To be completely honest, there are very little discussions that take place in my third grade classroom that I would consider to be "rich." Given that there are 32 third graders with a lot of energy that enjoy talking out of turn as it is, I feel that my mentor teacher has kind of given up on the idea of having meaningful, educational, rich classroom discussions about a reading. Although she often asks questions after "Read Aloud" and has the students predict what they believe may occur next in the reading, the conversation always comes back to her. I rarely see the students build off of what each other say (this is where I feel it would be helpful for my MT so say "agree, disagree or add on"). Additionally, when my MT asks a question and calls on more than one student to answer, they often just repeat what the first person who answers the question said in another way. This I feel is not helping anyone because it is almost discouraging students from having opinions/thoughts out their own because they are fearful to disagree and/or answer incorrectly.
Another interesting thing that I have observed during reading time is that the amount of time and discussions the students have with in their reading groups and with my MT is contingent on students’ level of proficiency. Although I understand that the lower functioning children require more attention when it comes to learning how to read, I find it interesting that the students who are high achieving never even have group discussions with one another about what they are reading. Given all that I have seen, I am under the impressions that the students who are not considered “behind” have a week to read a book that is at his or her level of proficiency and as they read that must complete a packet with various questions about the reading. Although they get practice both reading and writing and their comprehension is tested with the packet, there is never a single discussion between peers and or students and teacher.
As for the learning resources available to the students in my classroom I am happy to report that they have a classroom library that has many books in it that are labeled given the books reading level. There are many different types of genres for the students to choose from and each student has a dictionary in their desk to use as an additional resource when they are unaware of a word’s definition (however- this does somewhat discourages students from having meaningful conversations with a neighbor about what a word may mean). However, I am still yet to see the 5 classroom computers utilized as an additional resource, and I also feel like the classroom’s Smart Board is not being used to its fullest potential. I have never once seen the computers on, and the Smart Board is only used when there is an interactive video that goes with the specific chapter from the book that the students use.
Like Emma, I am placed in a third grade classroom and I rarely see any classroom discussion about books. As a whole class the students are listening to my MT read The Indian in the Cupboard. They often talk about comprehension questions after a chapter is read. These questions include asking about what happened in the chapter and what they think will happen next. My MT often asks about vocabulary as well to make sure students understand what they are listening to. Like Emma, I rarely see the student build off of one another either and agree that there could be much more rich discussion had by these very capable third graders.
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting that Emma's students have different times with their reading groups depending on their level. My students have equal time with the teacher, but I am not sure how well utilized that time is. The McGee reading that I did was incredibly insightful as to a way to create good, rich discussion within reading groups. The author suggests using the response-centered approach in which book discussion is based more on student response to a piece and less led by the teacher. Students are able to build off of one another's points and create their own conversation with little intervention by the teacher. This can help teachers assess student comprehension as well as encourage rich literature discussion. I think this could be extremely helpful in either Emma's or my classroom in order to encourage more rich discussion and more comprehension skills while students are in their reading groups.
In reference to Emma's post above, I completely understand the issue of not have active discussion in the classroom pertinent toward reading selections. While the students in my classroom do occasionally complete worksheets following a reading selection, much like Emma's classroom, there is no follow up discussion. As I discussed in my post from last week, the computers within our classroom are also under utilized for learning needs, and instead are a baby-sitter for the high achieving students who complete their work before everyone else does. I think an alternative idea to this issue is to possibly promote discussion within small groups of students, as there are often times when we, as MSU students, may have a minute here or there to speak to a few children who completed their work early or what not. I think that by starting out with small group discussion, it allows for the students to gradually become accustomed to large group discussions, whether or not your Mentor Teacher is in favor of doing so. I also need to say that I myself understand how you could be concerned about class discussions since your students evidently do not have experience in this field. I think that although we cannot change our MT or their lesson plans, we can offer our students mall glimpses of what may come in grades in the future.
ReplyDeleteAn alternative way to think about the Smart Board situation may be that you teacher does not find use with this technology to be effective in the classroom. Now I realize that many people believe that technology MUST be used in the classroom, but technology can also be a hindrance to learning if it uses extra time to prepare or doesn't help meet the goals of the lesson. I am not saying that the Smart Board should not be used at all, I am simply bringing an alternative perspective to the table as I myself do in fact think that technology is useful, but i can understand that in some cases, this may not be the case.