Chapter 12 - The Fundamental Facilitation Skills for a Dialogue Apporach to Teaching

The final chapter in From Telling to Teaching focuses on three facilitation skills necessary to successfully enact the dialogue approach to learning:  waiting, affirming and weaving.

Waiting - Dr. Norris invites learners to share by asking open questions and then waits.  She makes it clear she is waiting for responses rather than busying herself with something else.  She admits that it is initially uncomfortable, but that soon everyone becomes used to this. 

Affirming - Part of making dialogue easy is to affirm all responses.  This can be done by using comments that show you were listening such as "yes" or "I see"  or you can thank your learners and expand by telling them why you are thanking them.  Dr. Norris cautions against comments such as "good" or "wonderful" pointing out that this may lead to these responses having no value or possibly discrediting someone else's ideas. 

Weaving - Weaving is the act of bringing everything that was discussed back together.  You review what has been discussed and then assist in transitioning to what is coming next.