Classroom Talk- Erin

Being in a kindergarten class, I see very little small group talk but rather large group talks with the whole class. I would say that I observe more response-centered talks rather than discussion or recitation. I believe that our CT may use recitation more for assessing which we do not see very often. I have used recitation though when interviewing the students in order to learn about their prior knowledge for a science lesson. In order to do this I would scaffold through using specific language. When asking about summer weather, I was sure to use the word "temperature" in order to help the children think in the right terms. I feel that the way I used recitation was that of the I-R-E process McGee talks about in "Response-Centered Talk: Windows on Children's Thinking". I asked a particular question, listened to their response and then evaluated their understanding on the subject. In terms of our CT talking with the students though, there is definitely more response-centered talk. When McGee talks about this approach, she explains that the teacher asks a question or multiple questions in order to initiate a well thought, rich discussion. Usually when my CT asks a question, I may think she is looking for a particular answer but she is in fact initiating discussion on the topic. For instance, when they were reading a book about thunderstorms, she asked if any of the children had seen a thunderstorm or been in a really scary thunderstorm. At first, I figured this was just a way of getting the children involved but as the discussion went on, I realized they were sharing their ideas with each other. Our CT was able to relate their stories to others and the book in order to help the children come to a new understanding of what thunderstorms are and what they are capable of. I did notice our teacher was able to include those students that are usually shy. She made an effort to stay quiet and just absorb what each child was saying. As for scaffolding, I feel that I saw this throughout the entire discussion. When a child would either get off subject or forget what their story was, our CT was sure to bring them back or reguide them with her questions. She was able to let the students talk with each other without much interference, but at the same time was able to slightly guide their conversation in order to get the most out of their answers. Being kindergartners, the students sometime exaggerate stories. In these cases, the teacher usually interrupts with either a new question or asks for a different story. Sometimes I feel like this could hurt the child's feelings but it has never really seemed to effect the child. I would like to know a new way to scaffold the students in order to reguide a conversation if it does get off topic though. Throughout this next semester or even into my internship year I hope I will be able to observe this. I also hope to observe more discussion and possibly more recitation used for something other than assessment.