Classroom Talk

In my placement classroom, I mostly see recitation talks. At times, it seems that discussions could develop, but unfortunately, for one reason or another, they do not. Some of the reason for a lack of discussion in my classroom, that I mentioned in class, is that the students seem too wrapped up in their own answers to listen to other answers that students are giving. In other words, there is no collaboration. Additionally, it seems that time constraints can also be an issue in the classroom that squashes out potential discussion. Sometimes, there just is not enough time built into the schedule for the teacher to allow discussion to develop.

In order for more discussion and, specifically, response-centered talk to take place, I think that the teacher would need to provide scaffolding on many different levels. Firstly, the teacher needs to negotiate rules of discussion talk with his students. These rules need to provide the framework for cooperative and collaborative efforts in discussions. For example, a good rule might be to require a student to link his thought with the thought of a student who previously talked before sharing. This would require all students to pay attention, possibly decrease repeated answers, and increase collaborative efforts, or at least linking, like we discussed in class.

Also, in order to have response-centered talk, as discussed in McGee, the teacher will need to carefully select an age appropriate book with gaps of understanding that students can work to fill or make different interpretations from. The teacher could ask guiding questions during the task, for students who are in need of more scaffolding, but overall, he must act as the facilitator. There are some students in my class that would need extra scaffolding and guidance, but mostly because they are prone to being off-task, or easily distracted, not because they have mental deficiencies. Additionally, some students are not liked by others, because they can be a bit socially awkward, so it would be imperative for the teacher to ensure that not only were their opinions heard, but also that they were respected. Finally, some students tend to dominate the conversation more than others, and as Weinstein suggests, these students must be reigned-in, so to speak, so that all students have an equal chance at participation in the discussion.