Another approach is tohave students suggest topics at the outset of the discussion session, and then help them to focus on the most crucial questions. In any discussion, you will need to draw out and guide students' comments. Provide students with specific questions to be discussed the following week, in order to help them prepare for the next discussion section. Plan to cover sufficient material so that you can move on if your questions or remarks are not successful in initiating discussion. Try to assess the group's background in the course material to avoid assuming too little or too much knowledge.
Students often appreciate a chance to articulate their concerns.
But with a group that needs more coaxing, you might begin by asking for opinions of certain aspects of the course material. Be as specific as possible in the initial questions by referring to a particular passage in an assigned reading or to a handout, chart, or table. Critical questions examine the cogency of an author's arguments, judging them according to internal logic or faithfulness to the evidence. Because students may lack confidence and, therefore, be reluctant to assess what they have read, you may want to suggest alternatives to an author's viewpoint or indicate passages where an author's conclusions are questionable or conditional. On the other hand, you may need to discourage overly hasty judgments by helping the students understand that it is their responsibility to grasp the dimensions of an argument before criticizing it.