5 Ground Rules for Online Classroom Discussion by Cristin Peratt on November 9, 2020 Somehow, online course discussions tend to spiral out of control quicker than in-person debates. 10. Set book selection rules. Ira Shor, Empowering Education: Critical Teaching for Social Change (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996); Seth Kreisberg, Transforming Power: Domination, Empowerment, and Education (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1992). They were not resisting the exercise, but were asking for some tools from me, the subject matter expert. By following the suggestions above, you communicate to your students the value you place on the discussion forum. We should keep tempers in check. To all teachers who are committed to the idea of encouraging students’ empowerment, speaking out, and community building (6 Power, Authority, and Governance), I offer several rationales for building ground rules in order to improve our pedagogy. Ground rules are not the most important part of the dialogue process, but as grammar is to language, rules establish parameters for clarity and usage; they help students find a common language across their diverse experiences and backgrounds. Work of any kind requires communication—and you may need to broach difficult subjects. “Netiquette” refers to rules of etiquette that apply to online communication. It is the students, then, not the teacher, who will have responsibility for developing and enforcing the ground rules. Establishing ground rules or guidelines. The Golden Rule is one of the most important rules for all interaction. Second, teachers should be aware of how ground rules fit into a larger context of community building. 7. They break. This is the first year that I have encouraged students to establish their own ground rules, and I have observed changes in student attitudes. The bottom line is that many students desperately want to talk about diversity and how it affects their lives. Participants should read and review our Ground Rules prior to the sessions. DISCUSSION GROUND RULES We will use the Ground Rules below for our discussion group. GROUND RULES: Be willing to acknowledge that sexism and racism exist. Report Glitches: Discussion forums are electronic. 41. Rather, hooks says, the school environment often resists critical thought and true intellectual pursuits. No slurs or intentionally hurtful remarks are allowed. Yet discussing diversity issues can often be trying and even painful for some students. Do be respectful of other members with different opinions. To ensure a civil conversation: Show respect for the views expressed by others, even if you strongly disagree. Born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, in 1952, Gloria Watkins assumed the pen name “bell hooks” to honor her grandmother (of the same name) and to choose a professional identity that was wholly her own. There are a couple ways to decide which books to read: Let anyone propose a book, then have the club vote on the options. 5. After all, learning to understand and appreciate diversity is not something we can do for them; ideally, a teacher should set positive examples, teach tolerance, and show the importance of respecting differences, rather than trying to break and reset students’ minds into a mold of the teacher’s devising. In other words, the students find their own voices mingling in a chorus within and about diversity. While many public organizations use parliamentary procedure as a form of ground rules, such formal rules may not be sufficient or appropriate for guiding public discussion. (Download Ground Rules) One of the hallmarks of a democracy is its citizens' willingness to express, defend, and perhaps reexamine their own opinions, while being respectful of the views of others. Members new to these issues are encouraged to spend time reading and listening. 1. Although she is a notable academic (BA Stanford University; MA University of Wisconsin; PhD University of California, Santa Cruz), hooks argues that academia is not the sole purveyor of important intellectual work. Everyone should feel respected and heard in a community of their brothers and sisters in Christ. Listen and speak with the same respect you would like shown to you. As more and more classes include online discussion components, it becomes more and more important for instructors to understand the rules of etiquette that, when followed, help make the individual postings easy to follow, keep the conversation thread focused, and the overall discussion on-track. Time: 45 minutes. Take responsibility for your own learning. Whenever you hope to facilitate conversations on social justice concerns, whether preparing for a one-hour workshop or weaving such discussions into a year-long class, a vital first step is the development of guidelines for participation. 3. bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom (New York: Routledge, 1994). The class I use this exercise for is an upper-level seminar of about 15 students. Through teaching courses in diversity and multiculturalism, I have discovered that establishing ground rules from day one allows my students to have clear guidelines for their participation that encourage openness, sharing, and understanding. Deena C. McKinney is an associate professor at St. Leo College in Lake City, Florida. For this reason, I believe the key to using ground rules is consistent modeling by the secondary teacher. Acknowledge that we are all systematically taught misinformation about our own group and about members of other groups. On the basis of this type of incident, I have considered making ground rules part of a learning contract in diversity and multicultural education courses. Here, I focus on the preservice education classroom; the techniques, however, can be adopted for any setting and any grade level (see the inset on page 25 by Vicki Lynch). MULTICULTURAL GROUND RULES FOR DISCUSSION. Indeed, the students often exceed my expectations of their performance in classroom discussion. 2. Although no one ever directly stated the rules that would govern our conduct, it was taught by example and reinforced by a system of rewards. From Teaching to Transgress, pages 178-179. However, I think…”). April 2, 2019 | In Classroom Management | By Trevor Muir. Students have expressed appreciation for being allowed to help determine the operation of the classroom. Different students also volunteered each week to be monitors or “gatekeepers”; they held the power and responsibility for making sure class discussions progressed smoothly.4 I was surprised and pleased to discover that the students’ rules were similar to those written by seventh graders as well as college freshmen, as described by other teachers.5 As the course continued, students became more assertive as monitors, quickly yet politely reminding classmates about following rules and sharing their own perspectives to defeat silence (0 Civic Ideals and Practices). 6. CONFIDENTIALITY: What is said in the group stays in the group. Support your views with evidence and examples. Your challenge is to create open and productive discussions where people feel safe sharing their experiences and perspectives, and are receptive to learning. (Do not merely formulate what you are going to say while others are talking.) In a secondary classroom, it is a helpful exercise for students to establish and practice using ground rules for discussion. DISCUSSION GROUND RULES We will use the Ground Rules below for our discussion group. 5. We have all made mistakes, and we have all done good things. While such a contract has no tangible penalties for violation, many students tend to take the idea of a signed statement more seriously than a verbal agreement or list of rules, considering it a personal “commitment.”6. By Linda Fisher Thornton Talking about controversial topics has become a daunting task. Some people bristle at the idea of setting “Ground Rules” because it sounds too restrictive and punitive. Even though students enter the “democratic” classroom believing they have the right to “free speech,” most students are not comfortable exercising this right. When the subject matter is diversity awareness, the immediate need is to build a community of learners with bridges of understanding. Encourage students to think about what must occur for a discussion to be successful. Increase participation and the sharing of idea… Use the important points below as ground rules for discussing potentially emotionally charged issues: First, as teachers, we need to recognize the ownership students can experience in their own classrooms. Finally, after actually having a few discussions and seeing the ground rules put into practice, the class added several more rules that helped clarify previous ones: 9. Acknowledge that opinions are often not right or wrong, but merely different. I facilitated the discussions with prompts, asking students to express their views in first-person statements (“I believe… I have experienced”) rather than as absolute assertions. hooks is author of several books, including Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom (New York: Routledge, 1994), in which she applies to the classroom her philosophy of liberation from social hierarchies and prejudices. I expect students to attend and actively participate in class – both speaking and listening to others. Abstract: Traditionally, instructors use tools such as e-mail and discussion forum for online discussions. When a teacher does not strictly monitor a discussion, some students feel personally challenged and are reluctant to participate. Listen with respect. Bring Issues to the Table. National Council for the Social Studies, Expectations of Excellence: Curriculum Standards for Social Studies (Washington, DC: NCSS, 1994). Where else will they find a forum as open and, ideally, as safe as a social studies classroom with ground rules? Ground rules, dos and don’ts. However, my own approach to ground rules is taken from writings in critical and feminist pedagogy, wherein students come to have consciousness and power for themselves through use of dialogue and critical reflection (4 Individual Development and Identity).1 Teachers using this framework act as subject matter experts regarding curriculum and methods, but encourage students to be experts with regard to their own experiences and perspectives. What can make any classroom a safe haven for discussing fearful topics, such as racism, sexism, and ageism? Netiquette: Ground Rules for Online Discussions. We know there probably won’t be hurt feelings; it’s like we’ve sort of already apologized for anything that may be said. Try to put your statements in a factual or non-accusatory form. Ground rules are a short list of expectations to guide how a group works together. Students have spoken up more to express their views and feelings. 12. Sometimes I ask students to begin every response with a positive remark of some kind to another speaker (“I respect your comment. Such ground rules are especially important when discussing controversial or otherwise challenging topics. Encouraging students to write their own rules for discussion and choose their own monitors puts power into their hands and helps them develop a sense of trust. As teachers, we should seek to encourage the construction of such safe places for the spoken word. Equity & Inclusion Group Ground Rules Adapted from UT Astronomy E&I Discussion Group Ground Rules by Caitlin Casey, Brandon Bozek, and Raquel Martinez. They have practiced expressing disagreement and compromising. Jerome Rabow, Michelle Charness, Johanna Kipperman, and Susan Radcliffe-Vasile, William Fawcett Hil#146;s Learning Through Discussion (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1994). Thinking this over, the students then added a few rules of their own: 4. Most students responded positively to the idea of ground rules for discussion. Setting Ground Rules For Class Discussion. LISTEN: Let’s value one another during the discussions by really listening to what is being shared. When the obsession with maintaining order is coupled with the fear of “losing face,” of not being thought well of by one’s professor and peers, all possibility of constructive dialogue is undermined. In the event that one or more students try to draw the instructor into an emotional response, the ground rules for discussion can play a vital role, and the instructor can model constructive behavior in demonstrating how to unpack such a heated moment by reviewing what had led up to it, in pointing out differences between baiting, debating, and discussing, and/or steering the discussion into a more … They are sometimes called working agreements, guidelines, or expectations. Every teacher has had that certain privilege, pleasure, and anxiety of facing a new class full of unfamiliar faces. Words are connections between people.7 Of course, students bring their own contexts, languages, and lessons learned from memberships in other communities.8 Words are fragments of dialogue that are the building blocks of communication in the classroom. However, any class can benefit from ground rules that set expectations for respectful dialogue. 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