New teachers are warned against giving lectures all
the time. However, it is important to note that there is a time and a place for a good lecture. With that said, however, most lectures can benefit from the addition of questions leading to a Group Discussion situation. I've written two articles that look at the pros and cons of both lectures and discussions. Hopefully each of these can help you as you make choices for lesson plans throughout the year.
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Comments
(Whole)Group Discussion is usually touted as better than plain lecture in teacher’s ed courses, but there’s a very big catch: students are proficient in the language used for discussion. I once taught EFL students college-level courses, and in the discussion mode, most wouldn’t participate. However, for some section, I was fortunate enough to get several exchange students from Loyola Marymount, and needless to say, I dove into the discussion mode even though it was primarily discussion among just 2-4 literate students and me in a class of 120! Yes, for profs like me, discussion mode is more interesting.
Nice, balanced view of both types of discussion. To add, I find that hold students accountable for the discussion via a graded discussion technique ups the ante and draws other-wise quiet students into the give-and-take. Details on my class discussion procedures at Group Discussion Techniques
There are several problems with discussions in the high school classroom: several students do not participate an most do not follow the exchange of ideas, several students begin to follow their basic assumption of pairing and talk to each other often interfering with the discussion. So, instead of discussion, a question-and-answer session is in order where the teacher calls on students because they raise their hand or because they do not and tries to draw everyone into readiness to answer the questions. As for lectures, the great misconception is that presenting new information is lecturing. The primary job of teachers is to present new information in a way that all students can grasp it with their consciousness. New information should be given in small short chunks, the teacher should demonstrate this new information with props likes maps and diagram or models. The presentation should include comprehension questions along the way and comprehension or discussion question at the end of the presentation. The word lecture refers to an hour+ long monologue. Instead, in high school classrooms, every teacher action should be followed by a student action, and the more of these exchanges the better.
What we have here is one more bell tolling the end of good education., The game plan for the past decade has been to let students teach themselves and other students in the classroom and “discuss” information they don’t even know and probably won’t ever get because their teachers are “being warned” not to lecture. What balderdash!
Today very few teachers know how to lecture. Teachers are not trained in giving good lectures, so except for the rare person who naturally knows how they never learn. They are instead “warned” that lectures are discriminatory and make them better than their students; since there must be equality in the classroom, students must “discuss” to learn. Sorry, learning doesn’t happen that way.
Some of the best teachers I ever had were in large lecture halls of 500+ at Boston University. They enthralled and enraptured the students because of their passion for their subject and their desire to communicate it. A great teacher shines. Warning new teachers not to lecture is like saying learning about your field is unnecessary. Teaching is just “methodology”. That point of view is dangerous. How do you advance a field of study if you don’t know what came before?
Good education does not derive from elitist educational institutions warning new teachers to do only as they direct. It comes knowing your subject matter, and understanding how to communicate your passion to each student.