Verbal Behavior of Students
On the day that we observed the verbal patterns of our classroom the students were working on a group project. During this project the students were supposed to work with their group without much help from any teachers in the room. In doing this all of the students used their voice at some point during the lesson. There were for sure some that talked more than others. Each group had a "leader" that was never mentioned. Just based of of the students personalities in the group someone just took the lead and started giving instructions. While observing one group I thought it was interesting that one student seemed to be leading the group and asking everyone questions to what they were doing. Then as soon as another student came back from the nurse she became the more spoken "leader" of the group. With the lesson was highly student led have some student interacting with the teachers but less than a normal day. The students interacting with the teachers were mostly the students that were falling behind or not on task. The students that were doing well interacted a lot less with the teachers just the occasional asking to make sure if they were still doing okay.
The responses that were given by the two differing groups changed a lot different too. Some groups the the conversation consisted of the groups explaining how they got an answer. With other we had to either walk them through it or repeatedly telling them to keep working. You could a lot of times tell the students that were off task just by looking at them. In most of the cases the students that were off task were facing each other and the students that were on task were facing their table but still talking to the each other. Something I might do is explain to my students what it looks like to be working in a group. For example sitting across from each other in a square would be better than four people sitting in a row. This way they can see their work and their group members at the same time.
Great post, Matt! I think the grouping of students that you had for this class was interesting to me. Are the students grouped this way for every class or was this just because of the nature of the group project? Also, did your CT put a designated leader in each group on purpose? Do you think that strategy of a leader in each group was beneficial to everyone in the group? These are questions that I ponder when I see my students working together in groups, and I wonder if there is a concrete answer for grouping students together. My initial thought is that there is not a one size fits all approach for topics like this.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate having the verbal flow chart to see just what you mean by the effect of the seating arrangement. Thinking ahead to your student teaching or your own classroom, I wonder how you'd modify the seating arrangement for this type of work.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the leadership within groups, your observation is interesting that it could change depending on the students who were present. I think we have all felt this as a teacher, there are certain students that can have a great affect on the classroom, for better and for worse. Something to ask your CT about could be how to encourage the positive affects and how to work with the students who create a more challenging atmosphere...how to develop positive classroom leaders. Part of being a teacher is maintaining a productive classroom environment and you can really get students involved in the creation and maintenance of the that!