The articles read this week were very helpful because they showed ways to engage students in discussion. Once students are engaged in a discussion they will learn more than if the forum was a recitation dialoged.
One of the ways to get every students attention was the popsicle stick method. In this method each student would have an opportunity to get picked. “Using the ‘Pick Me’ sticks helps me to make sure that I get around to everyone.” (Weinstein and Mignano, pg. 310) This teacher used the popsicle method to reach all her students during class discussion. With every student having a chance to participate there would be a greater interest in the discussion.
Also response cards could be used for a discussion. These could be in the form of a notebook, personal chalk board, personal dry eraser board, or other device to respond to the discussion question. (Weinstein and Mignano, pg. 312) These can be helpful so everyone is participating in some way during the discussion even though they are not speaking.
The fishbowl method also grabbed my attention in chapter 10 of the Classroom Management book. In this method there are four students in a group carrying on a discussion while their classmates surround them and listen in. This keeps a small discussion but at the same time keeps everyone involved.
These are some of the methods used in the true classroom discussion. Just asking questions to the children will not help them learn. The teacher has to use methods were true discussion takes place.
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I also really like the ideas mentioned in Chapter 10 of Weinstein and Mignano. We can talk all day about creating an effective discussions rather than a recitation. The truth is recitation is what we most often see. Therefore it is very hard to create an effective discussion that we have not seen modeled numerous times and taken part in ourselves. Especially since most of our elementary experiences were with recitation. With the ideas mentioned in the chapter it should be easier to mold a discussion and teach more effectively.
ReplyDeleteI think teachers do not allow students to discuss because it can feel like you are getting off topic. When students start sharing feelings and start relating it to their own lives teachers feel like they are just telling stories and they try to pull the discussion back to a recitation without really realizing it. I think there is a really fine line between a productive discussion and a discussion that gets off topic but as teachers we need to allow our students and ourselves to explore the idea of discussion and eventually we will figure out how to productively lead a discussion.
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