Opening the discussion

Greetings to you all! Hope you enjoyed Valentine's Day!

Elizabeth Meadows writes:

"Hello, Sophie,
I am interested in learning more from and with others in this on-line forum about leading interpretive discussions. In particular, I want to learn more about how to start one. Sometimes, I give my Basic Question. Other times, I ask the group if someone has a "burning" question, given that each student has brought two interpretive questions to the discussion. After several people share, I see if the group seems to be interested in a shared concern. It may be a question that someone asked or it may be a question that arises from several people sharing their questions. At other times, I ask students to share interpretive questions that they bring to the discussion with a partner. Then, the partners work to come up with a question that both want to try to resolve. Then, the pairs all share their questions. It is a challenge after they do this to decide on which question to pursue.
In general, I want to help the group identify a shared concern fairly quickly in order to use the time that we have left to work to try to resolve it together, using the text.
Thanks to anyone who has suggestions for me about this.
Elizabeth"

Thanks so much for your question, Elizabeth. Yes, it can be hard to know what to do to get the discussion started. I think your your idea about partners is sometimes a good strategy. But as you say, it can be hard to pick one question over another when six or seven pairs have suggested questions.

I have two thoughts--not solutions to your important question but possible approaches to reaching a resolution:

1) Question the speakers as they offer their questions so that you are sure you/they/others are clear about the point of doubt. Often they are not clear themselves. If you can ask them questions about what they have said, you can help them to clarify their queries and also, give others a chance to grasp what the speakers are trying to ask.

2) If you ask people to pair up and discuss their questions, then question them about what they mean when they report their shared questions to the group. Ask them about the technical terms in the question, similarities and differences between their question and others they have heard, and places in the text that suggest the question and/or resolution.

Hope these comments are helpful. Remember that your goal is to build the question--to help people clarify its meaning so that attempts to resolve it are relevant. That means the question must become clear and the others in the group must get interested in it.

Thanks so very much for your question. What do you think about the above comments?

Best wishes,

Sophie