The Goals of Discussion Sections

In an ideal discussion section, the leader will speak very little, the discussion will stay on track, and the students will have all of their questions answered to their satisfaction. Needless to say, it is very rare for all of these conditions to be met in a single section. These are, however, promising goals to concentrate on for your sections.

The overall function of a discussion is to provide the students of a large lecture course with the opportunity to delve more deeply into the issues raised during lectures. As the TA, you are usually not expected to introduce new material. Instead, it is your job to get the students to work through ideas and objections regarding course materials. Stanford students are generally intelligent and hard workers, yet many must still be encouraged into active participation. Your role is to get students to ask and answer their own questions via discussion. In order to do this, you must work on creating an environment which is conducive for learning, intellectual exploration, and an exchange of ideas. In this type of environment, all of your students should fee that it is safe to ask questions, pose objections and put forth their opinions.

In general, the two essential tasks you need to accomplish for a successful discussion section are creating an environment that is conducive to intellectual inquiry and facilitating a promising discussion of the material. Being able to do both well are skills which must be learned via lots of trial and error.

The First Section

The first section sets the tone for how the remaining sections will go and, more generally, for the TA's relationship with her students. So, e.g., if you lecture during your first few sections in a course, you will most likely later have trouble encouraging your students to participate actively. On the basis of these first meetings, students will get a sense for what sort of relationship you expect to have with them; the manner in which the section will be run; and what sort of preparation is required of them.

For this reason, it is a good idea to think about how you would like the sections to go before the first meeting. You can then consciously produce these features in the first section. For instance, in discussion sections, it is important to develop quickly a workable rapport of trust between you and your students, as well as students' interest in the material. To these ends, you might use part of the first section to convey your interest in the course material and/or motivate the material in other ways.

Here are some more concrete suggestions for approaching your first section.

Prior to your first section:

1. Check out the room a few days in advance to ensure that it is appropriate for the kind of section you will be teaching (e.g., that it has a seminar table or movable chairs).
2. Meet with the course professor and/or the other TAs to clarify expectations. Are you responsible for reviewing material covered in lecture? Introducing new material? What are the grading standards and procedures? What are the policies on late papers, missed exams, and reading rough drafts?
3. Go to the CTL orientation at the beginning of the fall quarter or the mini-orientations before winter or spring quarters.
4. Outline the items to be covered during the first section. Include questions about the course material that you can use to spark a discussion of the text(s). Do not assume that students will be able to fill the time with their own questions, but do leave time to discuss such questions.
5. Consider preparing a handout that includes contact information for you; your office hours; section time and location; and any policies that are not included on the course syllabus, e.g., regarding section attendance, grading practices, and/or section expectations.
6. Bring along a few extra copies of the course syllabus.

During the first section:

1. Introduce yourself. Students are often eager to learn something about you, including your philosophy interests, the nature of your interest in the course, and how far along in the program you are.
2. Go over course requirements even if the professor has already done so. State the policies for late papers, make-up exams, and rough drafts (e.g., will you read them? If so, how far in advance must students give you drafts?); whether section attendance is required; and the dates of papers and exams. Ask students if they have any questions about these policies.
3. Set up office hours. You are required to hold two office hours per week. Try to find a time when many of your students can attend. Tell them whether or not you will see them my appointment outside these hours. Ensure that the students know your office location and email address. Make clear the rules surrounding contacting you. For instance, will you reply to emails about course material, or can email be used only for scheduling meetings? Can the students phone you at your office/at home?
4. Get a list of the students (3x5 notecards work well). Ask them to write down name, email address, major, other philosophy courses taken; why they are taking the course; and/or whatever other information you would find helpful or be interested in. This will give you an idea of who is in your section, the varying levels of interest and experience in philosophy, and help you start to learn names. Making a class directory of names and email addresses (if students want) will encourage them to contact one another, which will cut down on how often the students contact you for course information. (You must, however, get each student's permission before including them on such a list.)
5. Have students go around the room and introduce themselves. Familiarity will help to create a comfortable environment for discussion.
6. Go over some of the material from lecture and/or readings. Try to start learning names, perhaps by asking students to say their names before speaking.
7. Consider discussing general philosophical tools. E.g., you might want to discuss the parts and properties of an argument (premises, conclusions, validity, truth and soundness).

Preparing for Section

Time spent preparing for section can be as important as section time itself. The manner in which you prepare for section will inevitably change from week to week. At the beginning, you will probably spend considerable time in preparation because you will still be getting an idea of what you can expect from your students. By the end of the quarter, there should be much less prep time required. Here are a few general suggestions.

1. Try to do the required reading before the lecture in which it will be addressed. Take notes while reading, noting the page numbers of important parts. This will enable you to refer back to the text during section discussions, which gives students concrete ways to link discussion material to the text. This also encourages students to cite particular passages when they are making points in section.
2. Before section, sit down with your reading and lecture notes, as well as any notes you might have taken during meetings with fellow TAs and/or the professor. Use these to figure out the general areas you'd like to cover during the discussion. This time will help you later keep the discussion on topic, and it will ensure that students have a sense of progressing through different parts of the material.
3. Develop questions related to these general topic areas. Focusing on questions rather than answers will help you remember to engage students as active participants in the discussion. Think about which of these questions are more abstract and which are more concrete, and whether it would be best to start with more abstract or more concrete issues. At the beginning of the quarter, or if the reading is particularly difficult, consider beginning with more specific questions to get students talking. Asking students to define technical terms is often a good way to start. The drawback to this approach is that it might overly constrain the course of the discussion, which might dampen students' enthusiasm. Beginning with more abstract questions, in contrast, more fully engages students in determining the course of the discussion.
4. Try to include questions which require students to critically engage the text(s). This will force some to articulate arguments in support of or against the ideas of the text(s). It can also be useful to relate the text(s) to arguments given in previous assignments or presented in lecture.
5. Think of examples, counterexamples and analogies that might help students to understand difficult ideas or arguments.
6. After creating a general outline of the topic areas you'd like to cover in section, as well as questions and examples for these areas, think about how to introduce the material and conclude the section. These provide chances to connect the topics of the section with those of previous and subsequent sections.
7. Just prior to the section, read over the outline to re-familiarize yourself with it.

Tips for Sparking Discussion

1. Before section, write an outline of the topics to be discussed on the board. There is no need to write down the details, but do write major questions to be answered and maybe accompanying page numbers. Leave space to add students' questions. This outline serves several functions. As students enter the classroom, they can begin to focus and reflect on the issues you have identified as important, as well as think of issues or questions you've omitted. Both you and your students can refer to the outline during the section if discussion gets sidetracked or to point out relationships among issues/concepts/questions. At the end of section, the outline can help you sum up what was covered during discussion, as well as any areas that were neglected. Finally, the outline will be in students' notes when they review for a paper or exam.
2. Begin section with a brief introduction that you prepared in advance. (If using tip 1, don't forget to ask students if they have anything else to add to the outline of topics to be discussed.)
3. During the course of the discussion, resist "Q&A" format. The goal should not be for students to ask questions and the TA to answer them. As early as possible, try to train students to look to one another for answers. You might find it helpful to play Socrates and feign ignorance. Don't be afraid of a few moments of uncomfortable silence; wait it out. It's important to give students plenty of time before rephrasing the question, suggesting an answer, or asking a new question.
4. As much as possible, deflect students' questions back to them: "That's an interesting/difficult question. Does anyone have an answer/know where to start?" Your role is to be a facilitator. The goal is to get students talking to each other and to only intervene to point out when something important or interesting has been said or to draw connections between students' comments. (Knowing students' names can be important here.) If Pam has asked a question, and Julio said something earlier on the topic, you might call on Julio to see if he can make a stab at answering Pam's question. You might try to guide Julio to see that his earlier comment has something to do with Pam's question.
5. Be aware of your physical presence in the classroom. Do you stand most of the time? Are you usually at the front of the classroom? If so, you might be unwittingly placing yourself in the position of the authority figure, and as a result, all attention might be focused on you. If you have a small section in a room with a seminar table, try changing your position around the table, and try sitting during most of the section.
6. Many times, you can predict when a large portion of the students will not have finished the reading assignment, e.g., on a day when a paper is due. On these days, sparking discussion is difficult and can seem impossible. You can try to avoid this difficulty by planning ahead. Before section, find several important but difficult selections from the readings. At the beginning of section, divide the students into groups and ask each group to explicate one of the passages, then explain it to the rest of the section. Alternately, choose several difficult concepts or questions from the reading or lecture and ask the groups to explain the concepts or answer the questions. You might need to supply page references to get the students started. This type of section formal prevents you from carrying the entire discussion, and it also allows students to get to know one another better.
7. You might try to have a section during which you do not speak at all. If you do not warn the students beforehand, they are caught off guard. The section will probably begin with a long, uncomfortable silence, but it is likely that a good discussion will be generated. It surprises students how well they can carry discussion on their own, and how much they can figure out on their own.
8. Remember that your job is a discussion facilitator. If you allow yourself to talk too much---even if you are just providing background information---you might actually be putting a damper on discussion. Your best bet is to concentrate on what the students are saying and facilitate discussion during lapses by summarizing students' comments and redirecting the discussion.
9. Another part of the role of facilitator is to create an environment where everyone feels safe in speaking up. In general, students are afraid to look stupid, but they will not learn much without taking the chance of revealing ignorance. Encourage students to ask any questions they have, then try to highlight the importance of their questions by taking them seriously. Write them on the board; ask the other students to try to answer them. It is also important to avoid letting a few students dominate conversation. You can encourage quieter students by asking if they have an opinion on a subject or about how to answer a question. If they say that they don't have anything to say, quickly moving on to other students or topics will prevent the students from feeling "picked on." It is also important to support all students who contribute to the discussion, and often this support is nonverbal. You might smile and nod while the student is speaking or write their question or comment on the board. Another way to create a safe environment is to admit your own difficulties with the material.
10. Be aware of the group dynamics of the section. Notice who sits in the back of the room or in the chairs against the wall, and how often these people contribute to discussion. Also notice the ways in which they do contribute. Do they make comments? Ask questions? Nod their heads? Or look bored and talk? Try to encourage the more reticent students to contribute more actively by encouraging them during office hours or in your comments on their papers. Some students are simply unsure of themselves and, with a bit of prompting, might speak up more. Some students hesitate to speak because they are a minority in the classroom and feel uncomfortable drawing attention ot themselves. In philosophy classes, women are commonly one such minority group.
11. If during the course of the quarter you find that discussion is continually lagging, you might ask the students what they think the problems are and what you can do to improve the quality of the discussions. It is important to be open minded to their responses and avoid becoming defensive. There are several different ways to get evaluative comments from students; these are discussed here. (Link the section on teaching evaluations.)

Paper-Writing Guidelines

It may be useful to talk to your students about paper expectations, common problems encountered when writing philosophy papers and grading standards before their first assignment. Developing a handout on these issues might even be helpful. General paper guidelines might be something like the following.

There will be three short papers for this class. I am always willing to read drafts if they are given to me a few days in advance. I will not read drafts over the weekend for papers due the following Monday. I am also willing to talk to you about paper topics, ideas or outlines. There will usually be a list of possible topics handed out, but you are encouraged to think up your own paper topics. If you are unsure about a topic, please run it by me or the professor before you start.

In the papers, I will be looking for clarity, validity and soundness of arguments, conciseness, and evidence of independent thought. You will not be graded on the position you take, so long as the issue is well chosen. Instead, you will be graded on how you articulate and support the position. Try to avoid simply summarizing arguments from the readings or class. Go one step further and analyze and evaluate the argument. I will also pay attention to the quality of your writing itself, so it pays to proofread!

One of the challenges of these assignments is to communicate your ideas in a straightforward and clear way, without rambling or straying from your topic. The papers are to be roughly 5-6 pages. If you write 7 or 8 pages, it should be an exceptional and readable paper. I will not read papers that go onto a ninth page; the paper would have to be rewritten. Papers must be double spaced, twelve point font and a common typeface. See the course syllabus for policies on late papers.

Some possible suggestions to students regarding paper-writing techniques include the following.

In General:

Much of the point of a philosophy paper lies in making an argument. Essentially, you are trying to convince someone to see an issue in the same way that you do. In doing this, keep in mind the following:

1. Make your assumptions explicit. Your assumptions may or may not be generally accepted ideas, but they should be stated explicitly regardless. Your paper needs to include more than assumptions; assumptions are to be used as the base from which your argument begins.
2. Argue your case. Note that your point may be a positive one (that some position is correct, defending it from an objection) or a negative one (formulating an objection to a position or an argument for a position).
3. Allow your "opponent" to reply. Your "opponent" may not be convinced. Perhaps she doesn't accept the premises you attribute to her. Perhaps she accepts your premises but rejects your conclusion. This might be because she would think your logic is faulty or because you didn't take into account some factor. Try to come up with legitimate and likely objections to your position.
4. Defend your thesis. Your final job is to defend yourself against this reply. If you did a good job of formulating an objection to your position, this might be a challenge.
5. Don't give up. It is easy to "resolve" an issue by suggesting that it cannot be resolved. Don't write a paper that presents two sides to an issue and then give up. Attempt to resolve at least small parts of the issue you tackly. The larger the topic, the more difficult it is to resolve the issue. For this reason, take care to choose a topic that is not too large.
6. The language used in your papers should be as clear and straightforward as possible. Avoid words and phrases that are obscure or ambiguous. Thoughts that are almost impossible to understand are more often confused than particularly profound. The use of relevant examples to support or illustrate a claim is helpful.
7. Don't assume that the reader is already familiar with the topic at hand. Imagine that you are writing for an intelligent reader with a broad philosophical background, but who is unfamiliar with the particular subject matter at issue. Imagine also that your reader is at least initially not inclined to agree with your argument nor your conclusion.

Choosing a Topic:

1. Think small. Remember, a successful argument need not involve the claim that a philosopher's entire view is wrong. Instead, you might challenge one way that the philosopher argued for his/her conclusions.
2. Choose a controversial thesis. Since your paper should contain an argument, you should try to choose a thesis that someone would disagree with. The more sophisticated your potential opponents' arguments are, the more sophisticated your paper will be forced to be. If your opponent is represented as holding a weak position, your own arguments will not need to be very strong, and your paper will be less interesting and challenging. If you pick a narrow topic and work with it, your paper will show that the issue is complex; you usually don't have to argue for that fact in the paper itself.

The Writing Process:

1. It is unlikely that you will be able to work your position out in your head and then simply transfer it to paper. Attempting to write your thoughts down is often an early step in the process of working out your ideas.
2. With rare exceptions, most of us cannot write a decent philosophy paper in a single draft. It is usually necessary to rewrite a paper at least once and often several times. The authors of philosophy books and articles rewrite these pieces many times over before the work is published.
3. Your progress on a paper will probably not be cumulative. Expect to revisit ideas and change your mind about some of them.
4. Sometimes it is helpful to take a day or two away from the paper after you have finished a draft or if you are stuck. During this time you might want to do a bit more reading, talking or thinking about the subject. When you come back to the paper, try to read and criticize it as if someone else had written it. After this, try to write a new draft.
5. Sometimes you will come up with an objection that devastates your position. If this happens, there are different routes you can take. You might adopt a different, related position that isn't susceptible to the problematic objection. Alternately, you might write a paper that is critical of the position that you initially intended to defend. The point of writing a philosophy paper is, after all, not to defend a position come what may, but to articulate what you take to be the most nearly correct or plausible position regarding a difficult issue.
6. It can help to have a friend or classmate criticize a draft of your paper. Ask this person to point out obscurities, vagueness, ambiguity, bad arguments, missing information, unargued assumptions, and so on. Any substantive contributions by this person should be acknowledged in footnotes. It is always up to you to determine the relevance and value of suggestions.

Grading Papers

Before grading, it's good to sit down with the professor the other TAs of the course in order to clarify the grading standards. In some courses, it is also a good idea to talk explicitly with your students about grading standards and the qualities of a good paper before they complete the first assignment. See Section II of the Phil 80 Handbook for more about these two ideas.

The following are some suggestions for how to proceed once you are faced with a stack of papers to grade.

1. Read quickly through all the papers before you begin marking. This will give you an idea of any common misconception the class may have; it will help keep your expectations in line with the abilities of the class; and it will help you be consistent in your grading. At the end, to check consistency, stack the papers according ot their tentative grade and ensure that the order and groupings within the stack are appropriate.
2. Remember to look not only at the fine points of each argument, but also at the overall structure and coherence of the paper. Too many small grammatical corrections can distract the student from comments about larger writing issues. Write a paragraph or two at the end of each paper, discussing some of the global themes, patterns and problems of the paper. What is the most important area of improvement for the student, and how can he or she write a better paper next time?
3. Remember to praise where it is justified. It is easy to get into a habit of criticism, but positive feedback is also helpful in guiding future writing.
4. Comments should be used to help the students improve their writing, not primarily to justify the grade.
5. Try to avoid grading in red ink. Some students associate red with poor performance.
6. Personalize comments whenever possible. Bring in considerations from office hour discussions, locate writing trends based on previous papers, etc.
7. Consider blind grading. There are various ways to do this. Simplest is to have students put their names only on a separate coversheet. You can then simply fold this coversheet back as soon as you receive the papers. After writing all marginalia and assigning grades, you can then look at the names, reconsider your thoughts on the papers (but not the grades!), and write the final, summary comments.
8. Avoid general comments like "good" or "OK". Such comments provide little useful information.

See the Phil 80 Handbook for additional tips on grading papers.