Students will learn more about a
disciplinary topic when they are given the opportunity to discuss the new
learnings in class. According to the
Vacca and Vacca article (located here), students need to be able to have
student lead discussions in the classroom to help with comprehension. They also state that many times, the teacher
does more of the talking, which is not necessarily helping the students. Due to this, it is important for teachers to
encourage discussion around a topic. I
believe teachers can do this through scaffolding instruction on discussion as
well as setting up an environment that is conductive of discussion.
The Vacca and Vacca article as
mentioned above gives some tips to encourage discussion. The first activity that is mentioned is
scaffolding discussion through activities like turn and talk. With the new Common Core Standards, we are
even doing turn and talk in my Kindergarten classroom. The article mentioned how many students will
try to guess what is in the teacher’s head during discussion. The turn and talk allows students to only
speak to one other partner and not be put on the spot for any answers. In my current classroom, we use the turn and
talk as a way to discuss various topics and subject areas. I find a lot of success with this type of
classroom discussion because as I take anecdotal notes, I listen and see that
every student in my classroom is partaking in the discussion.
I also found the Vacca and Vacca
article had many beneficial tips for encouraging discussion as well. Some of the tipcs that were included were
arranging the classroom in a specific way, teaching students how to listen, and
establishing goals for discussion. I
believe these are all aspects that can be taught at the younger grade levels,
and build on as the students grow older and more versed in language. I previously had not thought about how the
way a classroom is set up and how that can help discussion. Students should be able to see one another
and have easy access to sit by one another for discussions. In my room, I try to set it up so that
students can simply turn in order to have a discussion. I also found this packet online
that gave a whole list of other activities that can promote classroom
discussion. I really liked reading about
the picture making activity as I could see that working in a Kindergarten
classroom to help facilitate their discussion on new learnings.
I think that between the article
from Vacca and Vacca and from the article I found online, that students can
learn how to discuss topics in the classroom. Students need to have ample
opportunities for discussion to foster their growth and understanding in a
topic. I believe that if students start
discussing content areas at a young age, they can only grow and become more
inclined to learn from their discussions
Hi Allison, I am a big proponent of student discussion. I work with students in K-2 this year so they need quite a bit of scaffolding. I notice them gaining in skill as they get older. I liked the magic 3x5 card idea on the link you posted. It gives that anonymity to the students who are shy about speaking up in class. Have you tried any of the suggestions with your students?
ReplyDeleteAli,
ReplyDeleteI like how you outlined all the suggestions in Vacca and Vacca’s article. In particular, I liked how you discussed ‘turning and talking’. I also do many ‘turn and talks’ throughout the day in my classroom. My students know who to turn to and are aware of my expectations during this time. However, do you ever find your students to be off-task during this time? What do you do if/when this happens?