What is it? This component focuses attention on the use of questioning and discussion techniques in education. Education is not just about the scores that kids get on tests, it is so much more than that. Education is about building a deep understanding of concepts that students will use throughout their lives. This component is in place to ensure that students are being asked questions that grow their knowledge base and support the building of new schema. Students must be challenged through questioning in order to learn how to express their thoughts in a discussion type setting.
Why do we need it? We need component B for two specific reasons. The first reason goes along with what I mentioned in the previous response. Component B helps students to foster and grow their awareness of the world around them. It ensures that every child has a voice in the classroom and it allows students the opportunity to either strengthen previously held views or rethink views. Questioning students and discussing content with them is fundamental to true learning. Students cannot always have information explained to them, they must also be engaged and exploring the information themselves in order for true growth. The second reason component B is so important is because it allows for the educator to be evaluated. Educators must teach by example. High-level questions must be asked of them in order for them to be able to ask high-level questions of others. Thus if the presence of this component is evident in a classroom then it can be made clear that the appropriate skills are being taught to the students by the teacher.
What are the elements? Component B of Domain 3 has 3 elements. The first element targets the quality of questions and prompts. Essentially this means that the teacher asks high quality questions in order to challenge students and deepen their understanding of content. The next element focuses on discussion techniques. It is key that teachers do not just explain content but rather, allow for classroom discussion of the content. The third and final element for this component centers on student participation. An effective teacher makes sure that every student has a voice that is heard and respected, this way all students can contribute to class discussions.
What does implementation look like? Often times in a classroom environment a few students will dominate the conversation. This is usually because students can be intimidated by the idea of sharing their thoughts with a large group of their peers. Below I have created a plan that teachers can use to slowly get students used to the idea of classroom discussion rather than jumping right into it and losing students in the process. The goal is to achieve successful questioning and discussion techniques for every student.
The first thing that a teacher can start implementing into lessons is known as concentric circles or speed dating. This involves students forming two circles in the classroom. One circle is formed inside of a larger, outside circle. Every student on the outside gets paired with a student on the inside. The teacher begins by posing a question to the whole class and each pair discusses their responses with one another. After significant time is given for discussion the teacher then has the outside circle move a space over in order to rotate partners. A new question is posed and the discussion continues. This technique allows for students to get used to discussing ideas one on one rather than being intimidated by the whole class.
After using the concentric circles discussion technique in the classroom for a while. Teachers can move onto the snowball discussion technique. In this type of discussion students begin in pairs and respond to a question with only their partner. Since only one question is used for this whole discussion type, the question for this activity should be more challenging and require more connections to be made. After the pairs share their ideas with one another, each pair then joins another pair and each person shares their ideas in the now made group of four. Then each group of four join together to create a group of eight. This pattern continues until the end when the whole class is joined together in one discussion.
Since the last technique ended with the class as a whole discussing, students should have more experience and be more comfortable with sharing their ideas. As a result, the teacher can try using the Socratic Seminar technique next. In this activity students begin by preparing and writing their own higher-order discussion questions about a specific topic. On the day of the seminar activity students will sit in a large circle and one student will begin the discussion by posing one of their questions. From there, the students will continue to discuss openly and naturally. The seminar can last for as long as necessary with different students asking their own questions and taking turns leading the discussion. This activity provides students with the opportunity to strengthen the skills discussed in component B.
Sources: Academic Discourse / Accountable Talk. (2017). Pinterest. Retrieved 10 November 2017, from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/473581717037701980/
Danielson Group » The Framework. (2017). Danielsongroup.org. Retrieved 21 September 2017, from http://www.danielsongroup.org/framework/