The talk move that seemed most natural for me to use as a teacher was the repeating move, where you ask your students to restate another student's answer or reasoning. I find this talk move to be very important in conversation between teachers and students because it lets the teacher know which students are paying attention to the discussion and how the students are interpreting the information provided. This talk move may motivate more students to pay attention because they are nervous that the teacher may call on them to restate what was just said by another student. So instead of not being able to recall what was said by their fellow students, they will pay careful attention to understand every comment made (a useful classroom management tool).
I can see myself using this talk move the most because I find it provides importance to the student who gave the initial response. Once a student begins to feel more confident about answering or contributing their opinions into a classroom discussion, they are more likely to continue this contribution, which is ultimately what every teacher would like to achieve. To have every student have the confidence to speak out loud or answer a problem or question is what makes for a successful classroom discussion and an excellent assessment for the teacher to determine what the students are learning and how engaged they are in the lesson.
Another reason I find this talk move to be of importance within classroom discussions is because it offers another version of the response for the students to comprehend. By giving the students this other rendition, they will have a greater chance of understanding what is being conversed within the class.
Hey Emily
ReplyDeleteI really like your comment about providing importance to the student who gave the initial response. I think that is a important thing to note. Especially if that student is one who may not feel secure about sharing their ideas in class, to who their idea rephrased in class, meaning that students agree with it, is a powerful thing.
On using this talk move as a management tool. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I do it all the time because I think we have all been trained to do it from all of our past teachers doing it. But really, let's remember being singled out by our elementary (or middle school/high school/college) teachers for not paying attention...it sucked. When it happened to me I'd get embarrassed and then think about my embarrassment and other social things for a while before being able to focus on the lesson again. I've seen my CT continually question a student who she initially "caught" with this trap. And even though she read him the question, and the answer was quite obvious (was it an equilateral, isosceles, or scalene triangle? examples of each triangle were on the smart board) the student was still unable to answer until she really called him out, told him to focus and reread him the question a second time. I don't know what was going on in the kids head, but I'm willing to bet embarrassment played a role in his inability to focus. All in all I have mixed feelings about this move as a management tool.