/topics/conversation threads that warrant further discussion or would deviate from learning goals.
After
- Email the entire class to affirm their participation and commitment to respectful dialogue, redirecting to community guidelines as needed.
- Incorporate an activity or assignment related to the topic of discussion. Use disciplinary norms and practices to interrogate and reflect, with the goal of deepening understanding and growing.
- If there were some tensions during the dialogue, check in with specific students who may have been affected and provide additional resources.
- Practice self-care. If there were moments of tension or controversy, disengage briefly from the issue to calm yourself before going back to address it.
If you found this article helpful, you may also wish to consult our resource on “Preparing to Teach Polarizing Topics.”