One Montgomery Street, Suite 1000, San Francisco, CA 94104-4594—www.josseybass.com
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on theWeb at www.copyright.com. Requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer ofWarranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. Readers should be aware that InternetWeb sites offered as citations and/or sources for further information may have changed or disappeared between the time this was written and when it is read.
Jossey-Bass books and products are available through most bookstores. To contact Jossey-Bass directly call our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-956-7739, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3986, or fax 317-572-4002.
Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is Available:
ISBN 978-1-119-04971-5 (paper)
ISBN 978-1-119-05091-9 (ePDF)
ISBN 978-1-119-05096-4 (ePUB)
Cover design by Wiley
FIRST EDITION
Preface
This is a short book so this will be a short preface.
The two of us have long wanted a brief and accessible book—a manual, really—that collected the best techniques to start discussion, keep it going, and stay focused. This would be the kind of book you could stuff into a pocket or purse as you walked to chair a meeting, teach a class, or run a professional development workshop. On the way you could scan it to get a couple of new techniques to try out that day. To paraphrase Dragnet's Joe Friday, we wanted a manual containing “just the facts ma'am” or, rather, just the techniques.
Audience
Our audience for this book is probably the largest one either of us has ever written for. Essentially we hope that anyone who uses some kind of group discussion process in any setting at all will find it valuable. The convener of a corporate decision-making meeting or the leader of a community town hall or congregation will find this just as beneficial as will a classroom teacher.
We have tried out these techniques in an incredible variety of settings. In addition to the hundreds of schools and colleges we have worked with, these have been used in places as varied as the Occupy movement, corporations (including IBM, 3M, CA Technologies, ARCO Oil), post–Hurricane Sandy community groups, the military, health care organizations, churches, and nonprofit organizations such as the Theater Development Fund in New York. Educational institutions using them have been as diverse as fashion institutes, schools of mining, chiropractic and Asian medicine colleges, schools for the deaf, seminaries, tribal colleges, and, of course, multiple two- and four-year colleges and universities.
So, if you're looking for some quick and easy techniques to try out in your meetings, workshops, or classrooms that will get people participating, focus the conversation, and keep the energy level high, then this is the book for you!
Overview of Contents
This book doesn't have traditional chapters, just a listing of fifty techniques we find applicable for multiple purposes in multiple settings, We imagine readers approaching a meeting, class, or workshop thinking, “I need to get more discussion going today,” “as a group we need to listen better to what each other is saying,” or “how am I going to democratize the session today so more people participate?”
We created a brief user guide to the book that identifies ten categories, each of which identifies a particular purpose the techniques are suited to. If this is your first time working with a group, you'd go to the first category on getting discussions going and consider trying something from there. If you feel that a few people are dominating the conversation then you'd consult the category on democratizing participation and select one of the ten techniques listed.
This means you as a reader don't need to look through a list of fifty techniques and pick one that fits. And you don't need to go through this book sequentially. Instead you can start with whichever of the following categories that seem to address your situation the best and see if any of the techniques listed there could work with your group.
Top Ten Techniques to Get Discussion Going with New Groups
Top Ten Techniques to Promote Good Questioning
Top Ten Techniques to Foster Active Listening
Top Ten Techniques for Holding Discussions without Speech
Top Ten Techniques to Get People out of their Comfort Zone
Top Ten Techniques for Text-Based Discussions
Top Ten Techniques to Democratize Participation
Top Ten Techniques to Transition from Small to Large Groups
Top Ten Techniques for Building Group Cohesion
Top Ten Techniques for Discussions Requiring a Decision
Because many of the techniques we use show up in multiple categories, we end with a list of the Top Ten Techniques That Best Serve Multiple Discussion Purposes.
Website
As an accompaniment to the book we have created a website devoted to it: www.thediscussionbook.com/. There you can find out how to contact us, reviews and applications of the techniques we've used, and examples of other techniques we couldn't fit into a short manual.
User Guide
Top Ten Techniques to Get Discussion Going with New Groups
Circle of Voices
Chalk Talk
Participation Rubric
Think-Pair-Share
Today's Meet
Appreciative Pause
Single Word Sum-Ups
Setting Ground Rules
The Three-Person Rule
Quick Writes
Top Ten Techniques to Promote Good Questioning
Strategic Questioning
Open-ended Questions
Nominating Questions
If You Could Only Ask One Question
On-the-Spot Questions
What Do You Think?
Clearness Committee
Team Modeling
Question Brainstorm
Narrative Listening and Questioning
Top Ten Techniques to Foster Active Listening
Circular Response
Critical Conversation Protocol
What Are You Hearing?
Understanding Check
Stand Where You Stand
Clearness Committee
Team Modeling
Circle of Voices
Narrative Listening and Questioning
Single Word Sum-Ups
Top Ten Techniques for Holding Discussions without Speech
Newsprint Dialogue
Drawing Discussion
Musicalizing Discussion
Structured Silence
Writing Discussion
Appreciative Pause–Sticky Note Plaudit
Critical Incident Questionnaire (CIQ)
Chalk Talk
Today's Meet
Quick Writes
Top Ten Techniques to Get People out of Their Comfort Zone
Methodological Belief
Justifiable Pressure
Cocktail Party
Dramatizing Discussion
Musicalizing Discussion
Drawing Discussion
Stand Where You Stand
Clearness Committee
Chalk Talk
Today's Meet
Top Ten Techniques for Text-Based Discussions
Hatful of Quotes
Quotes to Affirm and Challenge
Jigsaw
Titling the Text
Critical Debate
Deliberative Polling
Stand Where You Stand
If You Could Only Ask One Question
Question Brainstorm
Quick Writes
Top Ten Techniques to Democratize Participation
Common Ground
Deliberative Polling
Participatory Decision Making
Circle of Voices
Chalk Talk
Critical Incident Questionnaire (CIQ)
Newsprint Dialogue
Circular Response
Nominating Questions
Today's Meet
Top Ten Techniques to Transition from Small to Large Groups
Rotating Stations
Snowballing
Canvassing for Common Ground
Newsprint Dialogue
Drawing Discussion
Musicalizing Discussion
Dramatizing Discussion
Stand Where You Stand
Nominating Questions
Critical Incident Questionnaire (CIQ)
Top Ten Techniques for Building Group Cohesion
Mutual Invitation
Understanding Check
Circular Response
Critical Incident Questionnaire
Narrative Listening and Questioning
Jigsaw
Appreciative Pause–Sticky Note Plaudit
Clearness Committee
Common Ground
Participatory Decision Making
Top Ten Techniques for Discussions Requiring a Decision
Deliberative Polling
Participatory Decision Making
Canvassing for Common Ground
Clearness Committee
Critical Incident Questionnaire (CIQ)
Nominating Questions
Titling the Text
Jigsaw
Critical Conversation Protocol
What Do You Think?
Top Ten Techniques That Best Serve Multiple Discussion Purposes
Conversational Moves
Conversational Roles
Facilitator Summation
Circle of Voices
Participation Rubric
Team Modeling
Setting Ground Rules
Today's Meet
Chalk Talk
Critical Conversation Protocol
Acknowledgments
Stephen Brookfield would like to acknowledge his colleague, friend, and coauthor, Steve Preskill. Steve suggested the book, provided the passion that fueled it, and was a consistently creative, energetic, and funny partner. The two of us have worked on three books together now and all have been a delight. To have a best friend be a professional collaborator is a rare gift and one for which Stephen is eternally grateful.
Stephen Preskill would like to acknowledge Stephen Brookfield for agreeing to write another book with him and for more than twenty years of warm friendship and productive collaborations. Stephen has been an unending source of humor, good fun, and creative energy. And with Stephen's support and mentorship, Steve has not only become a much better writer and teacher, he has become a better person as well.
Both of us would like to thank all the community members, workshop participants, colleagues, and students who have told us over the years, “I tried that out and here's how it worked.” You helped us hone and refine these techniques to serve a wide audience.
The Authors
Stephen D. Brookfield has written, coauthored, and edited seventeen books on adult learning, teaching, and critical thinking, six of which have won the Cyril O. Houle World Award for Literature in Adult Education (in 1986, 1989, 1996, 2005, 2011, and 2012). He also won the 1986 Imogene Okes Award for Outstanding Research in Adult Education and the 2013 Phillip E. Frandson Award for Outstanding Literature in Continuing Education. His work has been translated into German, Finnish, Korean, Japanese, Polish, and Chinese. He has been awarded three honorary doctor of letters degrees from the University System of New Hampshire (1991), Concordia University (2003), and Muhlenberg College (2010) for his contributions to understanding adult learning and shaping adult education. In 2001 he received the Leadership Award from the Association for Continuing Higher Education (ACHE) for “extraordinary contributions to the general field of continuing education on a national and international level.” He currently serves on the editorial boards of educational journals in Britain, Canada, Italy, and Australia, as well as in the United States. During 2002 he was a visiting professor at Harvard University. After a decade as professor of higher and adult education at Columbia University in New York City, he has spent the last twenty years at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he holds the title of the John Ireland Endowed Chair. In 2008 he won the university's Diversity in Teaching and Research Award and the John Ireland Teaching and Scholarship Award. In 2008 he was also awarded the Morris T. Keeton Award from the Council on Adult and Experiential Learning. In 2009 he was inducted into the International Adult Education Hall of Fame.
Stephen Preskill was most recently named professor emeritus at Wagner College in Staten Island, New York. Previously, he was Distinguished Professor of Civic Engagement and Leadership in Wagner College's Center for Leadership and Engagement, where he helped to advance Wagner's commitment to community-engaged teaching and scholarship and played a significant role in supporting student participation in community-based activism and leadership development. He is the coauthor of three books: Stories of Teaching (2001), Discussion as a Way of Teaching (2nd ed.) (2005), and Learning as a Way of Leading (2009), as well as the author of numerous articles, book reviews, and op-ed pieces. He is passionate about democracy and its potential to transform colleges and communities. He has a BA in history from Ithaca College, masters' degrees in history and education from Long Island University and special education from the University of Vermont, and a PhD in educational policy studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.