I think that this activity touched on a few of the GLCEs. First, this activity included "Students will use enunciation and stress to emphasize key ideas and concepts when presenting" which is under Speaking (Convention). Each group would say the lines differently, and try to use enunciation and stress to show the emotion behind the lines of the poem. This would also classify for the other GLCE under this category, which is "students will use tone of voice and pace of speaking to enhance meaning and influence interpretation when presenting". To our class, we thought the poem was a bit sad, so we used somewhat of a somber tone to exhibit these emotions.
Each group had to decide as a whole how the lines would be spoken. A couple of people would give out differing ideas, and then as a group we would decide which would work best based on how we interpreted the poem. This idea reflects the GLCE under Speaking (Discourse), which is "students will engage in interactive, extended discourse to socially construct meaning".
Lastly, each group had to present their lines together for a final product. This would fall under the Speaking (Discourse) for the GLCE, "students will plan and deliver and informal presentation".
I definitely felt supported in our learning community. I think when students are given the opportunity to have a discussion amongst themselves and question each other, etc., they really open up and feel more relaxed than if the teacher was using the I-R-E approach. This is described by Janice Almasi in "A New View of Discussion". It states, "Students tend to participate differently in discussions than in recitations. In a discussion, students will assume a multitude of roles..." (Almasi, 7) In the "discussion" environment, the student is the inquisitor, facilitator, respondent, evaluator, everything. This gives students the opportunity to just talk to one another, in a non-threatening way, without worrying if they answer a question right for the teacher. That's why when we did the poems, I felt very comfortable because I was able to discuss my ideas and feelings without being graded.
My personal reflections on my learning help me think towards my role as a teacher because I notice which activities I actively participate in and which ones I do not. I really like doing the hands on group activities because they are fun and educational at the same time, as opposed to sitting and listening to lecture, which is when I usually lose touch with what is going on because I lose my focus. My learning has changed dramatically through my TE 401 and now 402 class because I was asked to ACTIVELY learn, and not just take notes. Those activities are the ones I remember and the ones I enjoyed participating in. I am going to try to incorporate as much hands on activities and discussions in my classroom because I can see that I participate more through discussion with my peers and activities.
Even though I am in a lower elementary class, I am still going to try to use the idea of discussion in my language arts lesson. I have noticed already that my students love to share their ideas so I hope that it will go over well.
I liked your blog post a lot because I didn't even consider writing about the poem we did as a class. I looked at it as a warm-up sort of activity for the class, but from the way you described it, I realize it was more than that. From this activity alone it's obvious that any activity or discussion can have purpose to it. I like how you pointed out that the discussion with the whole class helped in building our learning community. I know we did a lot of warm-up/thinking activities in our TE 401 Social Studies class. When we would discuss our thoughts with a partner or two, I always felt more comfortable sharing. I think that this also helped build community within our classroom. It just goes to show you that no matter how many people you are speaking with, discussion can always lead to positive outcomes.
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