Lang provided a very realistic and funny story at the beginning of the classroom discussion chapter, which describes a fully prepared instructor meet a bunch of students who are unwilling to respond to the killer starter question. I have to admit that this kind of situation happened to me a few times, but better than the instructor in the book, I always had one or two students answer the question.
Lang says “teaching the material requires that you engage it in a variety of ways, from reading and writing to speaking and listening to the responses of your students” (p.88). I agree on this and I am trying to explain one idea in a variety of ways. The hard thing is how to motivate the students to participate into the discussion?
Lang suggests of using the pre-writing method to help students turn their minds onto the course material, which also “ensures that they have time to think” (p.91). He defines this kind of writing as low-stakes writing. I find this method useful when I conduct a five minute pop quiz at the beginning of the class. After the quiz, the students seem to be more focus on the lecture and they tend to answer the question quickly than usual. Lang also says that when the students have written down the response, the instructor can feel more comfortable inviting everyone into the discussion (p.92). I did this on my speech class today and the overall effect is not so great but not so bad. At least everyone has something to say, the difference is just some students talk better, some don’t.
Another suggestion Lang makes is to ask the fact-based questions first and the killer question last. He says “once that material is available and visible to everyone, a more informed and participatory discussion should follow” (p.94). I haven’t prepared any killer questions yet, most of the questions I have asked are fact based so far. I will think about some in-depth question for the students to discuss in the future classes. My current situation is even when I throw out the fact based questions; the classroom still seems quiet sometimes. The only solution for me is to look at them and to create a few seconds’ silence and there is always someone who breaks the ice in the end. The question is how many silence should I create throughout the whole semester? When will the students finally be motivated and be willing to answer the question a little more quick?
Another interesting suggestion Lang makes is to “challenge students to a duel”, such as saying “I’ve said something interesting, now you say something interesting”; or inviting the students to “bring a dish to a feast”, such as saying “listen to all of these terrific ideas and comments; can we hear your thoughts as well?”(p. 97). I will consider using sentences like this to motivate my students.
Davis discusses mainly about how to use web 2.0 and how to assemble the students into groups to create a discussion in part V. I am particularly interested in knowing how to use social networking websites to make an interaction with the students. The book talks about some points we should pay attention. Like, keep the profile professional to maintain authority, respect the student’s privacy by avoiding spy on the students and be cautious about “friending”. I would like the class on Thursday to talk about the social networking topics, such as, will you accept the friending request from a student on Facebook?
Johnson divided the group work into three types: informal learning groups, formal learning groups, and study groups (p.191). Most of the in class activities at COMM110 class use informal learning groups. I randomly divide the students into several groups, usually 4 to 5 people a group. They will complete the in class activity together and turn in their final work if it needs to be graded. One thing that worries me is that the students are following the original group pattern, which is the one I divided at the first class activity. These informal groups have turned into long term groups. I would rather they cooperate with new people on each activity so that they don’t have to rely on one particular person every time. For example, if one student chooses to be the writing person, he or she will be the writing person forever. How should I tackle this problem? The book talks about rearranging the group members but it does not specify on this issue.
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