Kahn, E. (Mar 2007). Building fires: raising achievement through class discussion. English Journal, 96, 16-19. Retrieved March 7, 2008 from ProQuest database.
An Annotation by Laurie Walsh
The author, a high school English teacher, cites several researchers to prove that discussion enhances student achievement in reading. She differentiates between discussion and extended recitation. Discussion must involve an “open, dialogic exchange of ideas among students and authentic questions – open-ended rather than known-answer testlike questions” (1).
One method to engage students is to introduce a conflict or controversy. These can be teacher created or stem from conflicting literary interpretations. This teacher uses blogs for some discussions. She does have ground rules, and she initially has to model how to directly address others’ comments on the blog.
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