In my second grade classroom, I mostly see recitation type talk between the students and the teacher. She has done some discussion though, especially in science lessons. I think my CT is working up to having a discussion by setting and practicing norms with the students. They participate in class generally by raising their hand and getting called on. My CT does a nice job of reminding the students to listen to the speaker and they actually have to apologize if they are rude and blurt out while someone is talking. Having norms for discussion based class is vital, and work for when the students are having a scientific discussion. My CT generally stays out of leading the discussion, and allows students to ask questions to each other and state their opinion.
Like Goldenberg and Weinstein writes, my CT does have a purpose or goal she hopes to accomplish when she does hold a discussion. She also does a nice job of not facilitating the discussion. Yet, she still sits in front of the students and the students haven’t quite mastered holding a discussion just between them, so they still rely on my CT sometimes.
While my CT does do a lot of recitation type talks, she does a nice job of not doing the typical ask a question, get a response, and evaluate the response. She asks students deeper questions about how they feel about a particular book, or what they think about their social studies topics. Since the students are fairly young, my CT does need to support them, and cannot expect them to be able to handle a discussion. Some students need particular types of scaffolding in my classroom because they may not be able to focus on the direction of a discussion type talk. In this case, my CT will assist them by reminding what has been said, or repeating her question.
I think it is great that your CT is scaffolding her students during discussion to get them ready for the real thing. I feel like so many times discussions are over looked are are carried out in the wrong way. I feel like I am even guilty of that sometimes, especially where there is a certain point that you want to make sure the students touch on. I love discussion and when it is done right it his unbelievable what the students can think of. I really want to incorporate discussion as much as I can into my classroom. I would like to know more specifically what your CT does to create the norms of her classroom because it has been difficult for me to see this at times. I worry a lot about my classroom management skills and whether or not I am going to be able to help facilitate the norms of my classroom so that my students can get the most out of it as they can.
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