Leading Class discussion

Teaching Resource Guide
for Teaching Assistants

TA Skills
	Cooperating with your course instructor
	Preparing for the first meeting/ class
	Leading discussion groups
	Presenting information to students
	Giving explanations to students
	Asking questions in class
	Conducting a laboratory session
	Guiding students in writing written assignments
	Marking, grading and dealing with academic dishonesty
	Motivating your students
	Managing classroom
	Knowing if you're doing a good job

Leading discussion groups

Tips:

Identify the objective of each discussion
Select appropriate forms of class discussion
Set the room for discussion
Create a climate to facilitate discussion
Stimulate participation
Guide the discussion

Class discussions help students to examine, evaluate and share knowledge about a subject matter. They provide an atmosphere for students to create new ideas, view from different perspectives, improve their communication and expression skills.

Before the discussion, you have to:

1.Identify the objective of each discussion

For examples, if you want to help your student

to focus on the subject matter, or

to relate the discussions with the course

2. Select appropriate forms of class discussion

For examples,

Student presentation followed by group discussion;

Briefing from TA followed by group discussion;

Assign readings to students followed by summary presentation and class discussion;

Buzz group discussion, i.e., the whole class is divided into small groups of 3 or 4 persons who discuss a topic for a short time. Then each sub-group reports the results to the whole class;

Debate.

3. Set the room for discussion

Different room-setting may affect the participating atmosphere

Sitting in a circle allows everyone can see and communicate with each other;

You may sit outside the circle to observe and control;

In large class students may form different small groups with their own circle.

While leading a discussion, you have to:

4. Create a climate to facilitate discussion

State the rules of discussion, e.g., how to take turns, how to interrupt;
Preview topics and introduce key terms;
State your expectation & goal of discussion;
Provide sufficient time for discussion.

5. Stimulate participation

Raise questions for stimulation;
Call on students who might provide interesting viewpoints;
Call on students to paraphrase or summarize the issue just discussed;
Prepare questions, give students a few minutes to write down their answers, and present them to the whole class.

6. Guide the discussion

Summarize the issues just discussed and list out the key points, clarify students’ ideas and ask for comments;
Comment positively about a student’s contribution to reinforce the idea;
Assign a small specific task to a quiet student to encourage participation;
Avoid any student monopolizing the discussion;
Prevent the discussion from deteriorating into a heated argument.

Further Readings

Kelly, M. & Stafford, K., Managing Small Group Discussion, Professional Development Unit, City University of Hong Kong, 1993, pp.8-11.
"Leading/organizing Discussion in Class/Tutorial" in Teaching-Learning Tips, Instructional Development Unit, ETC, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 1994.