Shift #3: Classroom Conversation

Shift #3 will be the toughest challenge for me.  I had the opportunity for coaching last year, and it really helped me to notice my talk. Classroom talk is a two way street and in the past I have been more of the director of conversations. My other guilt is that I tended to be the answer keeper (not all the times) but especially when I was rushed for time and for sure in math. 

Compliments of Google image

I'm excited about this shifting teacher talk to include more question because I believe it could be the game changer.  I have read several articles, chapters and twitter chats to help me change my thinking.  I am going to have a cheat sheet index card to help me the first few months of school.  It has a huge question mark and a few prompts to remind me to stop and ask questions.  My go to questions include

• Explain your thinking NOT explain your answer
• Justify your answer with support from your notebook NOT show me your work
• Turn and talk with a friend who has a different answer/solution NOT just turn and talk

My biggest learning happened in math the past few years.  I needed to make changes with how they responded with answers. I have shifted from: What's the answer? to Which strategy did you use to solve the problem?  It's a double dip question both the answer and the thinking. This change was important because I used to want the "right" answer. Focusing on strategies which are crucial for math since there are so many different ways to solve a problem. Our conversation is centered around the strategies and their thinking not just the answer. 

Shift #3 will be a year long commitment. I have been thinking about gentle reminders to help me remember these changes. I'm getting excited about implementing my thinking from the summer when school starts in two weeks. I appreciate the comments because they always help me grow as a learner.

 

Wednesday Word Work: Tale of Two Conversations

A few conversations this past week started me thinking about the role of a teacher as a learner. The first conversation was with a teacher who was struggling with word study.  She felt like her lessons were not flowing, and the lessons were more like a check off list.  As we talked,  I suggested several activities and she made al list of "possibilities."  I saw her get overwhelmed as we continued talking.  I realized I was talking way too fast for her.  Together we looked at the list of "possibilities" and helped her to choose a few from the list. These are the ones she chose to tackle for the next week.

• collecting words (from the read aloud or picture books) new skill
• word observations (she had already taught this skill earlier in the year) review skill
• playing with words (sharing magnetic letters, dry erase boards) helping with spelling

The second conversation was with a friend who is an amazing math teacher discussing the importance of "talk" in the workshop.  She shared a video of her class during math workshop and as I listened to the talk of the students I noticed that the teacher was in background.  I was on overload with so many ideas running through my mind.  I couldn't comprehend more than one idea.  I asked her for one strategy to help me with talk in my workshop because I felt overwhelmed.  Her suggestion was about how to help students have a conversation without raising their hands every time.  If a student wanted to change the topic of the conversation, they he/she would raise their hand which signaled a shift in thinking otherwise the students would talk math. Brilliant light bulb moment for me. 

Compliments of Google Images

As I think about tale of two conversations, I was on both sides of the track.  Both of these opportunities to learn more about myself are important. One is not better than the other.  In the first conversation, I was leading the conversation and helping support the teacher.  In the second, I was the learner and grasping for one strategy to modify the talk in my math workshop.  One strategy was all that I could hear and begin to think about for talk in math. How many times do our students feel that way in our classroom? Both experiences helped me to remember the importance of teachers as learners.