This week’s reading was very interesting. I always knew how important classroom discussions were, however I did not know how much a students interpretation of a text could have on other students thoughts and ideas. In my classroom I have not seen much discussion of text, but the times I have heard students talk about what they have read many of them need guidance from the instructor to formulate their thinking. There is much scaffolding that takes place in order to get the students to discuss. The teacher usually begins with general questions like, who is the main character, or something obvious that students can easily find in the text. This is considered traditional discussion. Some students get involved in the discussion because they can find the correct answers if they read the text. I believe that this is a good form of discussion for students in lower elementary because it teaches them to use their text as a resource for information, however students are unable to construct meaning form the text. There is nothing for students to interpret because the answers are either right or wrong and most times Mrs. Henderson corrects the students immediately when they are wrong. Even though they use a traditional style of discussion the teacher can still turn it into a rich conversation by asking students why things happen a certain way, or how things could be different.
There is one student in my classroom that is a struggling reader; therefore he does not participate often in the class discussions. This is probably due to the fact that he is unaware as to what has happened in the story. In order to promote a more response-centered talk with students, I think that Mrs. Henderson should ask question that does not have a right or wrong answer. Instead she should ask open-ended questions that allow the students to come up with their own ideas of the answer. This will allow the students to reflect on their personal experiences. This will also give the students more responsibility in the discussion and the teacher can gain more information about how students think.
I, too, agree that many students in the lower elementary grade levels need much more scaffolding in a discussion setting. Many students don't realize what a discussion is or that they are participating in one. My mentor teacher always refers to our discussions as "talks" which I feel may help the students feel more comfortable with the idea of having these constructive "talks" about certain topics. I agree with Tatianna that many teachers need to develop discussions based around students interpretations and not "right or wrong" answers. Teachers should use the books as a source of information that the students can utilize but they should also ask questions where students can "free think" and interpret their own opinion. It sounds like your mentor teacher uses right or wrong answers and it tends to discourage students from participating? In my opinion, teachers are not as aware as they should be that they really can influence a students participation just by the way they respond to students input in a discussion. My mentor teacher actually does the complete opposite as Tatianna's teacher. When my mentor teacher is engaging the students in a "talk" she tends to ask them questions like "what did you observe in the movie or reading?", "what was your favorite part", "what did the main character do when...?", etc. She asks some important questions however the difference is that she doesn't connect her students interpretations or opinions together. This somewhat ties into the article I read about.
ReplyDeleteIn the article I read about the idea of "instructional conversation". In these types of discussions the teachers role is to scaffold the conversation by asking questions that allow the students to engage and interpret the information. Not only does the teacher do that, but also is able to connect and string all of the students ideas together so the discussion has some form of unity. I'm afraid that my teacher in my placement has the first part down, asking meaningful questions, but after each students comment she will say "okay" or "good job" then move onto the next students with their hand raised. This makes me sad because the students aren't seeing how all their ideas could be strung together and instead the teacher is basically having a conversation with students one on one rather than engaging all the students together. I wish my mentor teacher would be able to tie each students idea together so they can see how a constructive discussion can be beneficial to everyone's learning and understanding of the discussion topic!
My favorite article for this week was Almasi's "A New View of Discussion." Like Tatianna, I have seen and observed tons of traditional discussions, or recitations. However, it was not until I read the article that I actually thought about it that way. I think when most of us think about the term "discussion", we think about a group sharing and discussing ideas and answering questions. But when I take the time to reflect on the various types of discussions that even I have participated in, they have almost always been more like question-answer forums than anything else. It was always a matter of having a teacher ask an open-ended (yet specific) question, rather than having students share their personal thoughts and ideas.
ReplyDeleteWhat I really like about this article is that it, not only, identifies the commonly misled types of discussions, but it outlines what these interactions should truly look like. I think that one of the most common challenges for teachers is having enough confidence in their students to believe that they can carry-out an informative discussion. According to Triplett and Buchanan, "elementary students can have discussions that promote higher order thinking." (Triplett & Buchanan, 2005, p.65) This is only a portion of the benefits students can receive, when they take part in such a moving and intense talk.
Now that I know this information, I am going to challenge myself as a future teacher to allow my students to engage in non-recitation discussions. I hope to gain more insight on how to conduct purposeful conversations, while practicing techniques with my students. I think that discussions was a hot topic this week, because it is not something that people would readily expect to be an independent subject. Yet, I found it to be the most interesting and informative so far.
I agree that discussions need to be less of recitation discussions and more conversation-like talks that allow students to delve into their interpretations of the text with one another. In the article I read this week, McGee's "Response-Centered Talk: Windows on Children's Thinking," the author did make a comment and to how reading should be more like a dinner conversation where students feel comfortable sharing their ideas rather than a specific question-response discussion. This type of conversation is a great is initiated by the teacher forming some sort of initial question to trigger the conversation. In the article, the students spent the first few minutes reciting what they remembered from the story but the teacher switched gears in the conversation by posing a question that would get the students thinking about why the characters acted the way they did in the story. After posing this question, the teacher did not provide much response because she wanted to allow her students to guide the conversation and build on each other's ideas to construct meaning to the story, rather than have her own interpretations cloud the ideas of the students.
ReplyDeleteI have seen this type of conversation every once in a while in my field placement. While the students were participating in a read-aloud of "Number the Stars" by Lois Lowry, Mrs. C. would read a section of a story that she planned to read to the students, pause, and ask them what things they were picturing in their minds and what sensory descriptions allowed them to form these ideas. By planning exactly what part she reads aloud to the students, Mrs. C. is more likely to get the type of response she is searching for. She does a great job of letting the children lead the discussion and not letting her opinion sway the ideas of the students.
Most of the time read alouds are done, they are geared toward a writing assignment. For example, Mrs. C. brought in a few books to read to the class with descriptive introductions to help the students form their leads for their fictional stories. Although this is beneficial and it does show that her lessons have a purpose, I think it would be beneficial to have read-alouds geared solely around response-centered talk. By practicing this with the whole class, I think it can help students develop these skills so that they feel comfortable enough to interpret text as they read independently.