Memo 9

     Keep Calm and Speak On:

A Closer Look at the Strategies that Incite Student Participation at the Secondary Level

At this point in my research, I have meticulously read through my notes in my teacher journal, my classroom observations, my question tracking tallying’s, and my classroom discourse notes. I still plan on having students answer the questionnaire and complete a self-reflection either this week or early next week. While analyzing my data, I first focused on scanning through the data from my classroom observations and my teacher’s journal. These two forms of data contained the most writing and narration of what I witnessed and felt within the classroom over the past three months regarding student participation and engagement.

While scrutinizing my observation notes and journal, I started to notice that patterns were emerging. The first thing I noticed was that there were several instances when students offered few or no responses to questions I posed to the whole-group. Within my notes, I noticed fairly quickly that two themes were starting to emerge, first, confidence and its role in participation, and secondly, the benefits of giving students time to formulate ideas before sharing to the whole-group. I decided to code my data by color coding themes, just as Falk and Blumenreich suggest in The Power of Questions. When something in my data linked to student confidence, I color coded the data blue. When something seemed to link more to idea formulation, I color coded it pink. Sometimes these themes overlapped a bit.  I used Google Docs to highlight these moments in my teacher’s journal and I used crayons to do the same on the loose leaf paper I used for my classroom observations. When scanning through my journal, it was clear that I had felt many moments of tension due to a lack of participants when I posed questions to the class during discussions. This went on for several weeks until I started to incorporate strategies to overcome this roadblock. In my data from late February, I start to see less moments of tension and more moments of success. Looking back in my observations, it is clear that there were certain strategies that helped students feel confident sharing to the entire class. For example, on February 19, I asked the students to identify one of the themes in Their Eyes Were Watching God. At first, I noted in my observation, “students nervous, looking at desk.” It was then that I decided to allow the students to turn and talk for three minutes before speaking as a class. As noted in my observation, “about 10 students raised hand after partner sharing.” Speaking with a peer helped the students gain the confidence to share their ideas with the rest of the group. When looking for patterns in my question tracker and classroom discourse notes, I confirmed that the depth of conversations and the frequency of participants did increase after incorporating strategies to gain confidence, such as partner sharing and think-peer-share.

Going along with the theme of giving time for response formulation and its benefits, my data shows that my biggest “ah-ha” teaching moments occurred when I gave the students opportunities to write before contributing to discussions. Many of these moments came after students had time to write in their journals before sharing their opinions on a given matter. Other times it came from class work lesson. For example, after February break we started to look at the importance of healthy relations and the idea of “respect.” After viewing a Respect Wheel, the students independently reflected on which categories were especially important to them. They wrote for about ten minutes before sharing to the class. As noted in my teacher journal, “The students had great real-world examples to share with the class. Student X brought up the link between trust and equality and how it relates to technology, including not going through your significant other’s personal conversations on his/ her cell phone.” My other forms of data also show that engagement and participation were high during this activity, which come directly from formulating responses in advance and seeing the relevance to the lesson.

 

Another pattern I noticed within my data included the link between engagement levels and the relevance of the given topic. Anytime I found a connection between participation and topic relevance, I highlighted the data in green. Looking through my data, more engagement and participation took place when the students could make real-world connections or see themselves in the content we were discussing. For example, in late January we read articles regarding the “Take a Knee” controversy. The students wrote about their opinion after reading several articles and watching video clips on both sides. Then, we had a whole-group discussion.  I noted in my teacher journal that, “The students were on fire! They brought their own personal connections to the reading and formulated their own opinions within discussions. Student X brought up the importance of activism in a public forum and even related it to the Civil Rights Movement.” Along with this lesson, the question tracker data showed that within the class period, 20 out of 22 students volunteered answers at some point. On my classroom discourse sheet, I noted that eight of these responses reached the level of discovery. This pattern of high engagement with relevant topics continued the days where I purposefully tried to cater to the students’ interests. For example, a highly increased rate of participation also took place on the days when I incorporated music, sports, and personal journaling into the lesson.

 

Another theme that emerged while scrutinizing my data included the pattern that students struggled to answer questions that required higher order thinking. I color coded this data in orange. For these moments, I sometimes tried to follow my literature review’s advice and practice “cold-calling” students. This resulted in many awkward moments where students told me that they “do not know” the answer. As noted in my teacher journal, “I felt uncomfortable asking X to identify the symbol behind the horizon. He looked mortified and after a moment of silence, responded that he had no idea.” Additionally, I noticed in my question tracker that the frequency of participation decreased within the lesson where I added many higher order thinking questions into the discussion. As noted in my observation, “looking at desks, idk [sic] (I don’t know) if they are deeply pondering or just tuning me out.” I have tried to alleviate this station recently by allowing students to turn and talk. However, depending on the question posed, this can make little change to the number of volunteers. Going forward, I will try to add more scaffolding techniques before posing these questions.

Lastly, an emergent theme I noticed in my data is that structured small groups can engage all students. After completing my literature review, this is something that was suggested. I recently tried incorporating this technique in class this week. I tried it by asking students to present their projects within small groups and follow some specific guidelines, including taking notes on everyone’s presentation, offering feedback, and reflecting on the project within a small group discussion. As I took classroom observation data, I noted that “all groups following instruction, no one off task!” Additionally, I later went on to write in my teacher’s journal that, “I couldn’t stop smiling while I paced around the room. All groups were on task. At that moment I felt proud to call myself their teacher.” When pacing up and down the aisles, I noticed that every single student presented and took notes on each other’s work. I would like to continue to incorporate the structured small group strategy in my classroom since it seems to work well to engage all students. In previous data notes from January, I noticed that many awkward moments took place when, “students sat in their small groups and refused to speak.” Clear guidelines and directions can help alleviate this issue and build community within my classroom.

 

Going forward, I plan to continue to collect data by giving students a self-reflection and questionnaire on their own participation and learning what I can do to help them feel more intrigued to engage in class conversations. Additionally, as previously noted, I plan to start recording some of these class discussions to ensure that my data is as accurate and plentiful as possible and continues to follow triangulation. I’m curious to see if any new themes will emerge after I gain this data and if reoccurring themes will continue to increase.

 

 

Data Chart

Data Source	Theme #1: Increased confidence levels correlate with improved student participation rates	Theme #2: Engagement levels rise when the topic is relevant to students	Theme #3 Students Struggle to Reach Higher Levels of Thinking	Theme #4 Students benefit from time to formulate responses prior to discussion	Emergent Theme : Structured Small group discussions engage all students
Teacher Journal	-Many moments of “silence” after posing questions	-“Proud moments” occured often when the lesson was catered to the students’ interests -J Cole, music project lesson and journal encouraged the highest engagement levels	-No responses at times when posing higher order questions -Cold-calling resulted in “I don’t know” and students possibly being embarrassed	-Greater “Ah-ha” moments and insightful responses when given the chance to write opinions first	-I couldn’t stop smiling while I paced around the room- all groups were on task within the small groups, at that moment I felt proud to be their teacher
Classroom Observations (Project Presentations, Journal Discussions, Think-Pair-Share)	-Think-pair-share helps students create confidence to speak in front of the room -Small group projects / presentations ensure all students feel comfortable sharing	-Choice board project presentations in small groups- all were on task the entire time (genuine enjoyment, laughter, smiles) -High participation levels on journals which relate to the course and allow students to put their feelings into writing, which then is shared in small groups, then whole groups	-Speaking with a partner first can increase the chance of answering high order questions	-The journaling at the start of class connects the content to the students’ lives and the writing piece gives them time to really think through before sharing -Sharing with a neighbor helps them think through their opinions and get feedback before presenting to the class	-Each group followed each step within the small group that was screened on the board, I didn’t have to reprimand or remind a group to be on task -Each group member was presenting his / her project and giving / receiving feedback
Question Tracking (Tracking the students who participate and the frequency)	-The quiet, shy students participate the least, yet some are the strongest students academically	-Frequency of participation rates drastically increases when students are given a choice and are asked to answer questions that pertain to their own lives	-Decrease number of responses when posing higher-order questions	-The frequency of reluctant participants increased after “turn and talk” and writing time before sharing	-For this particular project presentation, 100% of the students were speaking
Classroom Discourse (Depth of the ideas exchanged)	-Most answers did not go “off track” and focused on clear response, instead of “risk taking” answers / questions	-Students most likely to “discover” when the topics relate to the real-world and their own lives	-Answers were either insightful and analytical, but more often were flawed analysis	-The time to write helped students think of more analytical- in-depth responses since they had more time to formulate ideas -There was more “discovery” after the time to write or speak to a neighbor was given	-Students were asking each other questions about their projects and learning from each other
Student Self-Reflection (After small group Discussions, end of quarter evaluation)	Data not received yet	Data not received yet	Data not received yet	Data not received yet	Data not received yet

 

Memo 8

     Keep Calm and Speak On:

A Closer Look at the Strategies that Incite Student Participation at the Secondary Level

1.)    Teacher Journal: I’ve used my teacher journal everyday after class to jot down all the moments of tension, discomfort, and moments of success within the classroom. I’ve found overall that my students are more likely to participate in discussion when they feel a connection to the topic. Also, my journaling shows that these moments of “tension” usually result from students challenging each other’s or my ideas, which can be a positive learning experience when done respectfully. Going forward, I would like to write more detailed teacher journal entries and I would like to write more consistently since there were some days where I neglected writing or included brief, vague entries. 

 

2.)    Classroom Observations: During class, I use my clipboard to jot down notes about things I notice within the class relating to class discussions and engagement levels. Overall, my notes have worked well at allowing me to write down specific facts and phrases that may be lost from my mind by the end of the class period. I’ve found that giving students the chance to speak to a “neighbor” about their opinions prior to whole-group instruction is a great way to engage the entire class and increase the number of students who are willing to share their ideas to the class afterwards. I’ve also found that discussion that take place after writing, specifically journals, are richer since the students have already had the chance to articulate some of their ideas beforehand. Looking ahead, I can enhance my data by including audio recordings of the class. It was sometimes challenging to write things down while I was teaching.

 

3.)     Question Tracking: During class, I keep a roster of all the students’ names on my clipboard. During class time, I place a “check” in the box each time a student participates during class discussions. I’ve used this tool to simply track the frequency of class participation within the classroom. I’ve found that on most days only about a third of the class volunteers answers within the period. I have no included speaking during group sharing or partner sharing, which is a possible flaw in the data. When the students engage in this form of sharing, the level of engagement and frequency seems to drastically increase.

 

4.)    Classroom Discourse: In order to measure the level of depth and analysis within the classroom, I first started by documenting my own questions and set of directions. On the daily agenda that I keep on my clipboard, I composed my questions in advance to ensure I was going to ask the students at least some students questions that required higher-order thinking skills. I also carefully worded and planned my directions, including directions for small group conversations, to ensure that the expectations were always clear. During my data collection, I used the column next to my “Question Tracking” to code the type of questions and responses that were contributed by students. I coded the types of responses as either response (directly answering my question without further investigation or comment), self-initiated (a student volunteered idea, basically a connection to an experience, or opinion), or discovery (an insightful, in-depth analytical response). So far, I have found that nearly two-thirds of the answers have been response, while some were self-initiated connections, and even fewer were discovery. As a noted earlier, I believe I could improve this data by including audio recordings so that I am not scrambling to take notes, jot down question tracking, and classroom discourse while trying to manage a classroom. During times where I have found this too overwhelming, I have ended up neglecting an area of the data collection, or in other words, my triangulation (observations, question tracking, classroom discourse).  

 

5.)     Student Self-Reflection: In my classroom, students have known since the start of the school year that class participation is a factor in their quarterly grades. With the quarter ending this week, I will be issuing a self-reflection sheet that asks the students to reflect on their own class participation. Although it is still a work in progress, I will prepare a list of the factors that influence participation, and then ask the students to respond to which factors are their biggest strengths and which areas they need to improve in for next quarter. I will also ask students to reflect on how they plan on making these improvements. In the past, I have calculated these grades based on preparedness to class, participation during small-group discussions, and participation during whole-group discussions, with the greatest emphasis on the latter. Also, I plan on surveying the students within this assignment by specifically asking them which strategies will help them participate more during class.

Memo 7

    Keep Calm and Speak On:

A Closer Look at the Strategies that Incite Student Participation at the Secondary Level

 

                                                            Carina Duffy, B.A.

 

Objectives

·         To gain insight into the existing scholarship within the field so that I can build off the current ideas.

·         To determine a variety of ways in which scholars have found success encouraging student participation.

·         To conduct a literature review to determine which strategies are proven to entice student participation and to learn which strategies have been proven unsuccessful.

 

Dallimore, E. J., Hertenstein, J. H., & Platt, M. B. (2004). Classroom participation and  discussion effectiveness: student-generated strategies. Communication Education, 53(1), 103-115.

 

This study sought to identify which instruction behaviors are associated with quality student participation. The methodology included using two graduate management accounting courses and an elective MBA course at the college level which consisted of 68 total participants. On the last day of the course, students were given questions that asked, “What do professors do or say that: (a) increases student participation and (b) either increases or decreases the effectiveness of the discussion” (106). The research results emphasized the importance of the instructors choices, as the professor within the study notes, “I have come to realize that one effect of cold calling is that students prepare better, and well-prepared students make more insightful contributions, having reflected on the course material and its relationship to their own experience” (111). The data confirmed that cold calling is an effective way of generating quality participation, while the study results also confirmed that, “required and graded participation, and incorporating instructor and students’ ideas and experiences” (107) are also crucial parts in effective discourse.

 

 

Webb, N. M. (2009). The teacher's role in promoting collaborative dialogue in the classroom. British Journal Of Educational Psychology, 79(1), 1-28.

 

Within this study, Webb outlines the ways that teachers can positively impact a classroom culture, including participation levels and helping students prepare to collaborate within small groups. The studies selected for review included students who were expected to collaborate in student-led small groups. The data was reported from, “systematic observations of group work, and linked observational data to teacher practices and student learning outcomes” (1). The results of this review  uncovered, “multiple dimensions of the teacher’s role in fostering beneficial group dialogue, including preparing students for collaborative work, forming groups, structuring the group-work task, and influencing student interaction” (1). In addition, the results indicated that students should be able to explain their thinking, and there are several strategies that can promote this, “Research documents the strong relationship between elaborated discussion and learning outcomes, especially the power of giving explanations and its connection to achievement in small groups” (3). Expectations and relationships between peers and teachers impact participation.

 

MORGAN, H. (2015). CREATING A CLASS BLOG: A STRATEGY THAT CAN PROMOTE COLLABORATION, MOTIVATION, AND IMPROVEMENT IN LITERACY. Reading Improvement, 52(1), 27-31.

 

This report examines the benefits of using blogs as a classroom tool to promote collaboration and literacy amongst students. Dr. Morgan claims that, “Allowing students to blog is a way for teachers to integrate new literacies into the curriculum, helping them adhere to the recommendations and standards of important educational organizations” (27). Although blogging does not include face-to-face interactions, blogging can still connect students together both inside and outside of the classroom. Dr. Morgan reports that, “Classroom blogs can provide students with opportunities to interact with people in other countries” (27). This study explains the steps required to set up a blog post within a classroom. There are infinite opportunities that a classroom blog can create, “ Some teachers have designed blogging projects to promote dialogue, reflection, social networking, and improvement in reading and writing (McGrail & Davis, 2011).” (28). Blogging can potential increase a classroom community, which can also lead to in-class discussions.

 

Zarrinabadi, N., Ketabi, S., & Abdi, R. (2014). Facilitating Willingness to Communicate in the Second Language Classroom and Beyond. Clearing House, 87(5), 213-217.

 

This study focuses on classroom strategies and techniques to promote students’ potential and increase their willingness to communicate, specifically in an ELL classroom.

The data was collected within a language institution in Western Iran. The participants of the study consisted of 16 male English-language learners who ranged from 13-17 years of age. Within this study, “The students received instruction on reading, writing, speaking, and listening, with the focus on promoting speaking ability” (214). Zarrinadadi, Ketabi, and Abdi report that data was collected through semi-instructed interviews after tri-weekly 70 minute language classes. The data of this research reports that the topic of the discussion greatly impacted students willingness to participate because, “students felt anxious when talking about a subject for which they had the least topic knowledge” (214). The researchers suggest that when possible, topics should be chosen based on students’ interests, “The results of this study concluded that learners become more willing to communicate and participate more in classroom activities when the topic was familiar or interesting” (215).

 

O'CONNOR, K. J. (2013). CLASS PARTICIPATION: PROMOTING IN-CLASS STUDENT ENGAGEMENT. Education, 133(3), 340-344.

 

Within this report, Dr. O’Connor (Providence College) examines the multiple researched strategies that have been proven to be effective in a classroom. The purpose of this report is to describe the techniques that present effective traditional and alternative approaches to increase engagement within an educational setting. This article also examines the idea of cold calling, “If students know there is a chance they will be asked to participate during class meetings they may be more inclined to prepare themselves to do so” (340). Additionally, Dr. O’Connor argues that group discussions are beneficial in the classroom if conducted correctly, “the discussion has to be purposeful and all students need to be involved. . . Professors can also assign roles to group members to create accountability” (342). Dr. O’Connor’s research concludes that there is much to consider, and “Professors need to sort out their philosophy of participation and how they will communicate this with their students and practice their teaching in accordance” (342).

 

Galvin, S. M., Dolly, M. R., & Pula, J. J. (2012). Genderlect and Participation in the College English Classroom. Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, 79(2), 22-30.

 

The research study focused on how gender affects class participation and it examines which strategies can help bridge the linguistic gap between men and women. The researchers observed two English courses at Frostburg State University, which included 20 students, with only 4 males enrolled in each class. Data was collected by keeping track of each time a male and female spoke voluntarily, without their knowledge that they were being observed. The results of the research concluded that, “the male students, despite being vastly outnumbered by females, generally participated more” (25). The results also indicated that males appeared much more confident when expressing their ideas within the classroom. This is something to keep in mind as educators, “Awareness of participation variance in a classroom is one component of understanding classroom discourse” (28). Understanding that gender can affect a classroom environment can help teachers develop a community, “By considering students’ patterns of engagement and genderlect, teachers might better promote involvement in learning and a comfortable classroom environment for all” (29).

Increasing Student Participation.  (2018). The Teaching Center. Retrieved March 16, 2018, from http://teachingcenter.wustl.edu/resources/teaching-methods/participation/increasing-student-participation

 

This article examines the ways to increase student participation within a classroom. As the article states, the goal of increasing participation is “to create an environment in which all participants have the opportunity to learn and in which the class explores issues and ideas in depth, from a variety of viewpoints” (Increasing Student Participation). According to this report, planning is an important part of discussions, including teaching guidelines and creating conversation norms. This is something that should be established in the beginning of the school year, “Students who feel invested from the beginning in making the discussions successful will be more likely to work together to increase participation” (Increasing Student Participation). The article goes on to explain that the emphasis should be placed on students’ ideas and they should be encouraged to share, “encourage students to respond to one another, rather than merely to you” (Increasing Student Participation). In closing, shaping the environment, careful planning, and listening and responding are the strategies required to increase student participation.

Mercer, N. (2008). Classroom dialogue and the teacher's professional role. Education Review, 21(1), 60-65.

 

In this research study, Dr. Mercer explains the importance of social interactions amongst students. Mercer stresses the important of creating a classroom environment where teachers provide opportunities for discussions, specifically discourse that gives everyone a chance to speak and build off of each other’s ideas. The program Thinking Together encourages“Exploratory talk,” which is first modeled by teachers and then performed within small groups. Data was collected using video-cameras, “We compared the talk of children who followed the Thinking Together programme with that of children of the same age in other, similar schools were teaching and learning carried on as normal” (61). The results of the study concluded that, “The children who followed the programme also became better at solving problems together than the children in the other schools” (63). Mercer encourages explicit guidance from teachers to help students use discussions as a way to problem solve, “Teachers can take an active role in guiding their pupils’ understanding of how talk can be used for learning and thinking collectively” (65). Additionally, teachers should make clear ground roles for discussions and design activities to help students develop their speaking skills.

 

 

 

 

 

References

Dallimore, E. J., Hertenstein, J. H., & Platt, M. B. (2004). Classroom participation and  discussion effectiveness: student-generated strategies. Communication Education,       53(1), 103-115.

 

Galvin, S. M., Dolly, M. R., & Pula, J. J. (2012). Genderlect and Participation in the College        English Classroom. Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, 79(2), 22-30.

 

Increasing Student Participation.  (2018). The Teaching Center. Retrieved March 16, 2018, from            http://teachingcenter.wustl.edu/resources/teaching-methods/participation/increasing           student-participation

 

Mercer, N. (2008). Classroom dialogue and the teacher's professional role. Education Review,      21(1), 60-65.

 

MORGAN, H. (2015). CREATING A CLASS BLOG: A STRATEGY THAT CAN PROMOTE            COLLABORATION, MOTIVATION, AND IMPROVEMENT IN LITERACY. Reading            Improvement, 52(1), 27-31.

 

O'CONNOR, K. J. (2013). CLASS PARTICIPATION: PROMOTING IN-CLASS STUDENT            ENGAGEMENT. Education, 133(3), 340-344.

 

Webb, N. M. (2009). The teacher's role in promoting collaborative dialogue in the classroom.       British Journal Of Educational Psychology, 79(1), 1-28.

 

Zarrinabadi, N., Ketabi, S., & Abdi, R. (2014). Facilitating Willingness to Communicate in the    Second Language Classroom and Beyond. Clearing House, 87(5), 213-217.           

Memo 6

     Keep Calm and Speak On:

A Closer Look at the Strategies that Incite Student Participation at the Secondary Level

Purpose

This study researches how an educator can inspire high school students to participate and have meaningful discussions within a classroom setting. I will analyze the strategies that can promote discussions and help students develop the intrinsic motivation required to engage in meaningful classroom conversations on a volunteer basis. I hope to minimize the number of students who choose to seldom volunteer during discussions as well as decrease the frequency of cursory conversations within the classroom. I will explore students’ levels of engagement by my own classroom based observations, including keeping track of the frequency of participation for each student, as well as the extensiveness of each conversations, by formally assessing students level of engagement through socratic seminars, and by allowing students to self-reflect on their own class contribution.

Questions

My goals for this research includes developing a classroom climate which promotes speaking  skills, critical thinking, and engagement amongst students. An overarching goal for this research includes finding strategies that insight student participation in order to help create a social learning environment. I intend to discover new ways to inspire even the most reluctant speakers to volunteer their insights during classroom discussions. During class discussions, learning is more likely to take place when there are multiple viewpoints and participants, which is why the goal of this study is to find the best way to entice all students to join the conversation without enforcing punitive measures.

Introduce the research questions.

Primary Question: How can I inspire students to participate during class discussions?

    Which strategies improve participation within a classroom?

    Does class community improve participation?

    How can I increase collaboration within small groups?

    What causes students to resist speaking and sharing their ideas in class?

   

Conceptual Foundation

The education culture in America is changing. Technology is taking over the world today. In schools across the nation, data shows that computers are playing a major role in education. Many schools offer 1:1 programs that enable each student to use a personal computer to replace textbooks, notebooks, and even writing utensils. Although technology has its advantages, many scholars argue that communication skills are being lost during this transition. Students today are so used to expressing themselves through text messages and social media that they often neglect face-to-face conversations. Discourse is a powerful learning tool that should not be replaced in the classroom, regardless of technological advances.

Classrooms across America are not made up of homogeneity, but rather feature students with diverse cultures and opinions. Discourse within a classroom helps students explore a variety of perspectives while showing respect for student voices and experiences. Discussions help students express their own opinions in order to discover skills of synthesis and integration. These skills are needed in life. Learning these skills while listening to classmates’ voices will help students understand the process of democratic discourse.

When students participate in class discussions,  it can help them realize and investigate their own assumptions. This will lead to intellectual achievements. It is important to learn through communication, which can happen naturally during collaboration. For these reasons, it is crucial to help find strategies that encourage students to volunteer during classroom discourse. This will lead to a vibrant classroom environment where learning and discoveries await.

Scholarship

There have been several scholars in the field who have inspired me to conduct this study. “Classroom Participation and Discussion Effectiveness: Student-Generated Strategies” (2004)by Elise J. Dallimore, Julie Hertenstein, and Marjorie Platt has helped me to realize several strategies that can improve class participation. These authors confirmed that “cold calling” a student for an answer is a successfully way to ensure that students are prepared for class and engaged in the lesson. The authors also helped me to realize that a supportive classroom environment, including my own facilitation, can increase student participation. In other words, asking the “right” questions will significantly affect students’ willingness to respond.

In addition, I also am inspired by Noreen M. Webb’s work, “The Teacher’s Role in Promoting Collaborative Dialogue in the Classroom” (2009). Webb’s work outlines the ways that teachers can positively impact a classroom culture, including participation levels. “The Teacher’s Role in Promoting Collaborative Dialogue in the Classroom” examines the way that teachers can increase discussions and collaboration within small groups. This is something that I am also interested in since my students often work together for assignments. Webb notes that students need to be prepared for collaborative work. This includes having the educator provide clear instructions on how to communicate, which is an important step that is often overlooked. Webb notes that expectations and relationships between peers and teachers can also impact participation.

Lastly, I admire the work of scholar Neil Mercer, who is a professor of Education and psychologist at the University of Cambridge. He wrote the article, “Classroom Dialogue and the Teacher’s Professional Role” (2008). Mercer notes that children need social interactions, which some students lack within their home lives. Mercer stresses the important of creating a classroom environment where teachers provide opportunities for discussions, specifically discourse that gives everyone a chance to speak and build off of each other’s ideas. “Exploratory talk” is first modeled by teachers and then performed within small groups. Classroom guidelines are also put in place to help stir the discussions. Mercer encourages explicit guidance from teachers to help students use discussions as a way to problem solve. The skills Mercer describes can work successfully at any grade level.

Data Collection

I plan to collect my data by keeping track of the number of times each student participates, while noting the authenticity and complexity of each response. I will organize this data by keeping a roster on my clipboard which will allow me to check off each time a student participates and rate the comments between 1-5 depending on the quality of the response. I will keep track of the frequency and quality of the responses before implementing strategies, which I will then compare the data to see if participation and engagement has increased.

References (APA style)

Dallimore, E. J., Hertenstein, J. H., & Platt, M. B. (2004). Classroom participation and        discussion effectiveness: student-generated strategies. Communication Education, 53(1), 103-115.

Mercer, N. (2008). Classroom dialogue and the teacher's professional role. Education Review, 21(1), 60-65.

Webb, N. M. (2009). The teacher's role in promoting collaborative dialogue in the classroom. British Journal Of Educational Psychology, 79(1), 1-28.

Memo 5

I am a middle-class White woman who was born and raised in Rhode Island. As long as I’ve been alive, my parents have been considered middle class. They also have always owned two houses during my lifetime. Growing up, I never had to worry about a lack of shelter, food, clothes, or any other necessities. Therefore, my education was not disrupted. I did attend public school, but I always went to schools that performed well on standardized tests and received adequate funding. I’ve always viewed education as an important and necessary component in my life, which is one reason why I decided to major in the education field.

In regards to my ethnicity, my European descent consists of equal parts Italian, Irish, and English, which I recently discovered through a DNA test. Although my ancestors are from Europe, I am the third generation in my family to be an American citizen, so I know little about these cultures. I do realize that being White in America creates certain privileges, one being that I’ve never had to think much about my race or culture. Even though I am advantaged, I’ve tried to use my point of privilege to spread awareness to others of the disparities within our nation. I grew up with open-minded parents who taught me to advocate for the voiceless within our society. This has helped me develop a strong sense of empathy for others, which I also try to instill within my students. I try to do this in several ways, including journaling, shared writing, multi-cultural texts, lessons on privilege and institutional racism, and learning about authors from diverse backgrounds.

During my own experiences as a student, I found my true role model in high school. I had an inspiring English teacher for three consecutive years. I saw this woman as a mentor and someone that I strived to resemble in my own career. She is the main reason I majored in education, and I often still keep her in mind when I teach today. Due to my experiences within her class, I now often reflect on the important of voice and choice within the classroom. Additionally, I see the important of adding “real-world” relevancy to the lessons we do within the classroom.

 

As an educator, I want to help my students recognize their own capabilities. Until high school, I often felt that I was inadequate when it came to education. These feelings evolved from a combination of grades, peer bullying, and a lack of motivation.  I want to help students realize their own abilities and talents. Additionally, I want to help inform my students about life lessons. I want my students to become contributing members of society who realize the importance of kindness and helping others is more imperative than just becoming wealthy in life. This includes teaching students to think critically and to stand up for their own beliefs.

Regardless of a student’s current grades or situation, I strongly believe that all students want to learn. I think the key is to help students see the relevance in the work they are doing. I try to create this by finding ways for the students to relate to the work. For example, I will often write journal prompts based on a book we are reading but these prompts will ask students to respond personally and to use examples from their own lives. Also, I try to find ways to include articles or technology that relate to the material we are learning while relating to current world affairs. I’ve found that this relevancy is what engaged me in a class, which is why I see it as being a crucial element within my own classroom today.

 

Although I do have these philosophies that I abide by in my career, I do still have some uncertainties and questions within my profession. I have been teaching for three years now, but I still have not been able to get a grip on some questions that I have about education. For example, I wonder what else I should be doing to ensure that I am teaching students to think critically. Am I giving students the space and guidance to think critically or am I spoon feeding them what to think? How can I ensure that students are participating in inquiry?

 

Additionally, I sometimes question if I am reaching each student’s zone of proximal development. Is it possible to adequately challenge all students with the same assignment? I find that I often add modifications for students who might struggle with a text, but is this making it too easy or boring for other students within the room? I find it difficult and time consuming to differentiate instruction or assignments and I wonder if this is something I should be doing more of in my classroom.

Within my own uncertainties, I sometimes experience tensions within my own self-reflection. I’ve had students tell me that they aren’t reading and are only using reading supplements to help them pass my class. There seems to be an overall consensus among students that this is normal and acceptable behavior. I try to assign prompts of questions to accompany the reading and this just leads to more online “answer seeking” or plagiarism. With the growing technology, I find it more and more difficult to hold students responsible. What are other English teachers doing to curve this phenomenon? I’ve talked to recent graduates from local high schools who also admit that they never did the assigned readings and still passed the class. I fear that students are setting themselves up for failure and this is something I hope I can change.

 

            In addition, another area of tension involves the lack of participation I face in some of my classes. Students will sometimes be reluctant to share answers even when called upon. I would like to see more students engage in discussion without me pressuring them into answering. I believe that this is necessary to help students engage with the course and develop their speaking and language skills.

 

In closing, my graduate courses have helped me reflect on my own practice and question how I can improve my praxis. I do believe that teachers can always improve, regardless of their years of experience. This line of thinking has helped closely examine my own instruction and the students’ response. I’m confident my action research project can help me explore these areas of tension, which will make me a better teacher.