Discussion in my classroom-Blog #4

Within my classroom I mainly see text talk. My MT is working most on improving comprehension in her students but she asks very similar questions that do not necessarily cause the students to think deeply about the text. Her questions are very basic to the plot structure of the text. According to Almasi, this reminds me of the more traditional type of discussion characterized by teacher talk and literal questions instead of critical thinking and thought. Something I also have noticed is lacking in my classroom is connecting the text to my students lives. Usually my MT begins reading. This makes the text less meaningful to the students, and you can tell that it is not as meaningful when you read what students write about the books. What I see is more of a recitation instead of a discussion. In order for discussion to occur, students need to know that they have valuable comments to put into the conversation. In order to scaffold accountable talk, mt MT needs to have a goal in mind for where the discussion needs to end. She then needs to link the students comments together and guide students towards their goal with the questions she asks. Most of all, students need to lead the conversation. The teacher mainly needs to act as a guide. This way students are held accountable to maintaining the discussion and contributing to it. Every student should contribute to the discussion. I think it would be easy for my students to contribute to the discussion, but might be difficult for them to stay on topic since they are so young. This is where the teacher can contribute to the discussion by keeping the students on task.