A typical instructional pattern is for the teacher to call on a student to answer a question, listen to the student's answer, make a comment, and then move on to another student and another question. What is happening in such cases? The teacher's mind and vocal cords are getting a good workout, but the students' are not. To break this pattern, after a student answers a question, make no comment at all; just ask another student to comment. Say, for example, "Tom, do you accept Martha's view?" Then either ask Tom to elaborate on his answer or ask a third student for her view. If Tom disagrees with Martha, you may wish to ask Martha to try to persuade him that her view is sound.

Instead of having one-on-one discussions with students, have them talk to one another. Often the teacher will engage in an extended discussion with one student while the other students sit and watch. The teacher's presumption is that the others are learning from the conversation. Given the short attention span of many students, chances are they are daydreaming rather than listening.

Resist the temptation to engage in one-on-one discussions unless they serve an important purpose that can be achieved in no other way. Then keep the discussion very brief-no longer than a couple of minutes. An example of such a purpose is to determine whether a student can defend his or her position against counter-arguments. In that case you may want to play devil's advocate and pose such arguments.

The role of devil's advocate can also be assigned to a student. After you first play that role, say to the class, "What was I just doing? Playing devil's advocate to see how Mary could defend her view. Even though I don't necessarily disagree with her, I deliberately asked her questions that challenged her position. She gave a good accounting of herself." Then say, "In the future, whenever I want to test a student's ability to defend his or her position, I'm going to ask another student to play devil's advocate." Thereafter, whenever a student has performed that role, offer a few words of constructive criticism.