Video: Instructional Practices
Instructional Moves: Facilitating Discussions
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Adriana’s
Recommendation
This collection of videos is great for those who want to hear directly from faculty and students about their experiences leading and participating in discussion. The website helpfully organizes the videos into three categories so that viewers can more easily find the topics that are relevant to them: "framing the discussion," "balancing and pacing," and "responding to students".
Powerful class discussions may seem natural, even spontaneous, but they are typically the result of careful planning, clear intentions, and concrete strategies. From the physical layout of a classroom to the skillful wording of that genuinely provocative question, pedagogic considerations abound. Although facilitators’ styles can range from subtle to direct, effective instructors tend to strike a balance between organic conversation and focused discourse.
Facilitating Discussions videos are organized into three submodules: Framing the Discussion, Balancing and Pacing, and Responding to Students. Classroom footage, student testimonials, and interviews with featured faculty present a range of moves designed to lead more thought-provoking, equitable, structured, student-centered discussions.
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