Via Scott MacClintic's weekly blog, Pelican Ponderings (http://smacclintic.edublogs.org), I came across this 2012 piece by Grant Wiggins - http://inservice.ascd.org/less-teaching-and-more-feedback/#.VLleImBWNSM.twitter.
As he states, "You don't need any 'teaching.' You only need a good feedback system."
This has been resonating me recently as I've utilized Wikipedia, Khan Academy, and the like to further explore math topics. Students today have SO many resources at their disposal that the role of the teacher can no longer be that of "dispenser of knowledge." After all, the knowledge is available to anyone at any time.
My purpose, as I see it, in a discussion-based classroom is to provide immediate feedback (hopefully in the form of good follow-up questions) and to enable feedback to be provided by others, as applicable, so that learning takes place. Try. Get feedback. Question. Get more feedback. Fail. Get feedback. This isn't easy, but it's necessary.
Interestingly, I experienced some frustration with an online class recently due exactly to the lack of this - timely, focused feedback. I wanted to talk and discuss what I was thinking and all that was available was asynchronous communication. I found this frustrating.
Immediate, applicable feedback is the foundation of a discussion-based classroom, and it's necessary for learning to take place.
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