‘Discussion Leading’
Ask Professor Pedagogy: Crickets, Crickets
Dec. 14, 2012—Ask Professor Pedagogy is a twice monthly advice column written by Center for Teaching staff. One aspect of our mission is to cultivate dialogue about teaching and learning, so we welcome questions and concerns that arise in the classroom; particularly those from Vanderbilt faculty, students, and staff. If you have a question that you’d like...
Upcoming Event: Effective Discussion Leading (for new & returning faculty only)
Aug. 10, 2012—Join us for this upcoming Teaching Workshop! Effective Discussion Leading (Faculty Only) Date & Time: Friday, August 17 11:00am-1:00pm One of the defining yet most elusive goals of good teaching is to engage students in productive and engaging discussions. To lead discussions effectively requires more than just knowledge of course content, but a wide...
GradSTEP recap: Discussion Leading
Jan. 30, 2012—This blog post is written by William Hardin, a CFT Graduate Teaching Fellow. Bill led the Leading Effective Discussions session at GradSTEP on January 21, 2012. You can download the PowerPoint and handouts from this session. Leading Effective Discussions Getting students to talk, to really engage with one another, can be difficult. Many are unsure of how...
Upcoming Event: Strategies and Practices for Effective Discussion Leading
Jan. 24, 2012—Join us for this upcoming Conversation on Teaching! Strategies and Practices for Effective Discussion Leading Date & Time: January 30, 4:10-5:30 Facilitator: Milt Cox, Educational Consultant Format: Conversation on Teaching Audience: Faculty, Graduate and Professional Students, Post-docs, and Staff Panel: Leonard Folgarait, PhD (Professor of History of Art; Latin American Art, European and American Modernism,...
Upcoming Event: Leading Effective Discussions
Sep. 24, 2011—Have you registered yet? Register now for Leading Effective Discussions. Date & Time: Thursday, September 29, 4:10-5:30 Facilitator: CFT Graduate Teaching Fellow Format: Teaching Workshop Audience: Graduate Students and Post-Docs Effective discussions can provoke profound learning, yet they can be challenging to create and particularly to sustain. In this interactive session you will pursue strategies for...
Summer Reading: Facilitating Group Discussions (Essays on Teaching Excellence)
Jun. 20, 2011—Facilitating Group Discussions: Understanding Group Development and Dynamics Kathy Takayama, Brown University The POD Network Teaching Excellence Essay Series, 2009-10 From the essay: Facilitating discussions requires the ability to engage different perspectives and skills in response to the needs of the group. How well a group works together depends upon the dynamics among participants and the...
Leading Classroom Discussion on Difficult Topics
Apr. 11, 2011—CFT Graduate Teaching Fellow, Leanna Fuller, reflects on the recent Teaching Workshop: Difficult Dialogues in this follow-up post to that event. On March 23rd, 18 participants from 11 Vanderbilt departments gathered at the Center for Teaching to discuss the challenge of leading classroom discussions on difficult topics. We began by talking in small groups about...
The Value of Silence in Class Discussions
Sep. 27, 2010—Mary M. Reda’s essay, “What’s the Problem with Quiet Students? Anyone? Anyone?” in the Chronicle of Higher Education a couple of weeks ago offers a revealing look at the reasons some students choose not to participate in class discussions. Reda engaged in a yearlong investigation of the quiet students in her composition courses, asking her...
Teaching through Hot Points: Navigating Bodies in the Classroom, Saturday, October 2
Sep. 20, 2010—CFT Teaching Affiliate Elizabeth Weber, a graduate student in German, is facilitating a workshop on Saturday, October 2nd, titled “Teaching through Hot Points: Navigating Bodies in the Classroom.” The workshop is part of the “Bodies and Oddities” graduate student conference hosted by the Department Spanish & Portuguese, but graduate students not involved in that conference...
9/15 Workshop: Discussion Leading
Sep. 8, 2010—Time & Date:4:10—5:30 p.m., Wednesday, September 15 Facilitator: Graduate Teaching Fellow, CFT Audience: Graduate and Professional Students and Post-docs Effective discussions can provoke profound learning, yet they can be challenging to create and sustain. In this interactive session, we will explore strategies for initiating discussions and keeping them lively. Questions considered will include: What are...