The Go-Round
Submitted by Jean Trounstine (profile)

Strategy: The Go-Round is a simple and effective pre-discussion method I developed with my CLTL Lowell-Lynn group.

Setting: It can be used with any group but works best when most or all of the participants have read the material and should probably be reserved for those kinds of classes. It also works beautifully if you read a story aloud in class (a method I always do on the first night [see Teaching Specific Texts: A Line of Cutting Women]). Reading aloud assures that everyone has read the material, but since the levels and understandings vary throughout a group and from group to group, I do not expect close reading from most participants.

The idea is this: before discussion begins on any piece, be it story, novel or work of non-fiction, start by going around the table and eliciting each person's opinion on the text. This is done, one by one, with no other comments coming from other members yet. The idea is to give each person his or her space to say exactly what she thinks without discussion - to let the diversity of opinions stand in the room, to just be. In other words, this technique allows us to listen as well as to speak, and it promotes an eventual civil dialogue.

The Go-Round can be begun by posing a question such as: "What did you find most interesting" (touching/angering/disturbing/important to you or whatever you choose) in the book and why? Or it can begin with a simple, "Let's hear any reactions and thoughts you had about the book." I always try to ask a global question on the Go-Round for several reasons: it gives people a chance to wander around a bit in their talk and figure out what they have to say; it enables me to get a sense of how they understand a piece of material; and it offers stepping off places for the later discussion.

I always take notes as we go around the room and come back to the ideas, subjects, themes, characters, confusions (I encourage them to talk about any confusions), and stories they bring up. I also find myself drawing them out a bit, and at this point, the dialogue is between me and the respondent, and when others want to come in and argue, I ask them to hold their thoughts until we're through. This also teaches them to react, not just with their own ideas, but with each other's positions as well.

I find that beginning the class this way helps students know that they are responsible for the material and for having ideas. They may feel afraid at first, but I also use this time to be extremely positive towards anything they say, to nod and encourage whatever thoughts they voice. For the ones who want to go on and on, I might gently let them know that we can come back to them later. This also helps us to anchor the class and can provide a focus. For example, when I used To Kill a Mockingbird one semester, I asked:

"What is it in this book that is most compelling to you? What themes or ideas draw you in the most?" That question seemed as useful to someone who had read the book several times (the probation officer and the judge, as well as a visitor and one student) as it was to the student who had slept through it in high school.

With that book, I remember that one person said how much she loved the father and his relationship with his children. The next class participant said how the father was anything but real, an absolute fantasy father. Someone brought up race relations and the impact that the book had on her in that area; another said that because she lived with an African-American man, she knew racism from another angle and saw the book through those eyes.

Part of what makes the Go-Round important is the fact that a question without a set answer really has the most power in discussing literature. As we sit around a table, with all of us coming from our own unique perspectives, we begin to see in the first ten minutes how different we all are, how much we take in as individuals, and yet, at the same time, how others' insights resonate inside us and often show us our common humanity.