CLN4U Student Lead Critical Discussion SLCD

CLN4U Student Lead Critical Discussion SLCD

An essential component of post-secondary preparation is being able to read, synthesize and appreciate writing / academic readings. Student Led Discussions are crucial to such development.

Curriculum Expectations

TASK

1.  Form working groups of 5, select an article: ______presentation dates are predetermined.

2.  Working in groups of 5, you are to read, summarize, and analysis your article and research your topic, prepare a brief presentation on it (max 3 slides), and lead a small group and whole group critical discussion directed by the questions your group has generated.

a.  Read and Research: ensure you have a grasp of the article and its content. This article is also your jumping-off point to the topic so you are required to research beyond. You need to acquire a rich and deep understanding of the issue and legal implications so you are able to facilitate a small group critical discussion on it.

b.  Presentation:

i.  Create a visual presentation – 3 slides maximum (prezi / concept map / slideshow) etc which will give an overview of the article, explain the major elements of the article (thesis/ main ideas, arguments, message) and its relevance to society and legal implications. This will ensure a complete understanding of the article and will better prepare students to engage in a critical discussion.

ii. Generate questions to guide your discussion. Both warm up and essential questions – I will help you with this!

c.  Small Group Critical Discussion: Each Friday a designated working group will lead the class. They will present their findings on their article and topic. The class will then be divided into 5 small groups with each group being led by 1 member of that designated working group. During the small discussion if you are the leader you will ask questions and provide feedback. As “Discussion Leaders” you will facilitate and lead an academic discussion on your article in the small group.

d.  Whole Class Discussion: Finally, the class will come back together to review the major discussion points from the smaller group discussions and give final conclusions on the article / issue. This will also be facilitated by designated working group.

All students are required to read the article prior to the SLCD. Time will be allocated during each Thursday’s class to read each article. – Possibly expect a quick quiz on the reading prior to the presentations as incentive to get your reading done. This experience is only as rich as your preparation makes it!!

The Critical Thinking Approach

There are five basic principles to the critical thinking approach:
·  Knowledge is not fixed, but always subject to re-examination and change
·  There is no question which cannot, or should not, be asked
·  Awareness of, and empathy for, alternative world views is essential
·  There is a need of tolerance and ambiguity
·  There is need of a skeptical attitude towards text

What is critical thinking? An active process; one in which the thinker is responsible for engaging in thinking about a topic, rather than passively receiving information about it. As a result, notions of critical thinking are often linked to the following active ways of engaging in a topic:

·  interpreting
·  analyzing
·  assessing
·  categorizing
·  predicting / ·  formulating concepts
·  synthesizing
·  evaluating
·  judging
·  speculating
·  hypothesizing

Critical thinking is also:

·  a state of mind that guides learning

·  a pedagogical attitude

·  stimulating cognitive dissonance

·  using evidence and reason to shape opinions and draw conclusions

Characteristics of Good Questioning: A good questioning sequence should be logical and should not ignore content, facts or knowledge. Above all, the questions should build from knowledge or factual detail to ideas and concepts. It is the concepts that students can transfer to new situations and use to analyze and solve problems.

Good questions should...

1.  be stated clearly

2.  be as short as possible

3.  have the interrogative pronoun located at the beginning

4.  require students to examine one idea or concept at a time

5.  be arranged in a logical order

6.  build from the simple to the complex

7.  develop and examine concepts

8.  require students to consider facts, concepts, values and opinions

9.  require students to examine a variety of perspectives

10.  incorporate and utilize a broad range of thinking skills

Essential questions should...

1.  Is open-ended

2.  is thought provoking and intellectually engaging - sparks discussion or debate

3.  3.Calls for higher order thinking, such as analysis, inferences, evaluation and prediction. Cannot be answered by recall alone

4.  4.Points toward important, transferable ideas within and sometimes across disciplines

5.  5.Raises additional questions and sparks further inquiry

6.  Requires support and justification, not just an answer

7.  Recurs over time: that is, the question can and should be revisited again and again.

(Source: Essential Questions, opening doors to student understanding, McTighe and Wiggins, p3)

About Controversy…The following are points to consider when dealing with controversial issues. Because the Social Sciences are rooted in cultural and political values, often, what appears to be a straightforward topic is not. We need to explore values, assumptions and biases and those of the material and resources that are use before approaching a topic.

·  Present background information, including opposing viewpoints

·  Present all sides of an issue

·  Be cautious about dominating with your personal opinions

·  Be sure that students clearly understand what you are saying

·  Select material and resources that are current and as bias free as possible

·  Anticipate concerns and opposing viewpoints

·  Be sure that assignments are suitable for the age level

·  Teach students to be critically literate

·  Teach students to use a range of resources for a more balanced understanding of any issue/topic

How to Create good Discussion Questions for your Tutorial or Seminar
1) Good discussion questions are not answered by "yes" or "no." Instead they lead to higher order thinking (analysis, synthesis, comparison, evaluation) about the work and the issues it raises.

2) Good discussion questions call for more than simply recalling facts or guessing what the teacher already wants to know, but are open-ended, leading to a variety of responses.

3) Good questions recognize that readers will have different perspectives and interpretations and such questions attempt to engage readers in dialogue with each other.

4) Good discussion questions depend on a careful reading of the text. They often cite particular scenes or passage and ask people to look at them closely and draw connections between these passages and the rest of the work.

5) Good discussion questions are simply and clearly stated. They do not need to be repeated or reworded to be understood.

6) Good discussion questions are useful to the students. Good questions can help to clarify passages or issues students may find difficult. They help students understand cultural differences that influence their reading. They invite personal responses and connections.

7) Good discussion questions make (and challenge) connections between the text at issue and other works, and the themes and issues of the course.

8) Ask small, detailed questions (like "what's the argument for this conclusion?") before large, abstract questions (like "how does this compare with what so-and-so said?").

9) Ask interpretative questions (like "what does the author mean here?") before evaluative questions (like "is the author right about this?"). Let your earlier questions lay a foundation for your later questions.

10) Be flexible about your list of questions. If the discussion is going well, go with the flow, but always be ready to bring it back into line when it wanders away from the discipline, or becomes pointless.

11) Be respectful and appreciative at all times, but don't be afraid to disagree with a comment. At the same time, try to avoid getting into a 2-way argument. Be ready to ask, "What do other people think about this?"

How to Ensure that your Discussion/Tutorial/Seminar is Effective
1) Don't assume that discussions lead themselves, or that your fascinating subject matter guarantees success. Do not simply ask questions and hope that someone answers them.

2) Plan the discussion. What topics do you want to cover? In what order? What will you do if nobody says anything?

3) Use your own experience in good and bad discussions as a guide. Remember all the bad discussions you've had to sit through. Don't repeat their mistakes

4) What tends to silence people? What kinds of questions are intimidating, off-putting, unanswerable, patronizing? What kinds invite good discussion? How do you build on previous comments and help the class to do so?

5) You need not have answers to every question you raise, but you should raise good questions, know where in the text to look for answers, and have a plan for leading a discussion that might discover answers.

6) Don't limit the discussion to questions on which you have answers. Use the discussion as an occasion to inquire jointly with other prepared students into questions you find interesting and important.

7) Be creative! Do something different. Make it interesting. Use small groups, use the board, use a computer, use props, and use dramatization. Use your imagination. There's lots of room for creativity in this assignment. (Try to make sure that your innovations enhance, or at least don't detract from, the content.)

8) You don't have to be experts who lecture or who have all the answers. If after a while you feel under pressure to expound or expatiate, then something has gone wrong. Back out of it rather than give in to it. This should be a discussion.

9) In both the presentation and discussion portions of the hour, address the class, not me.

CLN4U Student Lead Critical Discussion SLCD

Limited / Approaching / Sufficient / Insightful / comments
Expectation / I / - R + / - 1 + / - 2 + / - 3 + / - 4 +
Social Structures / SS 4
Religion and the Human Experience / R&H Exp 1
R&H Exp 2
Research and Inquiry / R&I 2
R&I 4
R&I 5
R&I 6
Understanding of content (e.g., concepts,
Idea, theories,
Subject- specific content acquired in each course (knowledge), and the comprehension of its meaning and significance (understanding) / demonstrates limited
understanding of
content / demonstrates some
understanding of
content / demonstrates
considerable understanding
of content / demonstrates
thorough understanding
of content
Use of processing skills and critical thinking(e.g., analysing, generating, integrating, synthesizing, evaluating, detecting point of view and bias)
The use of critical and creative thinking skills and/or processes / uses processing
skills / critical thinking with limited effectiveness / uses processing
skills / critical thinking with some effectiveness / uses processing
skills / critical thinking with considerable
effectiveness / uses processing
skills / critical thinking with thorough effectiveness
Expression and organization of ideas and information (e.g., clear expression, logical organization) in oral, written and visual forms
The conveying of meaning through various forms / expresses and
organizes ideas and
information with
limited effectiveness / expresses and
organizes ideas and
information with
Some
effectiveness / expresses and
organizes ideas
and information
with considerable
effectiveness / expresses and
organizes ideas
and information
with a high degree
of effectiveness