After reading A New View of Discussion by Almasi it made me think about what type of discussions are happening in the classroom I am in. I am in a fifth grade classroom and there is usually recitation that is happening because Mr. J is looking for a straight answer, but then I feel that the students take it upon themselves to have a more in depth conversation. One question that Mr. J may ask usually turns into a long discussion with students giving their thoughts, ideas, and asking questions. Most of the discussions the class has involves I-R-E (Initiate-Respond-Evaluate) and this is either by the students or Mr. J. There is a lot of scaffolding going on in the classroom because the students are learning how to do different kinds of poems. Since most of the students have never done some of these poems, Mr. J has to build a foundation and build upon it until they reach their potential. The students in the classroom are not affraid to ask questions or tell it how it is. After reading Langer's article I could see some things she talked about already in the classroom. Some of the things are initial understandings, developing interpretations, reflecting on personal experiences, and elaborating and extending. I actually saw these things the first couple of weeks I was in the classroom because the students were writing personal narratives. A lot of the writing Mr. J has the students do is really about their lives or something that interests them. I think it is a good way for the students to get out emotions that they may have and for other students to understand each other.
Being in an older classroom I have noticed with a little prompt from the teacher the students can have discussions that can last a while. I see Mr. J ask questions that he is only looking for an answer to but he tries to let every student answer before moving on. He may get a right answer right away, but lets everyone answers and then goes back to the right answer. I only have seen him cut students off when they are getting off subject which is understandable. I think it is easier to have good discussions in older classroom because the students seem to have a lot more to say and they want to get their point across.
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3 comments:
It really sounds like you are getting a good expierence with class discssions! Sometimes, the context of the lesson requires teachers to ask questions that have one straightforward answer. But he seems to balance that out by also conducting discussions focused on student-student interactions. Overall, Your CT and classroom as a whole sounds like a great example for discussions.
I agree that good discussion is easier to facilitate in a 5th grade class as opposed to a 1st or 2nd grade class. You are lucky to be able to witness good discussionin your classroom and it sounds like your CT has some great methods of getting the students engaged by having them reflect on personal experiences. After reading your post, I got to thinking about the gender dynamics in your classroom. Since we have been talking a lot in math about how girls sometimes become passive in the classroom, I was wondering if you noticed any patterns of participation during discussion. Especially with having a male teacher, do you ever find that the girls in your class are more hesitant to voice their opinion or share an idea? I had a male 5th grade teacher and I actually thought he did a better job than my previous teachers in getting every student engage in discussion.
Being in the same classroom as you, I have noticed many of the same things. The way discussion occurs in Mr. J's room is a great example of how I want to carry discussion in my classrooms. I think though the chemistry of the students, and the small class size are a few reasons why this is happening in Mr. J's room.
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