Discussion Formats

Getting students to care about key historical issues in a social studies class or helping them engage with the lives of literary characters in an English class can be a challenge.Class discussions often take one of two forms — either question-and-answer sessions, in which the teacher throws out questions and students answer them, or debates. Both of these formats are useful, but adding a few more ideas to your teaching repertoire can make for more variety in the classroom and provide more opportunities for engaging discussions. A PDF of these topics is also available for download.