The Skillful Teacher

Intellectual Purposes
To Engage Students in Exploring a Diversity of Perspectives
Discussion is one of the most effective ways to make students aware
of the range of interpretations that are possible in an area of intel-
lectual inquiry. Teachers can introduce these diverse perspectives
themselves through lecturing or prereading, but there is nothing like
students hearing from each others’ lips the diversity of interpreta-
tions that can be made of the same, apparently objective, facts, or
the same, apparently obvious, meanings. It’s much harder for learn-
ers to ignore views that are contrary to their own if they’re expressed
by their peers, rather than being discovered between the pages of a
text or mediated through a lecturer’s comments. The physical pres-
ence of equals with inconvenient opinions is a powerful force. We
cannot skip or skim contrary views that are expressed in discussion
by peers in the same way we can skip a few paragraphs in a book or
tune out parts of a lecture.
To Increase Students’ Awareness of, and Tolerance for, Ambiguity
and Complexity
A good discussion is one that leaves issues open for further inquiry
and in which as many questions are raised as are answered. If par-
ticipants begin a discussion with definitive views, they should con-
clude it with a productively disturbing sense of equivocation. They
should learn that the topics explored are complex and that our
understanding of them is contingent, always requiring further study
and reflection. Through repeatedly illuminating how judgments and
arguments are constantly evolving, discussions help students learn
to tolerate the ambiguities inherent in so much intellectual inquiry.
To Help Students Recognize and Investigate Their Assumptions
In discussion we enjoy multiple opportunities to clarify and scruti-
nize each others’ assumptions. Students can serve as critical mirrors
for each other reflecting back the assumptions they see in each
Preparing Students for Discussion
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other’s positions. As students question each other about the reasons,
evidence, and experiences that lie behind the comments each
makes, they start to realize that seemingly random viewpoints are
always grounded in assumptive clusters. They learn that what dif-
ferent people consider obvious, factually true, or common sense,
depends very much on the different assumptions they hold.
To Increase Intellectual Agility and Openness
Engaging in discussion requires a certain intellectual agility—an
ability to think on your feet and to react to unanticipated com-
ments. Students know this, and it’s one of the reasons why some of
them fear discussion so much. They realize that they can’t antici-
pate the range of responses and questions that their comments will
bring forth. Since it’s almost impossible to frame a contribution so
perfectly that everyone will agree with every aspect of it, students
know that what they say will sometimes be challenged, contra-
dicted, even negated. This means they’ll have to think quickly to
formulate a counterresponse or to mount a defense against argu-
ments that are new to them.
Of course, it’s quite permissible in a discussion to ask for time to
formulate an informed and useful response. We can say to someone,
“Before I reply to you I need some time to think about what you’ve
said, so I’d like to deal with your comments later.” Students should
not feel they have to have an immediate, intelligent, and articulate
reaction to every disputable point that their comments provoke.
Discussion is not a performance in which we’re all expected to win
intellectual Oscars for the brilliance of our speech or the speed of
our thought.
To Develop the Capacity for the Clear Communication of Ideas
and Meaning
Through discussion we can help students grapple with the difficul-
ties of trying to communicate ideas and meanings not immediately
clear to others. Students learn the importance of giving examples
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to illustrate complex propositions, to think and speak metaphori-
cally, and to use analogical reasoning. They can become more adept
at entering into other participants’ frames of reference and seeing
the world through the multiple lenses these represent. As they
respond to questions asked by their peers, they can learn to recog-
nize what aspects of their own communicative styles are either help-
ing or creating difficulties for others.
To Develop Skills of Synthesis and Integration
In discussions students can learn the importance of linking apparently
unconnected insights, of drawing the group’s attention to emerging
themes, and of pointing out similarities of reasoning or evidence
embedded in multiple contributions. Students who are skilled in dis-
cussion strive to discover commonalities and previously unnoticed
connections. Over time they learn to keep in mind several apparently
disparate strands of analysis. Occasionally this leads to a creative and
exciting synthesis. More usually, it helps students become comfort-
able with ambiguity. They accept that discussions are open and not
always supposed to lead to some form of definitive conclusion.