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From The Classroom
I function under the assumption that the classroom is a system of knowledge. As such, it is a composite unit with parts or elements coherently organized under a common goal. Such coherence derives from the circular and reciprocal relationships among its components: the students and the instructor. Just as therapists focus their attention on how ideas, feelings, actions, persons, etc., are circularly connected, in the classroom I focus on understanding how these connections can transform the system of knowledge. For me, circularity requires that I structure classroom discussions to resemble closely coherent conversation, and it allows me to reframe potentially volatile statements.
Those who use CQ in therapeutic settings have identified four fundamental ways to bring circularity into a system. From the therapists' and from my own experiences and applications of CQ to mediation and community dialogue, I have adapted these techniques to bring circularity into a class discussion. Toward this goal, I use descriptive questions in order to generate or modify my understanding of how the "problem" presented by students is systemically connected, and I use reflexive questions in order to initiate a change in that particular system. While these two types of questions are not mutually exclusive, I use them context-specifically, depending on my intent.
My first technique for bringing circularity into the classroom involves simulating real conversation, asking every question so that it clearly connects to the previous statement by a student. I demonstrate how CQ permits us to explore the "grammars" of meanings and actions--the words people use to justify their "musts" and "shoulds"--by incorporating the actual terms students use in the discussion. For example, if a student says, "Others do not like the way I talk about race, because they think I'm a white supremacist," I explore his grammar by asking him, "How do you think someone who is not in the class would define a white supremacist?" Simulating real conversation means I neither simply restate what a student said nor move on to another topic after my question is answered: instead I use their terms but in a way that focuses on the issue and not on the participants. For example, when a student remarks, "The only thing she ever talks about is how men are oppressive towards women!" I redirect the statement by asking, "Who else has noticed that gender oppression is an important issue for her?"
My second technique for bringing circularity into the classroom involves connecting the discussants in an episode to each other, inviting many comparisons. When a student remarks that "Affirmative Action did nothing more than invent reverse discrimination," I ask, "Who is most affected when Affirmative Action is confused with reverse discrimination? Who is next most?" These connections allow them to envision themselves acting and being in various places within a system.
An emphasis on time is the third technique for bringing about circularity. I may ask questions that relate and compare past, present, and future, such as, "How do you think the relationship between group M and group O will be a year from now?" or "How are race relations different now than they were before Affirmative Action legislation went into effect?" Moves such as these highlight the fact that issues are historical and tied to all of our actions. Rather than asking "why" questions and expecting those justifications to suffice, questions about time and difference call attention to the sequential aspects of interaction.
The fourth technique, which creates circularity in terms of the positions people have in the conversation, also is called "gossiping in the presence of others." Let's take as an example two students who often argue with each other during class discussion. I might move these two individuals out of their usual 1st- and 2nd-person positions to 3rd-person observer positions by casting their arguments in a positive light: "X and Y often take on the burden of keeping the discussion going and I would like them to know that they can take a back seat and let others who seldom speak take on that responsibility." I may continue by asking other students a number of questions: "Who becomes the most upset when X and Y argue?" "What do you think makes them argue they way they do?" "Let's suppose that X had been absent the last time: who do you think would have spoken up in her place?" "Who is Y usually addressing when s/he speaks up?" This points out that the positions from which people speak and listen play an important role in the creation of meaning.
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