The most natural talk move that I can see myself using the most in my classroom is "asking students to apply their own reasoning to someone else's reasoning." Out of the five suggested talk moves, asking students if they agree or disagree is the most relevant to both my personal teaching views and experience as well as my current group of students. What I really like about this talk move is that in a sense it is never ending. You could ask every single student during a group discussion if they agree or disagree and why, and you would gain new rational and ideas each time. Personally, I have seen teachers use other talk moves such as "would someone like to add on?" and "can you repeat that in your own words?" and the reoccurring issue with those has been repetition. Often students wouldn't take the time to think about their response or idea, instead they would just repeat exactly what they had just heard from their peers.
I have actually seen this happen in my classroom as well already this year. However, I have also noticed that my classroom is full of children who possess a healthy dose of competitiveness and I think that properly facilitating the talk move that asks them to compare their ideas and reasoning with another’s would be much more productive for my particular group of students. Asking if they agree or disagree really makes them take the time to think about their own ideas. In this scenario they can’t respond to the teacher’s prompt without thinking about their own thoughts as well as what they hear around them and isn’t that the ultimate goal of any great discussion? I do realize that all five moves have their benefits, but before deciding which would be the best to use, you have to take into consideration the group of students you are working with which changes from year to year.
I also think this is a very important talk move. Not only for the fact that it confirms whether the students know the topic or not but it also keeps them in-check with each other. It is a way to keep your students on task. By asking a student to repeat what another student says ensures that they are paying attention. It is a way for you to monitor your students thinking and abilities and shows them that there are multiple ways to think about or explain an answer.
ReplyDeleteI also agree about the importance of this talk move.It is simple to ask the whole class to agree or disagree and do a whole class thumbs up or thumbs down poll of everyone so you can tell which students are listening and then be able to call on students and have them share their opinions and reasoning. One example in my class is during calendar the weatherperson tels the class his/her opinion of the weather outside for the day and then I will ask who agrees or disagrees and call on some students to explain their answers, it becomes a fun conversation because the kids all have different feelings about the weather and they all make justifications for their answers.
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