As a learning tool, discussions and seminars are uniquely valuable--and uniquely difficult to pull off. Nothing feels worse for a teacher than... crickets. But the warm fuzzy feeling that unprompted participation generates can distract a teacher from whether or not an in-class discussion was really adding value. All that talking doesn't necessarily add up to learning. Discussions and seminars can meet the needs of a broad spectrum of students, as long as a teacher plans carefully and executes skillfully.