- Use of the words "like" and "um"
- Teachers pulling students into the conversation: calling on specific students to encourage them, planning activities such as the review game or smaller group discussions to include all students, etc.
- Following written transcripts is much more difficult than following a spoken conversation. I'm not used to reading all the um's and pauses and repeats/corrections of words.
- Several teachers seem to be really comfortable with their students. They can joke around and have relaxed discussions while retaining respect and control of their classroom.
- There is not as much use of the Evaluation portion of the IRE as I expected. Carl's and Julia's transcripts had teachers who actually evaluated student responses, replying with "good" or "not quite" etc. Many other teachers merely acknowledged the response or repeated it without evaluating the answer.
My Class Discussions
I believe the best discussions are truly student oriented and originated. As a teacher, I want to stay out of some discussions as much as possible to let the students talk and truly hear their ideas. My role will to be guiding the discussion where needed, prodding the students to get a discussion going when necessary and pulling it back together if some student starts "Gregging" too much. However, the point of discussion is not to get answers from the teacher. I will also step in where necessary to encourage all students to participate in the discussion.The point is for students to share their ideas to open their minds and explore different options about the topic they are discussing. I think this is especially important in literature. There are so many ways to view a text and we lose some value of meaning if we don't explore as many options as possible. The only way to achieve this is through class discussion. That's what my classroom conversations will focus on: fostering new ideas through sharing thoughts from all students.
I like your description of the discussions you want to see in your classroom. Overall, I can only hope to encourage the same kinds of conversations and the classroom atmosphere you are talking about. It got me to thinking about classroom observations... last year I was in Kalispell observing a master teacher, and I kept hearing about a certain teacher at the other high school. Teachers made statements like: "she's a real guru of an English teacher," "you could really learn a lot from her," "she's the master," and compliment after compliment.
ReplyDeleteAnd so I was determined to watch her in action--I contacted the school, then called and emailed her. Weeks later, she contacted me and agreed to meet. At our meeting, she knew I wanted to observe her classroom, but she was cagey (to borrow a term from Dr. Branch), we talked about pedagogy and classroom management, and all kinds of tricks of the trade so to speak, but she kept avoiding the classroom observation question. Finally, she said to me, almost like a confession: (paraphrasing here) "it is too late in the year for you to really see what I do, that all happens in the first 3-5 weeks--in those first weeks, I set the tone, I set high expectations, I set deadlines and see who is done early and who is asking for extensions--I get to know my students and they get to know me and what to expect in my classroom. Now my students know what to do and they are doing it. I would encourage you to observe one of our 2nd year teachers teaching English foundations and remedial English if you want to really learn about what your first years of teaching will look like." And just like that, she kept her secret. I took her advice, and went on to watch the teacher she recommended.
I know this has been a tangent, but your post inspired me to share this discussion, because it sticks with me, and I believe I learned some things in that discussion about teaching,(and discussions in general) and to try to bring it back to your post, you say: "However, the point of discussion is not to get answers from the teacher." And I both agree and disagree with this statement. As teachers we are here to pass on knowledge, and sometimes we will simply be answering questions (grammar comes to mind), but other times we are here to help students determine their own answers to their questions. How we manage discussions will really be a balancing act of determinig when not to step into and when to step into student discussions.
Again, I like your description of the discussions you hope to see in your classroom.
I love what you said when you talked about your goal: fostering new ideas through sharing thoughts from all students. I notice how you said ALL students. I fear that it's really easy to let only a few students talk and only them. I think the hardest part will be trying to allow discussion to happen without either cutting a student off or calling them out when they are unprepared. It's a hard balance to find.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up something really interesting that I don't think we've touched on yet in class. Cassidy. Your last bullet point is about the lack of Evaluation you've noticed in the transcripts, which seems kind of important. In learning how to lead discussions, work in groups, etc., I've always been told to affirm others by positively recognizing the things they're saying ("That's a good point," "Oh, interesting," "Right, thanks for mentioning that"). I see this all the time at work in the office environment. I wonder what it is in these classrooms that is making that happen less frequently (at least in the snippets we've been reading). The atmosphere the teacher has created? The level of trust, as you mentioned? Has it already been established that all of their contributions are valuable in some way? I'm not sure this is either good or bad, but it is something to think about. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that discussion is especially important with regard to literature--to keep students engaged in what they are reading and to encourage them to explore multiple perspectives. I can't wait for what I am sure will be an eye-opening first few years, in which I learn new things about books I have already read multiple times. Actually, I have a hunch that this will (hopefully) go on for my entire career if I am able to foster a dynamic discussion.
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