What a day to simply absorb and embrace all the characters of a classroom.
Today, I was focused on observing all the different characters of every classroom while still keeping in mind the ways in which teachers ask questions and how the students answer. As an observer I felt the teachers were constantly asking questions, either it be while reading a story, providing instructions or trying to engage the students in a conversation. It almost left like the teachers were acting like the young child that keeps saying “But why?”…”But why?”.
As childish it may seem to being asking so many question, it is actually the simplest way to know what the students know. It is a way to assessing their funds of knowledge. I observed as a teacher you have to ask many questions and that too in various ways as the students provided answers that are very general, however, the more questions that are asked the more specific the question get. Asking questions is actually way of letting a student know what they know and what they do no know. It also engages their curiosity as well. Listening to the responses of their peers either a student will give the same answer or will try to give a different answer. Most of the times I observed a student would rephrase what the first student had provided as an answer.
There was one incident that stuck out to me the most. A teacher was asking the students “what things around us are blue?”. As the students were giving there answers the teacher was drawing the items on the chart. There was one student in the class that has an EA for support. The EA was not in the class at that time. The student was very fidgety, but it seemed as though he/she knew exactly what to do to self regulate. However, there were a few times where the teacher did not pick the student to answer as he was being disruptive. When she did pick the student to answer he/she actually got more frustrated. The student’s speech was challenged, therefore, when the student answered “sharks” the teacher heard “socks”. The teacher was unaware of the student’s frustration. The student was now being more disruptive than before.
Observing this incident I did not feel asking questions was helping that particular student. How am I as a teacher supposed to accommodate that student? What strategy should I use to effectively engage all students who may have a variety of learning challenges?
This was a very insightful reflection Sukhi. When a student who has challenges is given challenges that are overly frustrating for them, self regulation can be an issue. It is a difficult thing to navigate as a teacher, particularly when support is not available. The constant question for the teacher is, ‘what is the best way to include as well as help this student to be a part of the lesson when support is not available?’ Sometimes this question is a difficult one to successfully respond to. It is a really good question specific to teacher inquiry. Teaching is such a dynamic, fluid occupation with answers that are so specific to the students being taught!