For this week's readings I really enjoyed reading out of the textbook on the topic of what a discussion is versus a recitation. I can remember throughout most of my education we have done recitation style learning in which the questions were always very two dimensional. I honestly can not remember a time where we had a true discussion at any point in my education. I think that this is partially because none of my teachers ever made an effort to have a true discussion in the lower grades, and so by the time I reached the higher grades none of my peers knew how to have one, and none of them cared to for that matter. I remember in all of my AP classes in high school the teachers would make a solid effort to have a discussion, but the room was always crickets- having a discussion was like pulling teeth. Even still in college I have not had many classes that I would consider to be true discussion- I would consider most of them to be verbal quizzes consisting of right and wrong short answers.
Based on this reading I think that it's important for me as a future teacher to try to teach my students the art of discussion. I don't see any discussion going on in my CT's classroom- it's all very teacher dominant discussion with the answers being very short and right or wrong. Although I understand why a teacher may resort to this level of teaching, I do think that it's important not to if at all possible. I see in my classroom that many of the students are unengaged as the book described and not into the discussions, while other students are very dominant in answering the questions. I think that literacy can be brought into every aspect of the classroom, but that in order to do this effectively discussions need to be practiced to maximize learning and results.
I agree with your blog! I too, found the chapter very interesting and it made me reflect back on my own school career. I remember teachers asking us questions about what happened in a certain book or how to solve a math problem, total recitation. Discussion is something deeper than simple recitation and the chapter really gave crucial bullet points on why this is and how to integrate discussion into daily lessons. Discussions also help engage the students as you pointed out as well.
ReplyDeleteI also agree!@ I think it is too bad you don't see much discussion in your classroom. While I do think the teacher should be the discussion leader, I also think that students need to be able to discuss their ideas with out a recitation style way of discussion. Maybe you can simulate a this new kind of discussion in your liteacy lesson?
ReplyDeleteYea I think that most teachers should use discussions in their classrooms. Now a days it does not even have to be in the class to have a good discussion we can use the internet with such things as google docs, aim, skype, etc. There are so many ways in which a classroom can have a good discussion. I just wish that I could tell when a discussion is going well is it when everyone is participating or when the questions are being answered? I know that there are instances when some students do not want to talk however how do we include them into discussion without making them feel like the spotlight is on them?
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