Session 2.1 - Introduction to whole class dialogue and effective questioning
The OER4Schools Professional Learning Resource
Learning intentions and objectives.
In this session you will learn about:
- creating a supportive learning environment for dialogue through body language, emotional support and enthusiasm for pupil learning.
- one aspect of whole class dialogue, i.e. “cumulative talk”
- classroom management techniques for whole class dialogue such as forming classroom rules in consultation with pupils
- the idea of an assessment portfolio
Success criteria.
To meet the learning intentions you will:
ICT components.
The ICT components you will focus on are
- Continuation of Geogebra practice
- Planning another slideshow with OpenOffice Impress
- Introduction of writing documents with EtherPad
- Typing practice in the classroom
Classroom based activities (with your students, after this session):
- you will ...
Review of follow-up activities from last session
If you are running a professional learning programme which follows these sessions in sequence, then you should do the review of follow-up activities relating to the previous session (More on questioning). The 'review of follow-up activities' for that session is available here, and also shown below in the session text. However, if you are following selected sessions in a different order, then you should use the reflection appropriate to the previous session you did.
The review of the follow-up activities for this session (to be done at the start of the next session) is available here.
Review (10 min) of the planned activity, other strategies, and peer observation.
- Did you observe a buddy practising questioning in their classroom? Did your observation help your buddy? If yes, elaborate with specific examples about the changes in your buddy’s questioning after the activity. (You might want to continue the observation activity for a few more weeks)
- What did you learn by observing your buddy? Were there any questioning and handling responses strategies that you learned from your buddy?
- Did you notice any changes in pupils’ participation due to your new questioning and handling responses strategies? Share one strategy that you found most effective in your classroom. Explain reasons for why you think that the strategy was effective.
- Did you try any strategies for improving the quality of pupils’ responses? Which strategy or strategies led to chains of thinking about the content that you were teaching?
Review (10 min) of netbook based activities in the classroom.
- ICT activity – did you use the netbooks during the last week for the geogebra activity?
- Did you try anything else?
- How familiar are your students with using the netbooks?
- How familiar are you with using the netbooks?
Creating a supportive environment for dialogue
We are now moving on to the topic of this unit, and we start with introducing whole class dialogue. We initially focus on
- Creating a supportive environment for dialogue, and
- Cumulative talk - creating a story together.
We start this process by exploring the magic microphone(a) and then exploring cumulative talk(a).
Magic microphone (10 min) on the last workshop. 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...’.
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 (10 min) in the classroom: roleplay 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. Make a note of these questions, so that you can try out the activity in the classroom. As you are planning, consider these questions:
- How easily will the children be able to answer the questions?
- Will the microphone get stuck because a child cannot answer?
- How do you know that the questions are at the right level?
- Will this activity be fun? (Relates to: LfL, 2)
Introducing cumulative talk - creating a story together
Cumulative talk is talk in which all participants agree and add to the previous talk (or sentence).
Cumulative talk (10 min): Creating a story together All the participants get up to rearrange the seating. Arrange the group in a horse-shoe seating arrangement(a) 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, and
- have a problem which is collectively resolved in the end.
For instance, you could create a story about welcoming a new child to the school, perhaps a child with an impairment or some kind. Tthe facilitator starts by saying: "The other day, I heard my neighbours talking about whether their child should be starting school, because their child has difficulty walking, and they were not sure whether children like that should go to school." (Relates to Index for Inclusion, A1.1 Everyone is welcomed.)
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.
The activity we just did is example of “cumulative talk” where participants build on what the previous person has said (“cumulative talk” is one example of whole class dialogue).
Planning in pairs (10 min): cumulative talk in the classroom Now pair up, and come up with ideas for cumulative talk in the classroom.
- Consider that when this activity is done in the classroom with pupils, themes should be chosen from the curriculum.
- Also consider 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).
As you are planning this activity, ask youself the following questions:
- Do your students find it easy to talk?
- How can you encourage students to talk?
- Are some students likely to laugh at other students contributions? How can you create safe environments that enable students to take risks?(Relates to: LfL, 2.4)
Whole class discussion: Creating a supportive environment
Video (10 min) on classification of vertebrates. 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
Is a boy a mammal?
Eness leads a discussion on 'Is a boy a mammal?'
Video/19 Eness 3 vertebrates 10.mp4, https://oer.opendeved.net/wiki/Video/19_Eness_3_vertebrates_10.mp4,This video is available on your memory stick in the video/Eness Vertebrates folder. Duration: 3:51 watch on YouTube, local play / download options / download from dropbox)(Series: Eness Vertebrates, episode 10)
VIDEO
Fish or mammal?
Class explores the question 'Is a whale a fish or a mammal?'
Video/19 Eness 3 vertebrates 11.mp4, https://oer.opendeved.net/wiki/Video/19_Eness_3_vertebrates_11.mp4,This video is available on your memory stick in the video/Eness Vertebrates folder. Duration: 4:31 watch on YouTube, local play / download options / download from dropbox)(Series: Eness Vertebrates, episode 11)
Whole group discussion (10 min) about the learning environment and classroom management.
- Was there a supportive environment for pupil participation and dialogue in this lesson?(Relates to: LfL, 2) 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?(Relates to: LfL, 1)
- What did you think about teacher control and pupil learning in these video clips? How would a horseshoe seating arrangement have impacted on this?
- How would you manage something similar in your classroom? How would you encourage pupil talk without losing too much control?
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.
Reflection on what we have learned =
Whole group discussion (10 min) to reflect on what you have learnt. 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
ICT practice
ICT practice (20 min) on various topics.
- Continuation of Geogebra practice
- Planning another slideshow with OpenOffice Impress
- Introduction of writing documents with EtherPad
- Typing practice in the classroom
Connecting with overarching goals of the programme
Open space (10 min). It's now time for the "open space", that gives you an opportunity to discuss issues that have arisen, and to relate those to the broader context of the programme. Do not just gloss over this section, but make time to raise issues, and probe the progress that you are making. You could use this space to:
- Remind yourselves of the of the Most Significant Change Technique, and e.g. collect more of your stories.
- Discuss your assessment portfolios: Is there anything that you are unsure about? Is it going well? What could be done better?
- Check on the work with the classroom assistants: Is this going well? Are there any tensions? Any observations or tips you can share?
- Reviewing individual ICT practise (such as typing practise).
- If you are preparing a presentation for other teachers, you could work on the presentation (about what you have been learning, stories emerging from MSC).
- Remind those who are doing audio diaries, to upload them.
- You could discuss any other issues that have arisen.
You will find notes and summaries of various techniques and concepts on our reference page, and you might want to refer to those for clarification during this activity if needed.
Follow-up activities
Agreeing follow-up activities (5 min).
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.
In the next session, these follow-up activities will be reviewed. If you are using this session on its own, you can have a look at the review of follow-up activities here.
At the end of each session, we provide an overview of the activities in this session, together with their suggested timings. Although this appears at the end of the session (for technical reasons), you should keep an eye on this throughout the session, to make sure that you are pacing the workshop session appropriately!
Total time: 125 (min)
Activities in this session:
- Review (10 min) of the planned activity, other strategies, and peer observation.
- Review (10 min) of netbook based activities in the classroom.
- Magic microphone (10 min) on the last workshop.
- Magic microphone (10 min) in the classroom: roleplay
- Cumulative talk (10 min): Creating a story together
- Planning in pairs (10 min): cumulative talk in the classroom
- Video (10 min) on classification of vertebrates.
- Whole group discussion (10 min) about the learning environment and classroom management.
- Whole group discussion (10 min) to reflect on what you have learnt.
- ICT practice (20 min) on various topics.
- Open space(10 min).
- Agreeing follow-up activities(5 min).
If you have printed this session for offline use, you may also need to download the following assets:
- Video/19 Eness 3 vertebrates 10.mp4 (local play / download options / download from dropbox)
- Video/19 Eness 3 vertebrates 11.mp4 (local play / download options / download from dropbox)
