Aside from the fact I am thrilled one of my most beloved shows is returning to the air, the question begged is very much concerned with daily instruction in my classroom. Who should speak out during class more, the teacher or the student? How should students respond in discussion? Am I thoughtfully explaining content to students, or do I just like listening to myself talk?
I have spent the past few months reflecting on my teaching, and the issue of managing recitations and discussions remains an area in need of improvement for me. Just today, I reviewed some video of my teaching and it appeared to me that I was talking more than was necessary. Even though the design of the lesson was me walking students through primary source documents and heavily scaffolding their learning, I felt as though there was still room for more student-led discussion rather than simply droning on and on.
In all honesty, these students need the scaffolding. The only time adequate room is left for students to lead discussion is in Socratic seminars. So my attention recently has been focused on how to make the most of my teacher-led discussions. Weinstein and Novodvorsky (2011) offer several suggestions on how this may be best accomplished, and I shall address each one with my experiences and developments as an educator.
First, distribute chances for participation (patterned turn-taking, equal opportunity to participate). A visiting principal recently gave me some feedback. "Call on girls," he said so quietly I had to ask him to repeat himself. "You only call on boys." After a quick reflection, sure enough, that is all I did. Granted, all of these boys were raising their hands. As a beginning teacher, it thrills me that people are raising their hands and participating, but the next step is to make sure that everyone participates, not just the boys. At some point, when it is convenient, I would like to try a system (popsicle sticks, maybe?) where I can ensure that everyone will be held accountable for participation.
I have spent the past few months reflecting on my teaching, and the issue of managing recitations and discussions remains an area in need of improvement for me. Just today, I reviewed some video of my teaching and it appeared to me that I was talking more than was necessary. Even though the design of the lesson was me walking students through primary source documents and heavily scaffolding their learning, I felt as though there was still room for more student-led discussion rather than simply droning on and on.
In all honesty, these students need the scaffolding. The only time adequate room is left for students to lead discussion is in Socratic seminars. So my attention recently has been focused on how to make the most of my teacher-led discussions. Weinstein and Novodvorsky (2011) offer several suggestions on how this may be best accomplished, and I shall address each one with my experiences and developments as an educator.
First, distribute chances for participation (patterned turn-taking, equal opportunity to participate). A visiting principal recently gave me some feedback. "Call on girls," he said so quietly I had to ask him to repeat himself. "You only call on boys." After a quick reflection, sure enough, that is all I did. Granted, all of these boys were raising their hands. As a beginning teacher, it thrills me that people are raising their hands and participating, but the next step is to make sure that everyone participates, not just the boys. At some point, when it is convenient, I would like to try a system (popsicle sticks, maybe?) where I can ensure that everyone will be held accountable for participation.
Second, provide time to think. Similar to students not participating, one of the novice teacher's biggest fears is extended or prolonged silence. Like a flailing stand-up comedian, silence is assumed, at first, to be a sign of failure. However, silence does not necessarily indicate misunderstanding. In fact, it can mean quite the opposite. Giving students time to think after asking a question is a good way to encourage metacognition in students; get them to think before they speak. I do not shy away from letting the students think about stuff before answering questions, but this is still something I really need to keep in mind as a teach.
Third, stimulate and maintain interest. I mean, obviously, right? If I were to stand up and lecture for the entire class period and expect the students to take notes, I would be laughed off the campus. I think the stress on this is maintaining interest. I do not tend to struggle with developing good hooks for my students, but sometimes maintaining that interest can prove more difficult. Often times, I resort to antics or acting to keep up the students' interest, but our text suggests that it may even help to incorporate physical activities. I did do "history yoga" last week to give the kids a break from CAHSEE testing, but that is about as physical I have gotten.
Fourth, provide feedback to students. I sometimes revert to sarcasm to humor my students, but I feel this may threaten my ability to give helpful feedback to my students. For example, when discussing the ability of the steam ferry, one of my students asked, "So, did the ferries transport cars in addition to people?" I responded with, "Well, if cars had existed in the 19th century, I am sure they would have." A simple no would have sufficed, but the students seemed to be humored by my sarcasm. However, it simply reminds me that I need to maintain that air of "there is no such thing as a stupid question." I need to try much harder to make sure that all of the students feel respected in my classroom when contributing their thoughts to the discussion.
Fifth, monitor comprehension. Even when a good group of students are contributing, how can you be sure that ALL of the students are fully comprehending the content. The text suggests that by having the students all physically display answers (such as on a whiteboard) or by observing a "sample" of the classroom (a group of responders that represent both high and low-achievers), the teacher can then effectively monitor student understanding. I would not be completely anti-whiteboarding, but I feel like the problem with that is with time. I would feel much more comfortable attempting to gauge a sample size, but then the issue becomes making sure that I get a good amount of low-achieving students to participate (see previous points for ideas on that).
Finally, support the participation of diverse learners. As is the theme with much of our studies, all students are different. All students learn differently. The most effective teacher-led discussion, I believe, will incorporate all matter of the above techniques. Some will work well for some and not for others, and it is the role of the teacher to discern these differences.
I always dreamed about having a future in improv, such as the cast of Whose Line, but I think I was much more cut out for teaching. It is sometimes unclear to me how to determine who should be speaking,