In my third grade classroom, each
of the classroom talks discussed in the readings are used. However, some are used more than
others. Everyday, my mentor
teacher uses text talk and book talk with the students when performing read
alouds. Before lunchtime, my
mentor teacher will read a chapter from the book “Because of Winn-Dixie” and
use text and book talk to discuss the story. She will occasionally pause after different sentences and prompt
questions relating to the text.
One question that she asked a few weeks ago was if the students knew
what the Civil War was. After the
students made it clear that they did not know what it was, my mentor teacher
explained that it was a war fought between the North and the South and how it
impacted the U.S. She then
prompted questions that related to how someone fighting in the war might have
felt at the time. Even though the
students did not know what the Civil War was at first, after listening to
“Because of Winn-Dixie” being read aloud they were able to expand on how
characters in the book may have felt and also make better sense of some
southerner phrases that the characters in the story used.
Response-centered talk is also used
regularly in the classroom. Last
time I was helping out in the classroom my mentor teacher was evaluating
student’s reading comprehension levels.
She had the students read short stories aloud and then asked them
questions based off of the stories.
The stories were really basic and allowed the students to expand on them
however they wanted to. The
teacher prompted questions to a group of students she was evaluating and had
them explain why certain characters did what they did.
For
this type of classroom talk, my mentor teacher encourages students to think
beyond what is going on in the story by prompting questions and having them
look deeper than what is written on the page in front of them. She helps them expand on their thoughts
and encourages the students’ ideas.
I think to successfully use classroom talk it is necessary to provide
encouragement and positive reinforcement especially to help get the more quiet
students involved.
Just like Jaclyn's classroom, we also use each type of talks in some way. I like the text talk and idea of reading a chapter and having them expand on it daily. It is a good way to introduce a new topic like you can see from the Civil War example. For my science lesson I used a book to begin my lesson and it got my students engaged immediately into the new topic. Asking questions and having them expand on their ideas gets their minds thinking. It can also help with their thinking to get them starting to wonder about the lesson, like I wonder what that word means, or what this does etc. Each talk has its benefits.
ReplyDeleteI would have to say reading/discussion is led much differently in the classroom I work in compared to both Kelsey and Jaclyn's. One thing in common with Jaclyn's class is that my mentor teacher also reads to the students for about 10-15 minutes before lunchtime, however no class discussion is ever done. After she is done, she closes the book, they line up and they read again the next day. I question if this is okay, simply because I am not sure if my teacher reads at this time before lunch for the students enjoyment and to give them a break, or if she should really be holding a discussion with them after reading each day? This is often done right after centers, so I think she does it to give them a break, however I do not see a problem with holding a discussion on the book afterwards every so often; to make sure everyone is on the same page.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I did notice that my mentor teacher does when they individually read after centers is allowing them to have a discussion with 1-2 classmates about what they found interesting in the story or anything they would like to share about the book. At first, I questioned if the students would actually discuss/elaborate with one another or goof off, but I found by observing and listening that they really enjoy these 3-5 minutes to walk around and discuss the books they are read. Most of them are doing as told, and doing so happily.
Along with this, the discussion on the Civil War topic reminded me of my social studies lesson when I did a worksheet on the patriotic symbols in the US. One of the parts of the worksheet discussed the washington memorial, however the students were unfamiliar with this so to further help them, my mentor teacher and I got out their social studies books and the internet to help explain it to them. It was awesome! Reading can often go this way too, by this I mean you can use other tools or ways to discuss and explain a concept/word/story being read.