Improving Classroom Discussion: A Rhetorical Approach

Abstract

Classroom discussion, with its focus on active learning, critical thinking, and cooperative inquiry, is attractive in theory but often disappointing in practice. following scenario, described by professor Mark Edmundson (1997), may sound familiar: Teaching Wordsworth's 'Tintern Abbey,' you ask for comments. No one responds. So you call on Stephen. Stephen: 'The sound, this poem really flows.' You: 'Stephen seems interested in the music of the poem. We might extend his comment to ask if the poem's music coheres with its argument. Are they consistent? Or is there an emotional pain submerged here that's contrary to the poem's appealing melody?' (p. 43). Edmundson suggests that this scenario might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it is not far off the mark. Despite our high hopes, discussions often flounder, marked by awkward silences, blank stares, and superficial comments. Is it any wonder that this pedagogical approach has earned the moniker The Dreaded (Frederick, 1981)? In this article, I describe a project designed to take the dread out of discus sion in a first-year interdisciplinary humanities course at Sewanee: Univer sity of the South, a private liberal arts college in Tennessee. Responsible Intellectual Discussion project, known as rid, was created in conjunction with the college's Eloquence Initiative, a speaking-across-the-curriculum effort in which I served as a consultant.1 By virtue of its association with the speak ing initiative, rid was informed not only by familiar literature on discussion methods (e.g., Brookfield & Preskill, 1999; Neff & Weimer, 1989; Rosmarin,