The good discussion leader is honest and open, sharing feelings as well as ideas, and encouraging others to do the same. The leader is also non judgmental. When the leader disagrees, a way to do so without judgment is "I understand what you are saying, but I'm not sure I agree." If you don't understand someone's point, you might say, "I'm not sure what you are saying. Could you explain again, or could someone else help."
How do you deal with someone who dominates the discussion, or says nothing? In the former case, encourage others. You might say, "We need other takes on this. Does anyone else have a though about this?" If you know someone does, call them into the exchange. If a group member says nothing, talk to them outside of the group and ask what you can do to assist with their participation.
A discussion has an opening and a closing. Think about how you will open. You might ask "Where should we begin?" Or, you might state an interpretation of the material that you know will be controversial. As the end approaches, try to summarize, or ask someone who has had much to say to do so.
Questions are the potent tool of the discussion leader, and the open-ended question has the most potential. This is a question with no single, correct answer. "Why is this important?" is a closed-ended question. Asking "In what ways could this be important?" is open-ended. Remember that you are asking "What do you think?" Try not to lead the questioner by saying "Don't you think...?"
Ask members of your group to diagnose. "What is your analysis of this situation?" "What conclusions can you draw?" Ask them to hypothesize. "What would happen if...?" Be willing to challenge participants. "Why do you believe that?" Finally, encourage expansion of thinking. "What arguments might be developed to counter that point of view?
After asking a question, don't be afraid of silence. People need time to think and respond, so give them time. The optimal "wait time" is 3-5 seconds. If there is no response, restate the question, or bring up a related question. Don't answer the question yourself, except as a last resort when some answer is necessary to move to the next point.
When a participant responds to a question, don't say "That's right," and move on to another. Encourage other responses, to build on what was said. You can encourage this both verbally ("Anyone else?") and nonverbally (with a questioning look).
Encourage questions from the group, but don't answer them yourself. Ask the group to respond, and act as a member of the group.
What should happen when a participant wanders off the subject? Your temptation may be to say "You are off the topic. Come back!" Sometimes this might be necessary, but in the spirit of being non judgmental, you might say "That's an interesting story. Can you relate it to the point at hand?" Or, you might ask if the group can see the relationship.
In planning the discussion, you must assess how you want to move through the material under discussion. You any want to prepare discussion questions in advance, and enough to fill the time allotted. At the same time, you should realize that you probably won't get through all of the questions you have made up, and that is okay. Other will, hopefully, come up with questions, and blow up the plan, but that's okay too. You hope for that. So you must be ready to adapt. You have large goals for the discussion and are ready to follow the path you lay out, but if others take the group down an equally good path with their questions, you can go happily down that path.
Remember that everyone likes positive response, so give this when you can.
You should be thoroughly prepared before the discussion with a set of questions. with more than you will probably use. You might choose to hand these out prior to the class period in which the discussion occurs, or at the beginning of the discussion. Here are a f ew kinds of questions you might consider: