Discussion Evaluation:
Assessing Your Discussion Contributions
(our definition of "to discuss")
When evaluating your own discussion contributions
a student can ask:
How did I contribute to the discussion? To what
degree did I engage in the following three (A,B,C) kinds of behaviors?
A. Introduced substantive points
- I.e., points that were clearly a result of thoughtful
reading and thinking about the assigned texts. (A substantive point
is one that
became the focus for some group exploration; i.e., was more than an off-hand
remark.)
- Identified essential issues or questions the
text is discussing
Pointed to the author's main hypotheses, claims, and supporting arguments
and evidence
- Pointed to important passages that needed to
be understood
- Explained the complexities faced in exploring
this text
- Described passages that were personally meaningful
or connected to some shared experience
B. Deepened the discussion
- I.e., tried to help the class think about individual
contributions and discover new insights and understanding of assigned
readings.
- Helped others explore an idea; e.g., provided
additional supportive quotes from the text; explained their relevance;
summarized or
- paraphrased ideas; asked clarifying questions
- Shared the thought process that was personally
used in developing an idea
- Paraphrased what the author means in a specific
passage
- Summarized the arguments being presented
- Identified similarities and differences in positions
being argued
- Challenged an idea or presented alternate interpretation
- Connected ideas from several participants or
from other texts we've read
- Formulated insightful questions which sparked
group response
- Introduced personal experiences which illuminated
the text for others
C. Facilitated group exploration
- I.e., focused on what the group together was
accomplishing more than on their own individual performance
- Kept the group on task
- Focused group back to the text
- Summarized for the group what had been discussed
- Brought closure to one point and made transition
to new one
- Paraphrased someone's comments, identified what
you didn't understand, and/or formulated a specific question asking
for clarification
- Indicated support by responding to a person's
ideas, or complimented them
- Defused a tense moment with use of humor
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