Group Discussion with Brainstorming: An Interactive Method to Facilitate A Classroom or Small Group Discussion

When mentoring our pre-service and in-service teachers we need to describe and model both research-based and clinically tested best practices. Accordingly our mentees should know about the Classroom Discussion Model of Teaching.

One interactive method to facilitate a classroom or small group discussion is Group Discussion with Brainstorming. An explanation of the rules for engagement follows:

Group Discussion with Brainstorming

This is a structured group discussion procedure where the rules for brainstorming are followed. The general rules for brainstorming are as follows.

· You may say anything that comes to mind during the allotted time limit (determined by the teacher or the group).

· You may repeat or modify the ideas previously presented.

· You may not discuss, praise, criticize, or reject the ideas presented.

· Select someone to record the ideas suggested.

· Evaluate ideas after brainstorming is completed.

On the next post we will share another small group or whole class discussion procedure called Group Discussion with Nominal Brainstorming.