I wish my teacher knew...

Through out this year, I've always been thinking about how to get into my students' heads. Not in a creepy, psychoanalytical way, but just simply trying to work out if my teaching input has borne any fruit in their minds. Kids don't usually volunteer feedback on what they have learnt, but occasionally, I get some really spontaneous, honest feedback about my teaching, like "THIS LESSON IS BORING." or "Miss Tan, I think you're a really nice teacher, but can you, like, be a bit more ACTIVE?" 

So in between designing feedback-on-learning exercises with my kids, and posing craftily phrased questions to elicit the truth when I investigate wrong-doings in class, I thought it would be really nice to build an atmosphere where the children were more open to sharing their thoughts with me. Sharing anything they wished I knew. I chanced upon a Facebook post a few weeks ago where a teacher asked his students to write down one thing they wished he knew. He got back some really good responses, and in the process, managed to get to know his students a lot better. 

I did this exercise with my Grade 4s. I highly recommend doing this with your students. Parents can even do this with their children. I think, as adults, we sometimes think that children think the way we do, and because they seem so happy and carefree, the only things that are on their mind are immediate self-gratification/food/ice-cream/toys. Here are a few responses I got that really touched me. 

1. "I am short..." 

You know when teachers have certain routines in class like lining up? We do it because it's neat and orderly. But where these kids stand in the line also has implications to them, and sometimes always being in the front because you're small just makes you feel that much more exposed and insecure. I never knew this student felt that way, and now I understand why she's always running back to the line. Also, it's amazing that she's so kind-hearted.

2. "Help my friend..." 

I teach a really competitive class. Sometimes I am appalled when I see how the rat race already starts from such a young age.  So I was pleasantly surprised when I received this note from my student whom I assigned to be a buddy to a new child who joined my class. This new student is from a different country and he's having trouble keeping up.  I give him extra help but he's always smiling and seems to participate enthusiastically in class, so I had no idea that he felt that way.

3. Just generally pouring out secrets... 

I had no idea that this kid felt this way. I didn't know she was a middle-child, and wants more attention. This student obviously cares a lot for her parents, and probably doesn't know how to express it to them. Also, it's interesting to watch your students approach adolescence and explore relationships.

4. Family issues... 

This student is one of the quieter ones in my class. It must be hard trying to lead a normal life and understanding family commitments and parents' limitations. 

5. Looking out for his brother... 

This is my favourite. When I received it, I nearly cried in class. So a set of triplets got transferred to my school from a different country. Two of them ended up in the same class, while another one ended up alone in another class. The oldest brother out of the three wrote this about the one who ended up alone in another class. 

6. Being noticed 

When you're constantly surrounded by children who want your attention, it's easy sometimes to miss out the quieter ones. I know I'm guilty of that and I'm going to make sure I never do that again. This student tries so hard! 

So for teachers/parents who want to carry this out, just a few things to bear in mind: 

1. Leave this an open exercise, though you might want to give a few examples of what they would like to think of. E.g. a secret you want to share, something that is bothering you, something you wish your teacher could do in class etc. 

2.  Tell them that you will not judge them on their responses and this is an exercise to help you get to know them better. 

3. Give the children ample space and time to think about what they want to write. 

4. When you get responses that need a follow-up, make sure you do that. A child knowing that you're there to provide a listening ear will feel so much better, even if there isn't anything you can do for him/her. 

5. When the students feel more comfortable, and to build a caring environment in the class, you could ask them if they would like their responses to be shared and discussed. I find this helps a lot for children who feel bullied/picked on. 

Talk moves - Facilitating good discussions in class for elementary school kids

I'm now way into the teaching year (the Singapore school year starts in January).  I haven't been the most consistent in blogging about my teaching experiments - it's been so hectic! 

Recently, one thing that has piqued my interest is getting kids to have really meaningful class discussions, where students think and engage more deeply with what each other are saying. I realise that most class discussions consists of the me fielding the questions and having this two-way conversation with the class, but the students aren't talking to each other. 

I don't know how many of you have experienced this, but sometimes, my class discussions turn heated and I'm there trying to prevent the class from descending into anarchy. It puzzles me that my students get angry with each other for having differing opinions, often not attempting to clarify their thoughts and convince the other person to come over to their camp. Instead, it turns into a competition where they try to see who can drag their 'NOs' the longest and loudest. Also, in addition to academic excellence and sharing knowledge with the children, it's important to teach them skills that help them critically think through ideas and communicate effectively. I find that often, my kids would not speak up or defend their ideas overzealously to 'save face'. I’m working on teaching them that it’s ideas to be discussed respectfully, not the person.

So I’ve started trying to enhance student talk for learning by teaching my kids to use these deliberate sentence starters and options called ‘talk moves’ when we are carrying out discussions. They are pretty simple and I wondered why I hadn’t thought of doing these with my kids ages ago.  So there's a variety of talk moves out there but here's a list of those that I've started with whole class discussions and I've found to work: 

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Talk moves

1. Repeat/Rephrase: Getting your students to ask someone else to repeat/rephrase their answer if they can't hear it or do not understand it. You can also get students to repeat/rephrase someone's answer to check if they are paying attention. 

2. Add on: Students may volunteer to elaborate on what someone else has said. 

3. Agree and why: Students should have an opinion on what their friends have shared. They may agree but more importantly, they have to state why. 

4. Disagree and why: Pretty much the same as above. They may disagree and state why. 

(I saw an interesting video where as a student was sharing, other students were taught to do a sign for if they agreed with their friends answer and if they disagreed. I tried this with my class and found it really useful as a tool for whole-class formative assessment. You could find out at a glance who agreed and who disagreed and made it easier to facilitate the discussion.)

5. Connection: Students may volunteer an idea that is connected/related to what their friend had shared.

6. Change my answer: Finally, after the whole discussion, students may decide that they want to change their answer. As a formative assessment tool, you could also make up a sign they could do to show that they would like to change their answer. 

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Of course, these talk moves can also be used when students break up into their groups for group discussions. 

There's a really good website here that explains 'talk moves' as well and that provides the ground rules for discussion. I modified and went through these ground rules for 'speakers' and 'listeners' and how classroom discussions should be carried out respectfully before even going through the talk moves. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked. Here's the link: Productive Talk in the Classroom

I've also created a powerpoint that explains the talk moves to the kids and the sentence stems they should use. It's written in kid-friendly language. =) Here it is: Talk moves powerpoint for kids 

Enjoy!