In Marcus Hung’s article “Talking Circles Promote Equitable Discourse” the author talks about how he uses “talking circle” a structured discussion format to influence equitable student participation in his math class. As a math teacher he observed that during “Stratified classroom talk” or traditional whole-class discussions the majority of students who tend to volunteer and respond most frequently were students who were mathematically confident, and they were the same few students every time. Even in the small group discussions in his classroom Hung observed that most of the discussions were still done mainly by students who were mathematically confident. According to Hung, these discussion formats did not promote the equitable participation …show more content…
Talking circles are not meant to replace traditional whole-class or small group discussion but to present a different form of discussion. During my first semester of the graduate program I took a foundation course in which professor used the talking circle in every classroom session. I observed the discussion format created platform for all students to equally participate in the classroom talk. I consider myself an active participant in the traditional classroom discussion but at times, given the intensity of the topic I would keep quiet and observe my peers discussing. However, in talking circle I realized there was literally no scope of avoiding class participation as every student would eventually share their thoughts in sequence that would promote equitable discussion and participation. Especially, using talking circle to introduce new math topics would be an effective way to enhance students’ number fluency and get them comfortable with explaining their thought process by using students' prior knowledge. Talking circles could also be helpful to review materials before an assessment by discussing questions and answers with students as a group. By exploring different perspective of talking circle the teachers can best implement the discussion format in their classroom to help minimize stratified talk and support mathematics learning for all
Everyone Is Equal Terrorist attacks, school shootings, corruption, ISIS assassinating Americans, is all you hear in the news nowadays. Cesar Chavez puts us in the hotspot, is violence the answer? Can there be a world without atomic bombs and guns? Cesar Chavez believes it. Labor union organizer and civil rights leader Cesar Chavez published an article where it's aim was to renew the minds of Americans that nonviolence is the best policy for everyone.
In this chapter, Jo Boaler describes several school systems who do not use “tracking,” filters that separate students into high-level mathematics classes and low-level mathematics classes. She continues with a discussion that reminds us of the harmful effects of “tracking” and the damage it does to students’ mindsets, both those students on the high-level and the low-level track. Ms. Boaler goes on to suggest that heterogeneous groups of students can effectively work together and individual students can develop a growth mindset. The remainder of the chapter focuses on teaching mixed ability groups effectively and includes an in-depth look at how the tasks students complete and the type of instruction they receive can promote growth mindsets.
Participating in a workshop can improve students’ performance in class as
The group that this writer attended this week was an Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A) open group that consisted of thirty-two individuals. The date of the meeting was on Tuesday, December 1, 2015. The group started out with one facilitator opening the meeting up. He read the serenity prayer and covered the 12 steps related to the premise of A.A. This took no more than the first five minutes of the meeting. One of the members then took the floor and spoke as the featured speaker talking mostly about how his life has been turned around since joining A.A. and that life couldn’t be better.
In math gives students a chance to share different methods and angles for solving mathmatical equations. In english, students can analyse characters from different points of view. In every class, students will learn to work together efficiently to gather and organize ideas. Sadly, some students believe "it is a waste of time listening to peers compared to listening to teachers.
I wanted to try the written conversation because I know that a good number of my students do not like participating in class discussions. I also noticed that the same students dominated class discussions. I also noticed that many students had trouble noticing multiple arguments in an article or reading and didn't fully understand counterclaims. I felt that the best way to “hear the voices” of the quieter students, get the dominating students to take a step back, and to also introduce counterclaims was through a written conversation in response to an article on a controversial topic. When I re-did the lesson, I also leveled the article by Lexile level and distributed it to my students based on their previous reading
To begin, debate is not just to argue about a topic but its purpose is to widen our mind. According to Arne Duncan, US Secretary of Education, “debate is not just one of the “great equalizers” for minority achievement and educational opportunity, but also a best practice to produce dynamic Americans proficient in the 4 “Cs” of 21st century skills—critical thinking, communication, collaboration,
As Barnwell observes his students flounder in his conversational project, he realizes, “that conversational competence might be the single-most overlooked skill we fail to teach students,” (Par. 5). Through his personal reflection, Barnwell trivializes the issue as more of a lack of skill rather than a deep psychological issue. He is right, there is defiantly a lack of conversational skill in this generation, however, that is more of a symptom than it is the root of the disease. Barnwell’s solution for teachers is to “have a conversation,” with the students “about a challenging topic” (Par. 14). This is a good solution for the problem posed.
Communicating is also an important part of the language process as it allows children to connect words, actions, pictures and symbols. Such communication helps children to enhance and develop their meaning. The use of manipulatives and meaning are used to assist children to represent concepts whilst allowing knowledge experiences that can be examined, explained and emulated. However some students struggle to find words used to describe a particular situation or words associated with mathematical meanings. Most of the words and names associated with geometry are from the Greek and Latin language, it is beneficial when teaching children the names of different shapes, that it is, introduced slowly so that children don’t become overwhelmed or confused, simple everyday phrases are beneficial until students become fluent in the language associated with
This interaction encourages students to think. It is very beneficial if the students interact between them in a large number since everyone has their own experienced, opinion, ways of thinking and so forth. In computing,
things as simple as a seating arrangement promotes fairness. every student gets a spot to sit and no desk is any better than another. avoiding favoritism and prejudice is also a way to promote fairness in class. students notice when the same people are called on repeatedly. As a teacher it is important to make sure all students have access to learning.
According to Hsiang Ann Liao (2014) collaborative learning has been found to benefit students in various disciplines. Moreover, in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics literature, it was noted that minority students benefited the most from collaborative learning. This statement suits our study. The students in
Hence, the ability to have an interaction between students to faculty, lecturer, and some association that appeared on campus might not be used as properly and considerately. Moreover, lack of interaction, can make student more anxiety to interact in front of people. Because they do not have the opportunity that regular class has such as to have a discussion each other, presenting their work in front of class, expressing opinion and ideas and asking the question. Indirectly it also resulted on having less confidence and lack of curiosity. (Ni, A. Y,
All students deserve to be treated fairly as individuals. When considering the diversity of the class members, we will celebrate the uniqueness that the differences contribute. Because I have high expectations that all my children can be successful, adjustments may be necessary because everyone is not the same (Burden, 2017, p. 115). It is vital that a spirit of understanding and edification is active amongst the students and from the teacher (Romans 14:19, King James Version) to produce fruits of mutual respect: reduced bias, positive academic outcomes, enhanced problem solving, and healthy group dynamics (Cousik, 2015, p. 54). For differences that stem from culture, gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status, the adjustments will involve bridging the cultural gap between the students’ diversity and the curriculum.
The elements of this component are quality of questions/ prompts, discussion techniques and student participation. Effective questioning techniques are associated with the types of the questions. Instead of just asking closed-questions, the teachers should vary the types of questions by asking open-ended questions to encourage the critical thinking of the students. As mentioned by Danielson (2014: 59), “Class discussion are animated, engaging all the students in important issues and promoting the use of precise language to deepen language and extend their understanding.” Hence, an effective classroom interaction is not necessarily evolved high cognitive level of lesson content, but the engagement and participation of the students is important to make sure the learning and teaching process is