The following is an excerpt from Multipliers by Liz Wiseman...
Several years ago I volunteered to be a discussion leader for a Junior Great Books program at an elementary school. It seemed like a simple volunteer job. The assignment was straightforward: lead a discussion of a group of third-grade students on a piece of great youth literature. Despite my protests that I knew how to facilitate discussion, I was sent to a one-day training workshop to learn a technique called "shared inquiry". What I found was a simple but powerful technique for leading debate.
There are three rules to shared inquiry:
1. The discussion leader only asks questions. This means that the leader isn't allowed to answer his or her questions or give his or her interpretation of the story's meaning. This keeps the students from relying on the leader's answers.
2. The students must supply evidence to support their theories. If the student thinks that Jack went up the beanstalk a third time to prove his invincibility, he or she is required to identify a passage (or more than one) in the text that supports this idea.
3. Everyone participates. The role of the leader is to make sure everyone gets airtime during the discussion. Often the leader needs to restrain stronger voices and proactively call on the more timid voices.
As a discussion leader, it was liberating to ask the questions but not give the answers. In fact, I found it strangely powerful. And when the students spouted off their views and interpretations of the story, it was thrilling to look them straight in the eye and say, "Do you have any evidence to support that claim?" Initially, they looked terrified. But they quickly learned that the cost of an opinion was evidence. This experience cemented my belief that there is a process and a formula for great debate.
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