Facilitating Well in the TBL Classroom

• Michael Sweet, Ph.D, University of Texas at Austin
• Dan Mayer, M.D., Albany Medical College

For some teachers, an energized classroom can feel surprisingly unfamiliar. A room of students prepared to engage the content, confer with each other, and even challenge the teacher can demand a ready combination facilitation skills—especially if the teacher has mostly lectured in the past. This session will focus on both the task and social dimensions of the “whole class discussion” and how the teacher can leverage the unique energies of TBL to keep the discussion simultaneously provocative and on-topic.

After completing the workshop, participants will be able to

• describe Parker Palmer’s six paradoxes of the classroom
• articulate specific strategies to manage Palmer’s paradoxes, from moment to moment in class discussion
• plan ahead in specific ways to set up the conversational “container” for maximum student engagement and focus.

Room 2.122