Response to "Discussion as a Way of Teaching"

I had a great number of interesting thoughts about discussion's place in the classroom and the role and responsibility of teachers in cultivating discussion as I was reading the first two chapters of Brookfield's & Preskill's "Discussion as a Way of Teaching." As teachers we will be teaching more than our respective content areas: reading and writing skills, role modeling, hidden curriculum, social skills, how to be successful students, etc. We will also be expected to foster students to become participants in an active representative democracy. Creating a positive learning environment that promotes discussion will help it "act as a catalyst to helping people take informed action in the world." This positive learning environment, as we read, will be an environment where teacher vocalization is limited, yet the structure of the discussion is guided by a mindful teacher. It may be necessary to do autobiographical work in the first couple classes and have everyone share to encourage hospitality. It can take some time to build mutuality and appreciation in a classroom that maintains critical discussion, but it is all intrinsic to helping students feel like they have a voice and that voice is heard. It is all intrinsic to helping students feel that they can learn safely in that setting.

I also had a number of interesting thoughts about discussion's role in other depths of contemporary society. Internet forums, as one example, are very interesting places where discussion may take place without the guiding hand of a mindful and skilled teacher. Most forums (okay, all forums) I have been to leave me feeling like I am walking around 3000 E. Sprague, however. Is this lack of the teacher a contributing factor to that? Most posters on these forums seem keen on participation yet highly unreceptive to critical discussion and aren't appreciative at all. I also had another idea about subtle psychological changes in environment that could alter the classroom discussion. I've come across studies that denote how Americans can rate people with British accents as more clever and credible than people with generic American accents saying the same exact thing. If we stick a couple Brits in a class at EWU, for example, how would that affect the dynamic of the classroom discussion? Would there be a drop in actual critical discussion because people would unconsciously attribute logicality and credibility to the students whom have British accents? What other dynamics would change? Just kind of a goofy psychological experiment I imagined.