Each teacher has his individual set of methods that he uses in his work and interaction with students. Some schools may be oriented towards a specific goal. In this case there is school policy and no teacher should violate this policy, even in teaching methods used. However, a good teacher always has his personal approach to students and to teaching process. Discussions are often practiced by teachers while educating students. Why? Because discussions involve a lot of students and thus makes students feel quite active. Besides, discussions make atmosphere in the classroom more non-official and discussions encourage sharing and exchanging thoughts, opinions. Numerous articles on educational matters are written and a lot of authors, who are teachers or have some relation to education, point to the fact that students enjoy discussions because people like to express their thoughts and like to be listened to. Of course, there are some students who get embarrassed when they need to say something being in some group. But the task of a good teacher is to make any student feel comfortable and eager to discuss.
November 13, 2006