OER4Schools/Introduction to whole class dialogue and effective questioning

Title: Introduction to OER4Schools
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The OER4Schools Professional Learning Resource

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  Introduction to OER4Schools

  2.3 - More on questioning

Table of contents.

Introduction to OER4Schools >>>

Facilitator's version, Participants' version

Educator note

We are now starting a new unit. The unit’s focus is whole class dialogue and effective questioning.

Review last session

Educator note

Please make a note of any challenges that arise! In particular, see what goals participants want to achieve.

Review of homework and classroom activities.

Improvement of ICT skills.

1. You were asked to send an email to the oer4schools mailing list. Who did this? What were the challenges?
2. Did you practise typing to improve your typing skills. Did you go to Etherpad and explore options for making text bold and underlined?
3. Did you search for resources on the internet (including images)? How did that go? Did you find the resources that you wanted?

Classroom activity. How did the collaborative writing activity go?

Reading. Do you have any questions or comments about the principles of interactive teaching?

“Most significant change”. Let’s revisit this so you can set some concrete goals for yourselves. What do you think might be the biggest changes as a consequence of being involved in this programme - for yourselves, for your teaching, for your students, for the school, or in whatever other area?! (If you need to remind yourself of the MSC technique, have a look at the previous unit.)

Educator note

Do the participants agree on how things might be different as a result of the programme? How will we know when these significant changes have happened? What kinds of evidence do our stories need to refer to? They can also be revised as time goes on.

Record what participants say in a permanent form - in writing or electronically so we can refer to them later on. Make sure it is recorded on video / audio.

Whole class dialogue

Educator note

We are now moving on to the topic of this unit, and we start with introducing whole class dialogue.

Objectives for this session are:

• learning to create a supportive learning environment for dialogue through body language, emotional support and enthusiasm for pupil learning.
• learning about one aspect of whole class dialogue, i.e. “cumulative talk”
• learning classroom management techniques for whole class dialogue such as forming classroom rules in consultation with pupils

Activity one: Creating a supportive environment for dialogue

Magic microphone (11 min). Use a prop, for example a stick or a long pencil as a magic microphone or a ball. Whoever gets the prop answers an open-ended question such as, ‘One thing from the last workshop that I could use effectively in my classroom was...’ or ‘What I did not find useful from the last workshop was...’.

Educator note

If there is time, ask the participants to answer two questions. It will also give the facilitator some feedback about the previous workshop as well as introduce a method that can be used in classroom with pupils.

Facilitator models creating a supportive environment through

• Encouraging body language: Smile and look at the person who is talking and show that you are attentively listening (maybe nodding).
• Encouraging emotional support: Be non-judgemental (accept all answers) and whoever is ready can talk instead of talking in turns (but everybody has to talk).
• Showing enthusiasm: If you agree with something that the participant says, say something like ‘I also thought of that’ or ‘I did not think about it, it’s something new and I agree’.

After all participants have answered, role-play how you would carry out the activity in the classroom with pupils. One participant (not the facilitator) can play the role of teacher, others are the pupils. Facilitator should support the “teacher” by suggesting questions for “pupils”. Some examples are: I like the colour... or My favourite food is... The idea is to get all (or most) pupils talking by asking a question that everybody can answer easily.

Using a magic microphone can slow down the pace of a lesson, and decrease spontaneity, especially if it takes a long time to carry the magic microphone through the classroom. You might want to consider using something that is easy to pass (such as a ball, rather than a pen). You could also consider having two magic microphones, so that one can be passed while the first one is “active”.

Magic microphone (11 min). Repeat the above activity, but this time role-playing how you would carry out the activity in the classroom with pupils. Think of your own questions to use in the classroom.

Activity two: Introducing cumulative talk - creating a story together

Educator note

Cumulative talk is talk in which all participants agree and add to the previous talk (or sentence).

Arrange the group in a horse-shoe seating arrangement if there is room. If not choose another arrangement allowing participants to see each other. Facilitator starts a story by saying one sentence. All participants then contribute to the story by adding sentences. A good story would:

• be contextually appropriate: for example, use common names of characters and a setting familiar to participants.
• have a theme relevant for participants such as education (girl-child receiving schooling later supports family), importance of forests and wild-life (saving a snake later becomes useful for invention of new medicine), treatment of diseases (steps taken by a family to treat an ill person) etc.
• be short and have few characters
• have a problem which is collectively resolved in the end.

Educator note

Facilitator can introduce the notion of Talk Rules during this activity if needed. Some examples are: “everybody listens when one person talks” because they have to add to that sentence, “respect others’ ideas” by adding to rather than changing their idea, “make sure everyone in the group understands”, “try to reach consensus in the end” – participants don’t need to actually come to agreement but the process of trying gets people to listen to each other. You may want to ask participants to generate their own examples of Talk Rules.

After the activity, facilitator or teacher can:

• explain that the activity is an example of “cumulative talk” where participants build on what the previous person has said (“cumulative talk” is one example of whole class dialogue)
• suggest that when this activity is done in the classroom with pupils, themes should be chosen from the curriculum
• suggest that the seating arrangement can be modified according to teachers’ classrooms such that pupils see each other. Pupils can leave their tables and just move their chairs (or sit outside if the grounds are suitable).

Activity three: Whole class discussion

Video (11 min). Video clips Eness vertebrates 10 ("Is a boy a mammal?") and 11 ("Is a whale a fish or a mammal?"); lively class discussion about classifying these animals, deliberately chosen to create controversy and to challenge the pupils

VIDEO

19 Eness 3 vertebrates 10

The description of the video

[[]], Template:Fullurl:, Duration: 3:51

VIDEO

19 Eness 3 vertebrates 11

The description of the video

[[]], Template:Fullurl:, Duration: 4:31

Whole group discussion (11 min).

• Was there a supportive environment for pupil participation and dialogue in this lesson? If so, how did the teacher achieve this?
• How did she help students to work out whether the boy and the whale were mammals? Did this discussion move their thinking forward?
• What did you think about teacher control and pupil learning in these video clips?
• How would you manage something similar in your classroom? How would you encourage pupil talk without losing too much control?

Educator note

Did participants notice the “wait time” after asking a question before teacher made a further contribution or question? Increasing wait time a little increases thinking time.

Activity four: Reflection

Whole group discussion (11 min). Reflection on what you have learned from this session about

• Body language for encouraging dialogue
• Cumulative talk
• Encouraging most pupils to talk
• Withholding feedback sometimes to motivate pupils without fear of “wrong” answers: not evaluating pupil responses, just accepting them
• Forming rules for dialogue
• Managing the tension between control and learners’ freedom to contribute

Homework

1. Try out the ‘magic microphone’ technique with an easy question for pupils to answer (eg “what’s your favourite food?”); every child should say something but keep the pace rapid so it doesn’t take too long – if someone isn’t ready, come back to them.

2. Try out cumulative talk by asking pupils to create a class story, contributing one line each whenever they are handed the magic microphone by their peers. Use some of the techniques discussed in this session to create a supportive environment, for example: positive body language, enthusiastic tone, listening to each other before speaking and building on what the previous person has said. Encourage any shy children to have a go, and repeat the activity with another topic on other occasion so they get more used to public speaking.

3. Using ICT

• Practise your typing skills.
• Write an email to the mailing list
• Continue practising finding resources and downloading images for a lesson that you can do. When you download images, put them into your lesson_resources folder, and use the slideshow function using a web browser on the netbooks or teacher computers.