Is whole-class discussion really effective?

I'm not convinced.

I’ve spent a lot of time over the past year learning about high-quality curricula, in math and other subjects too. I’ve been fortunate to meet with many of the brilliant individuals behind those curricula, to share how I think the Modern Classroom model can help teachers implement their carefully crafted lessons more effectively.

These curriculum designers approach content and instruction in different ways. But when they learn about our model, they often share a similar response. At some point, many of these experts say something like:

“I see the appeal of self-paced, mastery-based learning. But our curriculum emphasizes rich, whole-class discussion. Where does that fit into the Modern Classroom model?”

I’ve now heard this many times, from many smart people. I understand why they believe whole-class discussion is valuable. But I remain unconvinced.

One Big Question: Is Whole-Class Discussion Ever Really Rich?

In theory, I can see why whole-class discussion sounds appealing. In theory, whole-class discussion is interesting for learners - a class of twenty-five students can offer twenty-five different perspectives - and efficient for teachers: they can help every student engage with new content all at once.

But in practice, I find that whole-class discussion rarely lives up to that promise. In practice:

• Some students dominate discussion. Students who are more confident - in themselves or in the content - tend to speak up, while their less-confident classmates do not. Teachers can try to call on quieter students, or give weaker students easier questions, but this can be awkward for teachers and students alike.

• Some students tune out. It’s likely that, in any whole-class lesson, advanced students will be bored while struggling students will feel lost. (More on that here.) It’s natural for them to lose interest, and frustrating for teachers when they do.

• Some students aren’t there. Chronic absenteeism is on the rise. And it’s hard for a student who’s absent - or even a student who’s physically in class, but distracted by circumstances outside of it - to learn much from a live, whole-class discussion.

Worst of all, however, is that in a typical class of twenty-plus students, whole-class discussions just don’t give students many chances to participate. One student speaks at a time, and the rest spend most of their time sitting and listening. Sitting and listening for most of class just isn’t a great way to learn.

Maybe I was just a bad facilitator. My whole-class discussions often looked like this.

So I get why whole-class discussions sound good in theory. And I know from experience how stimulating whole-class discussions can feel for teachers: it can be intellectually, emotionally, and even physically exhilarating to stand before a class of learners and direct the flow of a discussion. It’s what teachers in the movies do, and it can make us teachers feel like movie stars ourselves.¹

But ultimately we teach for our students’ benefit. And when one of twenty-plus students speaks, while a class full of diverse learners sits and tries to listen, it’s usually neither interesting nor efficient. So most of our students don’t benefit.

Two Alternatives to Whole-Class Instruction

It is not the critic who counts. So while I’m criticizing whole-class discussion, I also want to suggest two more effective alternatives.

The next time you’re asked to lead a whole-class discussion, ask yourself:

• Can students access this information on videos? Many whole-class discussions are designed to elicit different perspectives in the hopes of illuminating new concepts or skills. Showing different perspectives is a great way to teach.

  But it’s also possible - and much more efficient - to demonstrate different approaches and explain new ideas on videos, which any student can access at any time, anywhere. Embedded questions can make videos more engaging than any whole-class discussion: every student can answer every question, without fear of their classmates’ reactions. And you as a teacher can spend your time providing targeted support, rather than keeping your students quiet.

  If the objective of a whole-class discussion is helping students acquire new skills, use an instructional video instead.
  

• Can students have this discussions in small groups? Discussion also helps students develop social and conversational skills. I believe these are actually more important than any content students learn - and with everything students could ever learn available online, it’s the opportunity to interact with their peers that makes going to school worthwhile in the first place. Discussion is essential.

  But if you really want students to build their discussion skills, you should have them discuss things in small groups. This lowers the stakes of each discussion, gives students more chances to participate, and helps students build relationships with one another. Small-group discussions also allow for more self-paced learning: if three students happen to be absent on Monday, they can make up Monday’s discussion on Tuesday while their classmates move on.

  Maybe it’s just me, but I always find discussions with a small group of friends or colleagues much more engaging and productive than discussions of twenty-plus people. And I think most students do too.²

  

  When students work together, it’s usually more engaging, productive, and (for most students at least) fun.

And if the answer to both these questions is “no,” of course, then by all means teach whole-class! There are certainly activities - complex simulations or demonstrations, games, Socratic seminars - that work best when students all engage simultaneously.

But if a discussion’s purpose can be served by a video, use a video. And if a discussion can happen in small groups, have it in small groups.

Besides, that will only make the true whole-class activities feel more special.

Three Tools for Collaborative, Video-Enhanced Learning

Just kidding! I never liked those lists of “XX tech tools you should use:” the more tools you share, the harder it is to see how or why any teacher should use any specific one.

What I actually want to share are three different ways in which teachers are using one tech tool - Insta~Lesson, one tool to rule them all - to enact some of the ideas above.

• Daryl, a history teacher in Switzerland, uses Insta~Lesson to create sub plans. He wrote that “it took less than 10 minutes to create the lesson and upload to Google Classroom. The sub said, ‘easiest part of my day, all students were quiet and worked throughout.’”

• Doni, a science teacher in Texas, is using Insta-lesson for state-testing prep as well as regular classwork. She writes that “Insta-Lesson makes it easy to make individualized lessons with only the standards that each student needs to review”.

• Kristen, a special-education teacher in Illinois, uses Insta~Lesson to create slideshows for her class. (We're currently working on a feature that will do this automatically.) Her principal observed one of her lessons and was impressed!

I started building this tool to help teachers draft self-paced, mastery-based lessons. But you can use it however you want. And I hope you will!

1. As in the movies there really are amazing teachers who can, by sheer force of personality, command the attention and engagement of a whole class at once. But most of us teachers aren’t movie stars, nor should we pretend to be. We should look instead for strategies that any teacher can use to keep every learner engaged.

2. Amazon is famous for its two-pizza rule: no meeting should include more people than can be fed by two large pizzas. This makes meetings efficient and it should make student discussions efficient too.

And it’s possible, of course, that students will prefer whole-class discussions: those discussions require much less work! It’s easy for students to tune out in a group of twenty-plus, while a three-person discussion requires thought and effort. But I believe that every student ultimately wants to learn, and small groups ultimately create conditions that make engaging - and therefore learning - easier.