The most important part of a philosophy class is the discussion of the material. Assign a philosophical work for the students to read, and encourage them to come to class prepared to discuss their ideas and ask questions. Facilitating dialogue in a philosophy classroom can be a challenge, especially if the class has several shy students. Start by asking the students questions about the text. When a student gives a thought, ask other students to respond. Move on to open questions, telling students that they do not need to raise their hands before replying. If this does not spark conversation, section the students into smaller groups of three or four and give them a question to discuss. Eventually, the class should learn that discussion time is a time for conversation, not a question and answer session with the teacher. If you ask a question and no one answers, let the silence hang for a few minutes, then rephrase the question or attack it from a new angle. Assign each student a day to lead discussion, motivating everyone to participate so that others will do the same on their assigned day.
Assign your class to two sides of a philosophical argument and hold a debate. One clever way to challenge students is to ask which side of an argument they agree with and then assign them to the opposing side. Some topics that might provide fruitful debates are free will versus determinism, empiricism versus rationalism and dualism versus monism. Give the students appropriate essays from both sides to read, and encourage them to reference appropriate philosophers in their debate. You could even let them assume the guise of the philosophers who originally made the arguments.
Philosophers often use hypothetical situations to take theories to the extremes and draw out their shortcomings. Contemplating these thought experiments can help students learn how to evaluate philosophical claims and think more critically. For example, if your philosophy class is studying ethics, ask your class what they would do if a runaway trolley were headed towards six unwitting workers and they were standing by a lever that would divert the trolley to a track with only one worker. This is known as the "Trolley Problem."
A game can often help students realize more about the way they think than discussion or lectures can. Students generally have trouble evaluating their own thought processes -- they can't give reasons for their conclusions, or they think they believe something but find that they actually believe something else. One game to help students become clearer thinkers is "What's Your Reason?" Give each student four note cards and tell them to write down four claims that they believe in. Tell them to have at least one false claim and one normative claim. Then tell them to write down three reasons for believing each claim on the back. Split the students into two teams. Take the cards from each team, setting them in two piles. Pick a student from Team One and take a card from Team One's pile. Read out the "reasons" and ask the student to guess the claim. Other games can involve designing a government, empathizing, seeing things from new perspectives or exploring personal moral spectrums.