Class Discussions

My favorite class in high school was AP English Literature. That probably doesn't come as a surprise, but there was something about that particular class that set it apart from my past English classes. It wasn't the books we considered, it wasn't the the assignments we had, it was the classroom vibe. This vibe had virtually nothing to do with classroom decorations. The walls were bare ( a very stark contrast to past English classrooms) and the chalk board was the only visual aid. It had to with our desks and the scarcity of our teacher's contribution to class discussions. During class every Monday, Tuesday Wednesday and Friday (Thursday was prompt day), we had a discussion. Mrs. Morris permanently set up our desks in a circle and each class, she would start off our discussion with a broad (extremely broad) question. Sometimes her question would be simply, "What did you think?" 

The texts we discussed varied greatly in genre (i.e a poem, a passage from a speech, a chapter or section of a book, the lyrics of a song).  Each day 1 hour and 15 minutes would flash by as we all contributed to an evolving and extremely enlightening dialogue about our topic(s). Seldom was there a moment when Mrs. Morris had to pry for our input. The neutral set up of our desks coupled with her seamless  mediation nurtured our development into critical thinkers and analysers. It also helped us strengthen our ability to express ourselves eloquently and concisely. Because we knew we were expected to contribute to class discussions, our personal reading (for homework) became more exploratory and resulted in searches for meaning deep below the surface of the text. The process strengthened our confidence in our ability to decipher meaningful points from many texts. 

I was unaware of the transformation that was occurring during my senior year (my transition from a passive reader to a critical thinker), but I have come to understand just how much work  Mrs. Morris put into our class discussion during which she rarely inserted her own opinion. She challenged each of us to think in new ways just by saying, "What else?"

In chapter 1, Smagorinsky lists discussions as a unit of instruction. Mrs. Morris kept her questions open ended, topics varied with different genres of literature, and all were encouraged to participate and contribute to the discussion. I never gave much thought to Mrs. Morris's role in our class but I've come to understand how deliberate the structure of the class was. I hope as a teacher, I can provide that kind of transformative experience for my students.