Classroom Talk

While reading the three articles that I was assigned, I began to realize the importance and significance of classroom discussion. I also learned the difference between "recitation" and "discussion" in the Almasi article, and how they relate to the instruction of literature in the Langer article. Almasi talks how in recitation, students feel that they are being tested for the benefit of the teacher. In recitation the teacher is talking for the majority of the time and there is no student to student interaction. The teacher asks questions to the students expecting one right answer for the interpretation of the text. During discussion, Almasi explains that students lead the discussion and the teacher merely scaffolds the student's talk. During discussion students are responding to each other as well as the teacher and do not feel that they are being tested or that they could give a wrong answer. Langer points out that this is a major problem in the instruction of language arts. He states that most teacher will lead a literary discussion as if the text they are discussing is informative text. In this context, "Literature is generally taught in an informative manner, as if there is a point or correct interpretation that the reader must build" (pg 815). When discussions are held in this way, students opinions or interpretations are disregarded or heard only for motivation, with the discussion eventually leading to the "right" answer.

Buchanan stresses the importance of book talks for comprehension development. He talks about the many ways that book discussions are beneficial to students and teachers. In my classroom, I have only seen trite or short lived book discussions where the teacher is treating the text like content to be learned. I have been in this particular classroom (second grade) for almost five months and I have never seen a student lead conversation. Usually, the teacher will read a book and then ask the students to raise their hands if they liked it. Then she continues by asking questions about particular events and relationships in the book. Although she does encourage original thought through these questions, she also guides their answers into how she interpreted the book. I think that she does this in order to get the students to think about the text in a different light, but it may be debilitating the student's abilities to move toward a deeper understanding.

My classroom is very high energy and for the most part the students do not get a long with each other. I think that if she held discussions where there were open ended questions and students could respond to other's thought, it might aid her to build a classroom community. Also, as Buchanan suggests, it might create a means for a socio-emotional bond between the students.

In my classroom, there are only a few students who are genuinely motivated when it comes to language arts lessons. According to Buchanan, book discussions can be a great way to motivate students because it gives them a chance to discuss their personal interests and interact with other students.

I think that if the teacher were to do response centered discussions, there would have to be a lot of scaffolding for the conversation to run smoothly. This is solely because the students are not used to this type of classroom activity. Open ended questions that provide ways for them to ponder their own ideas would be useful. Also, questions that encourage student to student interaction like, "Do you agree or disagree with what Tim said and why?" Or, "Does anyone want to add to Tom's ideas?" would help to lead a meaningful discussion.

After reading through the articles, I think book talks would be very beneficial in my classroom, if not crucial to the student's comprehension development. I think that as a teacher, it will take a lot of practice to be successful at leading discussions, especially when the class needs to work on behavior. I hope to implement these ideas about discussions in my placement and future teaching experiences.