1) You will need to develop an outline for the discussion, indicating what
points you want covered and list potential questions that will draw these
points out. The list of questions developed for the Critique of a Scientific
Research Paper is an excellent starting point. You may need to modify them to
make the questions more directly relevant to the paper you are discussing.
2) Develop a list of follow-up questions or references. If no one answers
the question you pose, or answers in a way that you did not anticipate, you
need to be able to guide them to the answer you think needs to be discussed.
This can be done with a more pointed question or with reference to a part of
the text and a follow-up like "What does that refer to?" or
"What do you think of that statement?"
3) Do not be scared of silence. It may mean people are thinking. Sometimes it
is productive to make someone with a quick answer to a question wait so that
everyone can process the question. Many teachers will slowly, silently count
to ten as an appropriate wait time before adding a follow-up question or
comment.
4) You need to encourage full participation in the group. Sometimes this
means stifling a dominant group member and almost always involves finding
ways to encourage participation from people who are not. Techniques for the
latter include calling on specific people, asking for comment from
"those that have not yet commented", asking everyone to write out
the answer to a question, or going around the group asking each person to
briefly comment on a specific question.
5) If possible, strive for a discussion where the participates are
interacting with each other directly, not exclusively through you. This is
difficult to manage when it is also your responsibility to guide the
discussion and control the time.
6) Don't be too rigid. The group may identify a new and interesting topic
or idea that you did not anticipate. Let them pursue it. However, …
7) Manage the time. Make sure you know how much time you have and be
clear which topics, ideas, or information you feel MUST be covered. Move the
discussion along so you can get to the information you need.
