Pacing and Intensity

Here's a clip from 2A English 12 (forgive the audio quality). One of the things I like about this clip is that while the quality of the conversation is pretty good, the pace is also relaxed. Some times, these discussions are really intense and fast-paced. Sometimes, they're more relaxed and the students dig a bit deeper into the issues that come up. 

You can't really tell from this clip that there's a time-limit on this conversation, nor can you tell that the students are multi-tasking (by using the GoogleChat function while also talking face-to-face). 

Sometimes students say that these discussions feel scripted, and that is a risk, but I also think that our students aren't used to consciously and actively preparing for discussions. They're perhaps used to thinking of discussions as totally accidental and unpredictable, and so when they've actually prepared, then they feel as though the conversation is scripted. Sometimes, we do stumble on unexpected topics and discussions take an unusual turn, but it's also okay if students just work on articulating and organizing their thoughts about the reading...

"Do you agree or disagree?"

Some Student Responses

Some time ago, I asked my students to reflect on their experiences with the Student-Led Discussions we've been having all year. Some students don't like them, of course, and some find them stressful, and indeed a good Complex Fishbowl Discussion is pretty intense. At one point, long before I asked the students to do this reflection exercise, one student (I can't remember who) said, "I feel like our classes are really productive." That made me pretty happy. Of course, not all discussions are truly productive. My one section that really struggles often tells me they felt we had a good discussion when in fact I know they could have done much better. As part of the "homework" I gave to my attendees at MAIS, I provided some links to student reflections. Those links are below:

• these two students feel they struggle (but only one does)
• these two feel they’ve made progress (and they have)
• these two are confident, and rightly so
• these two international students have struggled (one more than the other)

I hope to do more with reflection exercises next year.