Harkness Discussion

What Is Harkness Discussion?

On a discussing day in a Humanities classroom at Olney Friends School, students sit in a circle.  You might hear one student ask the group, ‘But what does it mean to be an ally? How do people take care of each other?’ or, ‘What if developing agriculture was the biggest mistake humans ever made?’ Then you would hear others begin to answer, to flip through books to back up their ideas. The teacher would sit in the circle but rarely speak, instead noting how the discussion was moving on a single sheet of paper on an otherwise empty table.

The Humanities Department uses the Harkness method of discussion, a process developed at Exeter Academy. At the beginning of the year, we ask our students what it means to participate in a discussion. Their answers (making statements, asking questions, listening, citing texts, making eye contact, using names) become the foundation of how they will interact, and how their progress will be assessed, in class discussion for the rest of the year.

The teacher tracks each Harkness discussion on one of several graphic organizers, noting the types of interactions, statements, interruptions, periods of silence – many of the items from the brainstorms early in the year. At the end of the discussion, students look at that tracking sheet and discuss the discussion.  They ask each other questions: How did you feel about your participation? What would you like to do better? What did we do well? How can we improve?

Olney students become intentional about the way they listen and the way they speak. They learn to teach themselves and each other. The skills they learn in Harkness discussions will aid them in college classrooms and in their interactions with other people the rest of their lives.

-Abby Chew (2012), Humanities teacher