Consider ideas discussed in today's readings. What type(s) of talk are you seeing in your classroom? What scaffolding is needed for response-centered talk to take place? Are there students in your classroom who need particular types of scaffolding?
My CT has fostered interaction in the classroom, however I feel that it is more on the recitation spectrum. Recently, she has been reading chapters of Fig Pudding to the class, while the class listens for "hand" and "heart" feelings (i.e. senses vs. emotions). Before, during, and after my CT will ask students to recall these feelings, and then they are invited to write them down on their "Hand and Heart Feeling" worksheet. Sometimes my CT will dip more into discussion, when she will ask the students how they think the characters feel and why they think they feel that way. However, it typically does not go much deeper than that.
In order to implement response-centered talk into the classroom, my CT needs to ask more probing questions. By simply asking the students to differentiate between hand and heart emotions, students are not really partaking in discussion, rather they are simply answering a point-blank question. Maybe my CT could not only ask how they think the character felt, but when they last felt this way and why? My CT could even foster smaller-group discussion, by having students work in their desk groups to discuss the scenarios given in Fig Pudding, so that all students are more involved.
There is one particular student in my classroom who would probably need help scaffolding, as she is very timid about speaking in front of others. Therefore, she may work better when talking one-on-one with my CT or even myself, or my other Senior Counterpart.
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Christina,
ReplyDeleteI thought your post was very interesting. I believe you mentioned before that you are in a second grade classroom. Since I'm always locked into the "fourth grade" mindset, I like learning about how recitation takes place in your classroom. I was taken aback by how the teacher simplified the story she was reading by prompting students to look for hand or heart feelings. To me, this is like giving student the text of a story and asking them to fill in the blanks as they are reading it. Although it does focus the students perhaps on a desired area the teacher would like them to think about, they may miss the flow of the overall story in their search for feelings. I think to change this, the teacher could say "What do you think this character is thinking with?" or "Have you ever thought this way? When was that? Can you share with a partner how you felt that way?" This way the teacher could go from a pure labeling activity to an interactive discussion or at least a higher-level thinking recitation talk.