Resource information
Productive classroom discussions – those that enable students to invent, create, imagine, take risks, and dig for deeper meanings – can only take place in a climate in which students feel safe to offer their ideas. Teachers can create such a climate by being mindful of the essential conditions of interactive teaching.
You can read this article by Selma Wassermann on ascd.org.
The author describes five keys to create a climate for such discussions:
- make a commitment to listen, attend, and apprehend, concentrating fully on what the student is trying to communicate;
- help students communicate better by asking them to clarify their ideas;
- give students time to think;
- refrain from the natural tendency to judge students' ideas; and
- avoid the search for "right" answers and accept lack of closure.
Discussions that use this approach, writes Wassermann, are an important part of balanced classroom instruction.
