Week 6 Blog Post – Academic Classroom Discussion
Comments(1) I think that the chapter five reading for this week is very important because it discusses the importance of providing silence and time for students to think in class. Zwiers argues that “Silence can be golden thinking time for students” (Zwiers, 2008, p. 121). For example, when a teacher asks students to answer a question, they need to be given the opportunity to think about how they will answer the question, collect their thoughts and then be given time to build up the courage to respond in class.
I always needed the extra time to think when I was in high school. I was always self conscious about how my answer would compare to the other students in my class and because of that I always needed time to gain the courage to state my answer in front of the group. According to Zwiers, if we give students a little more time to think and answer the questions that are asked of them, student responses will be more thorough, contain more precise language related to the topic, and the students will gain a more genuine sense that the teacher cares about their answers (Zwiers, 2008, p.121). The latter point is something that I think is really important for students to gain a sense of in the classroom. If students know that their teachers care about them, they will probably be more willing to participate in class on a regular basis. Furthermore, if the teacher demonstrates that they care about each individual answer; students will feel appreciated and will feel that they truly bring something special to class discussions.
Thank you for your post! I definitely agree that silence is underrate and underused in most secondary school classrooms. I am also a student who needs time to gather my thoughts on the ideas presented before I can form a quality answer. While in secondary school, I felt the pressure to form the perfect answer before sharing with the class, so I would find it nearly impossible to participate. By the time I had time to think, the class discussion had usually taken a different turn.
I think that teachers should give students a bit more time to process all the information they have been fed and evaluate it before expecting answers. I am not suggesting that teachers make time for this “pause” after every question, because this is unrealistic! Students, like myself, need to develop the important skill of spontaneity and need to be able to think on their feet as well. However, I think this should opportunity for silence should happen occasionally.
I appreciated the examples Zwiers gave in the book about preparing students for lectures/discussions/presentations by giving them a partially filled out visual map, a three tiered column, or time after a lecture to jot down notes before engaging with the information. All of these, I believe, would be especially helpful for more thoughtful, introspective students, shy students, and also ELL students.