Discussion/Dialogue strategies
From the many experiences I have had in my observations, facilitating class discussions can be a difficult task. Some examples of class discussion strategies are the "yes, no, in-between". This is a great way to do a pre-assessment but can also be done during the reading. The idea is that you provide questions either regarding some themes or things that they will encounter in the reading, and you will read the question out loud, and students will "stand" in either the yes, no, or in-between sections of the classroom. This worked really well because it got the students moving as well as created a great discussion. The class was beginning to read Hamlet in the next couple of days, which created the great opportunity to introduce some themes and "things to anticipate" with such an unusual play. Students felt comfortable talking and got students engaged in conversation with one another when students disagreed.
This also reminds me of what we've been talking about in 411 and 445! Facilitating discussion in this activity is a way to model and teach the students the skills to create a discussion where they will (guaranteed) disagree. As college students, discussion comes easily and we feel comfortable doing so. As we've talked about, sometimes we have to break it down for our students and show them what a good discussion actually looks like.
Another great strategy was the "phone a friend" strategy. I find this to be a great way to get students engaged and "on point" for a lack of better words because they could be "phoned" at anytime. I believe this would create a fun environment in the classroom because you could make this strategy have the touch of a game show. I know I would play on this strategy because it's all about getting your students to work together and keep your students on the hook for answering the question. I think this strategy does this well and makes it easier, for the teacher, to stay away from answering the questions. Additionally, it shows students that you don't know all of the answers! I've never thought of it from that perspective, but it reveals to your students that you may not know everything and that is okay. Creating this student centered environment it also creates a community of trust and potentially gets the students to want to work together and see everyone succeed. Definitely something I would adapt in my own classroom.
Basketball questioning is also something that we've talked about in class when Benson says to "catch the ball, but throw the ball back out to the class. Instead of answering the question (which is hard to not do), pose a students question to the class. 1. it validates the student and their question, 2. you give students a chance to answer the question! I think the resource Dr. Benson provided was very straightforward and definitely a helpful way to think of ways to differentiate in regards to discussion and how to stay away from being the authoritative, all knowing teacher.
This also reminds me of what we've been talking about in 411 and 445! Facilitating discussion in this activity is a way to model and teach the students the skills to create a discussion where they will (guaranteed) disagree. As college students, discussion comes easily and we feel comfortable doing so. As we've talked about, sometimes we have to break it down for our students and show them what a good discussion actually looks like.
We don't want our students to simply regurgitate or tells us "what we want to hear". We have to let the students do the talking!
Another great strategy was the "phone a friend" strategy. I find this to be a great way to get students engaged and "on point" for a lack of better words because they could be "phoned" at anytime. I believe this would create a fun environment in the classroom because you could make this strategy have the touch of a game show. I know I would play on this strategy because it's all about getting your students to work together and keep your students on the hook for answering the question. I think this strategy does this well and makes it easier, for the teacher, to stay away from answering the questions. Additionally, it shows students that you don't know all of the answers! I've never thought of it from that perspective, but it reveals to your students that you may not know everything and that is okay. Creating this student centered environment it also creates a community of trust and potentially gets the students to want to work together and see everyone succeed. Definitely something I would adapt in my own classroom.
Basketball questioning is also something that we've talked about in class when Benson says to "catch the ball, but throw the ball back out to the class. Instead of answering the question (which is hard to not do), pose a students question to the class. 1. it validates the student and their question, 2. you give students a chance to answer the question! I think the resource Dr. Benson provided was very straightforward and definitely a helpful way to think of ways to differentiate in regards to discussion and how to stay away from being the authoritative, all knowing teacher.
I agree with you that we definitely don't want students to simply feed us the "right" answers -- that we also want to encourage them to speak their own thoughts even (and especially) if it's in disagreement with something we've read or said. I like that your activities/strategies make the teacher go to the side rather than position them as the focal point of the discussion. Not only are students answering questions, they're calling on friends to help or add to what has been said. It takes time for students to be comfortable with one another (we observed hesitance in a popcorn activity during practicum where no one wanted to call on somebody else) and the phone activity is one that can be used as a community builder and then incorporated into lessons so it's a strategy they're familiar with.
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