Book description
Thoroughly revised and updated, the second edition of the landmark book
Discussion as a Way of Teaching
shows how to plan, conduct, and assess classroom discussions. Stephen
D. Brookfield and Stephen Preskill suggest exercises for starting
discussions, strategies for maintaining their momentum, and ways to
elicit diverse views and voices. The book also includes new exercises
and material on the intersections between discussion and the
encouragement of democracy in the classroom. This revised edition
expands on the original and contains information on adapting discussion
methods in online teaching, on using discussion to enhance democratic
participation, and on the theoretical foundations for the discussion
exercises described in the book.
Throughout the book, Brookfield
and Preskill clearly show how discussion can enliven classrooms, and
they outline practical methods for ensuring that students will come to
class prepared to discuss a topic. They also explain how to balance
the voices of students and teachers, while still preserving the moral,
political, and pedagogic integrity of discussion.
Stephen D. Brookfield is Distinguished University
Professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis-St. Paul,
Minnesota. A prolific writer, he is a three-time winner of the Cyril
O. Houle Award for Literature in Adult Education for Understanding and
Facilitating Adult Learning, Developing Critical Thinkers, and
Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher all from Jossey-Bass. He is
also the author of The Power of Critical Theory.
Stephen Preskill is Regents Professor of Education in the
Department of Educational Leadership and Organizational Learning in
the College of Education at the University of New Mexico. He has
written extensively on the history of educational reform, the
connections between education and democracy, and the role leaders and
activists have played historically in fostering meaningful change.
