These
articles really opened my eyes to the difference between recitation and
discussion. From my own experiences as a learner, I suppose I had
never really taken the time to reflect upon from which kind of verbal
interaction I learned more. Seeing the differences laid out like this,
however, caused an “aha!” moment for me: of course I learned more in
classes in which I was initiating questions, and responding to my peers,
for that was a true discussion. When teachers asked the class simple
questions (which I understand now to have been part of I-R-E), since I
knew that my teacher would never call on me due to my being
pidgeon-holed as “gifted and accelerated” and her want to give the other
students a chance to participate, I would either answer quietly, or let
my mind wander back to Harry Potter. I was absolutely not engaged -
and I was a talkative student who regularly volunteered her opinion and
answers! These articles really have my wheels turning: if I wasn’t
learning to the best of my ability, who else wasn’t, either?
I
see both recitation and discussion functioning in my classroom to a
certain degree. Since the instruction is in Spanish, my teacher will
often prompt a simple question in relation to the reading, such as “what
would YOU do with a dinosaur in school?” and have the kids turn and
talk to a partner. Surprisingly enough, the students manage to stay on
track for the most part, and really ask each other questions and support
each other’s thoughts and learning. I believe this to be discussion,
since the students have active roles, and each student gets a chance to
participate with his/her partner.
A
few other types of recitation occur in the classroom. With all of the
aids, student teachers, MSU seniors, etc., that frequent our classroom,
it is not uncommon for us to have 4 or 5 “teachers” in the room at one
time. This is an incredible resource to facilitate discussion, and
allows for many smaller recitations and discussions, as the teachers
will either host a literacy center, or circulate the room during a
bigger project, to ask different groups questions. Children that do not
tend to participate in big group recitation are more or less forced to
offer their viewpoints, because either the teacher calls on them in a
non-threatening way, or or they are more inclined to give their opinion.
This helps the students who usually do not participate actively in
classroom talk, because they are in a smaller group setting and less
intimidated. We also make sure to give the students positive feedback
and encouragement to participate.
My
teacher also relies heavily on IRE during instructional time at the
board. She has explained to me that, since the room is also K/1 with an
abundance of 1st graders, the kindergartners are sometimes too shy to
offer their opinion or participate. She’s implemented a hand gesture in
order to combat this phenomenon. When she is speaking, she keeps her
hand up by her head, but when she wants the group to respond, she lowers
her hand and points to them. She’s told me that this way, the
kindergartners know that EVERYONE is responding, and they are not afraid
of saying the wrong answer. She suggested that I try that, and showed
me Anita Archer’s vocabulary lesson for guidance and ideas: http://www.podcast.tv/video-podcasts/dr-anita-archer%E2%80%98s-strategic-literacy-instruction-video-series-100004.html
This,
of course, is not discussion, but it is incredibly difficult for the
teachers to keep discussion on track because of the use of Spanish.
Sometimes the children do not actually understand the initial question,
or the interim guiding questions, so the fallback is IRE, in order for
more concrete understanding on their part. I wonder what would happen
if I strayed away from this kind of recitation for my literacy lesson.
Will they stay on task? Will they understand the initial question? I
guess we’ll have to wait and see!
