Welp. Small group discussions are over. Thank goodness. One more grade in the old grade book. I was not very nervous about small group discussions until I sat down in class that day. I prepared more for small group discussion than I normally do for class. I went to the library, got some books, read 'um, marked 'um up, thought about each question, and then completely forgot everything intelligent I had wanted to say the moment we started talking. I always overestimate my memory.

I didn't particularly care for small group discussion. I really like discussing things in class and always walk away understanding what we read a lot better. I feel like with small group discussion we stayed pretty top-level. I think it is nice to have he instructor be part of the conversation because then he can kind of guide it. I feel like a lot of the questions got off topic and we kept going back to main ideas that had already been covered. It was kind of frustrating to have a time limit because when the discussion did get off base or someone was rambling I got really anxious feeling. Like I just wanted to move on to the next question. I feel like we didn't get to discuss some really interesting things. There was no time to compare and contrast Washington and Baldwin, which I think would have been a very interesting conversation. All in all I found the experience nerve racking. Maybe because I felt extra out of control. At least when the teacher is leading the class I can relax because we are in good hands, but left to our own student devices I don't think the experience was particularly rewarding. Okay, so here are my three things I learned from this discussion/experience:

1) My memory has and will probably fail me again. I need to take down more organized notes, for presenting my thoughts.
2) I learned that student lead discussion do need leaders, I feel like no one wants to take on this role because they are not sure if they will be stepping on anybody else's toes.
3) I leaned about the race riots and how perfectly they seemed to embody everything that was going on Baldwin's mind.