"On Listening to What Children Say" was an article that pertains well to my teaching. It was very difficult not to outright correct my students when they had wrong answers. I would try to correct them in a way that was appropriate to their needs, but this article shows that having them self actualize is better for students to retain information over time. This process is important to correct misconceptions. Just telling a student that their conceptions of the world are wrong will not right the misconception over time. Students need to process their thoughts for themselves.
Silence in the classroom was another thing that was difficult for me. It is hard to be confident enough for that. As a new teacher, silence was not golden. Silence was time that students felt that they could talk freely. Classroom management is a technique that is necessary for silence in the classroom. It is nerve wracking when you can hear the crickets chirp in the classroom. Although I know wait time is important, it is still a difficult thing to do.
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5 comments:
It is very difficult, especially as a first time teacher, to instill the wait time notion. I remember when i began to try it during student teaching it was like pulling teeth. My students could see through my weakness and tried to use the wait time as a talking time, much like yours did. I put an immediate stop to this though... i told them we could either discuss the topic or they could write about it in an assertive manner... clearly the students perferred speaking over writing...I tended to find that students learned better by talking as well, if they misunderstood something then a peer would try to correct them, then they would figure out where they went wrong. Granted this type of thing may not usually pop up in an everyday classroom, but if it does, what an amazing sight it is to see it!
I completely agree that it is hard to know how long to wait to give the kids ample time to think out their answers. I always felt like I didn't HAVE much time so a lot of the time I would cut kids off or answer questions myself! The students get used to this too, so they eventually they stop thinking and just assume you will answer questions for them.
Both of the issues you discussed related to my teaching as well. It was hard for me to get used to allowing students to correct themselves and discover things on their own. I was afraid the classroom would become out of control with students talking and working on different things, but once I allowed this type of learning to happen, I found students more interested in their learning and excited to share the things they discovered with their peers and myself.
I think as teachers its in our nature to like to talk. I'm slowing learning too and getting used to wait time. I try to think of it as "think time" also- just giving the students the extra few seconds they need to come up with an answer. It also allows for more students to start raising their hands because there are some students who always raise their hands to participate. Using wait time will allow for more students to participate.
I think that not only to teachers like to talk but sometimes there is the perception that if the teacher is teaching something then learning isn't going on. I think that in classrooms where we really want our students to learn we need to allow that wait time. I know personally I need that extra time to gather my thoughts, so I am going to try extra hard to allow that time for my students. Although the thought of silence is scary, such a potential for misbehavior!
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