Response-Centered Talks in Class
Christine Chern
I see some “being
out and stepping in” and “being in and moving through” in my first grade
placement. Because not very many literature and discussions occur in the
classroom, the students do not have much opportunity to talk and make sense of
the materials. When my MT teaches the whole class vocabulary words in Chinese, one
the one hand, she makes the students think by asking questions that they have
to recall on their personal experiences as well as previously learned materials.
For instance, when teaching about clothing, she would ask students the number and
color of coats that they see in a picture. In this way, she is building on the
students’ prior knowledge of numbers and color, and simultaneously forming full
sentences. On the other hand, not every student gets the chance to talk, so the
instructor would not have an idea of whether or not the other students are learning.
One
scaffolding technique that the teacher uses in McGee’s article is having pure
discussions of the text that has no right or wrong answers. The discussions is
solely based on students’ individual interpretations, which allows them to take
a step further by looking at other inferences in the text or illustration. However,
the teacher described in the article does not seem to engage all of the
students in response-centered classroom talk.
The less confident and shy students
are less likely to participate in class, but it does not mean they cannot
engage in discussions. The instructor could ask a question, and then have
students agree or disagree by showing their thumbs up or down. Then, the
instructor can call on students to share their ideas, and have other students
respond to each other. Yet, it is
important that the instructor states that there are no right or wrong answers,
so there will be a variety of responses due to different interpretations that the
students may agree or disagree on. Because
I am in a first grade classroom, the teacher’s role is still critical in
discussions. Students at such young age can respond, but may not initiate
and/or maintain a conversation, so the instructor’s help in stimulating the
discussion will be needed.
Questions
Do the students in your placement have the opportunity to have different types of talks? If so, how do your MTs relate them to the topic being taught? How do your MTs conduct classroom discussions? How are the scaffolding techniques used effective or ineffective? 
ReplyDeleteI have heard a variety of talking styles while observing in my placement classroom. When I come in the afternoon I hear some math discussions about a particular concept and the students have the chance to share their answer/ how they solved the problem. Walking around the room I check to see if all the students are working on their math boxes and see some students helping each other. Sometimes they work in small groups to discuss the problem and the best way to answer the question.
I also observe during the writing time and my MT will introduce new concepts as well as including some discussion with the students. The class discussions; promote thinking, interactive large group discussion, sharing of ideas but also gives the students who do not share frequently an out to not participate. A lot of discussions are facilitated by the teacher instead of the flow of questions and thoughts being guided by the students and their interests. The students basically recite back the answers.
Most of the work I see the students working on is reading the text to each other but very little comprehension discussion. There are a lot of worksheet lessons where the students will work in pairs or individually. To improve discussions in my classroom there could be more validation in the students responses even incorrect ones, small group explorations before introducing a concept/ correct process for answering a problem, and writing workshops in small groups where the students work in small groups. A writing workshop gives students a way to share their rough draft papers, ideas, help spark ideas in their other classmates through discussion.
In my placement there are not many chances for the children to engage in different types of discussions and I believe this is because of the Montessori style of teaching. This style of teaching really doesn’t allow for many whole classroom discussions or even recitations. The only time they have some sort of recitation is during show and tell. Even then they are not talking about anything they are learning; my MT uses this time to teach the kids how to talk about an item or tell a story about it. The student starts off my telling the class what they brought in and then Mrs. Karen gives them hints about other things they should tell about their item. After the child has said all that they could she then will ask her own questions. Something that I don’t see during this time that might be helpful is, for the other kids to ask questions about the item. This would get them a little more familiar with asking appropriate/on topic questions. It would also give the child (whose item it is) the opportunity to tell more and give a more detailed explanation. It is a first step into learning how to have a discussion/recitation.
ReplyDeleteThe only other time I got to see a recitation was after Mrs. Karen read through a book about different regions. I didn’t get to see very much of it because I had to leave half way through it. They had just finished reading about the savanna and the different animal that live there. Mrs. Karen kept asking them questions and sometimes used one child’s response to build off another’s. When a child didn’t come up with a right answer she did try to ask a simpler question, which is what Weinstein says to do. After Mrs. Karen asked a second time the child was closer with the new answer but called on a different student to interpret what the previous student said.
One of the things that Weinstein (et al.) says to include in a recitation is an opportunity for all students to participate. My MT does have a system to control this. She has a cup full of popsicle sticks with all the students names on them. I see her use it in the morning when they do calendar. She pulls a stick and the kids will answer questions such as, “What month is it?” “What day of the week is it?” “What is the date today?” By doing this she is give multiple students the opportunity to answer the questions. She does this every day so over time she will be able to see what the kids know about the calendar.