Many new instructors find leading a discussion about an assigned text particularly challenging. Although you may occasionally have a great spontaneous discussion, leading discussion well typically requires some preparation.
Have a Purpose
Have a purpose and direction for your discussion and analysis. You may find it helpful to write a list of progressive discussion questions with page numbers to reference for specific examples. If your discussion questions don’t generate the response you anticipate, sometimes broader, open-ended questions will get students talking without any pressure to produce the “right” answer.
Once they have opened up a little, you can either go back to your original plan or decide that this new conversational thread is even more productive.
Make Sure Students Prepare
Perhaps the most common roadblock to a good discussion is that students have not read the material. An easy and effective solution to that is giving a short reading quiz at the beginning of class. Tell students to prepare for the quiz by reading carefully or taking notes on a specific topic.
Alternatively, you can ask students to answer questions about the reading as homework or plan to do a short reading response in class. This will help to focus attention on a particular issue and help students formulate their opinions.
Combine Discussion with Activities
One way to facilitate discussion is to combine it with an activity. For example, try breaking the students into small groups and assigning each group a discussion question that they will present to the class with examples from the text.
Regardless of which approach you choose, don’t give up if students don’t respond immediately. Getting a class to talk can take some patience, and the students may need some time at the beginning of the semester to feel comfortable talking in front of their peers.