Class discussion time

I previously mentioned the Curtin program, for which I will be conducting my class post-intervention test on Thursday. I look to it with some anxiety, and thoughts like 'but there hasn't been enough time!' and 'what if there's no change?!' are flying through my head. Whether or not my results show a significant change in my students' perceptions, there is one thing I have been working on that I feel is really important.

Discussion skills. Does anyone else find that students (of all year levels!) have no idea how to discuss an idea? They speak over each other, they state the obvious, the discussion degenerates into a multitude of little conversations about what was on TV last night. 

Why am I concentrating on this? Firstly, when I asked my students what they want, they said 'we want to have discussions and not have to put up our hands.' That is almost word-for-word what one of the girls said, and her classmates agreed with her. So, it's something they want. Second, I believe that the general conversation skills of many students (and adults!) are lacking, and that they will need these skills to work in the increasingly collaborative world of employment today. Computers can do so many of the menial tasks, that human interaction will become more and more important, as will creativity.

What do I mean by discussion skills? I see a discussion as being a conversation in which all participants are equal. The students should be doing the vast majority of the speaking, and taking it in turns. They should be responding to each other, asking each other questions, and delving deeper into the subject rather than just skimming the surface. They should be able to come up with some original ideas, figure something out as a group.

Our first class discussion wasn't the most successful. We had two attempts before we really worked out what we needed to improve. At the end of the second discussion, I decided to do a little after-action review with the class. They came up with great feedback about their discussion! They decided that:

- not enough people were talking

- they got off to a slow start, but then gained momentum

- they rated themselves a C

When they rated themselves a C, I asked what they would need to get an A. They said:

- everyone needs to speak

- there should be no gaps in the conversation

- they needed better driving questions or information to discuss

I thought that was a good start! In our most recent discussion, I provided some better driving questions. It was a reflective discussion after a visit to the local Council Chambers, where we had a mock council meeting and learned about what it means to be a councillor. Something that sparked their interest was that the councillors are volunteers, and have a significant council workload in addition to their day jobs. My class thought that was outrageous! So we discussed the benefits of being paid, the non-monetary benefits that might accompany such a job, and the potential benefits of employing volunteers as councillors. Not only did my class come up with some excellent ideas about these things, they also decided to change their minds about unpaid councillors. I didn't even plan the initial questions, I just picked out their own interests and turned them into questions when they were getting stuck for talking points.

I'm happy with the progress my students (and me!) are making, but I think we still have a ways to go. I've got some ideas for improvements, and have been searching for resources to assist. Something I've found so far is this useful list of phrases, which I think I just might turn into large reminder cards or a poster to put in our classroom for discussion time.

I'm feeling an opportunity coming on... perhaps it is almost time to capture some of this action on video.

Where to start?

I am in the fortunate situation of working at a school that supports teacher development. I was recently discussing my long list of professional development opportunities this year with a fellow teacher from another school, who told me that he is allowed one school day per year for PD. At our school, we must do a minimum of one day during school hours and one day during our own time. I've picked out some really helpful ones so far! 

PD aside though, we have a number of initiatives inside the school that focus on teacher improvement in some way or another. Probably the most significant of these is what I call the Curtin program. Really, its a student feedback survey about classroom climate coordinated by a team from Curtin University. A lot of work happens behind the scenes to make it possible but, as the teacher, I get to see feedback on how my students see my classroom, and how they would like it to be. It's split into a number of categories that make it easy to see where to focus efforts for improvement, and a post-intervention test is conducted to see whether the efforts have worked. As well as actually doing the survey, teachers are asked to:

- set goals for improvement (aided by a planning tool in the form of a table)
- discuss goals with colleagues in small curriculum teams
- reflect on the process

Although I have already been through this process once, and this cycle is nearing its end (next week is post-intervention test!), I will post some of my reflections up here to share my experiences. Expect to see some posts about the effectiveness of student surveys, and about experimenting on students!