Being able to express yourself verbally is a necessary and vital skill. However, over the years, one thing I have noticed that almost all of my students struggle with is authentic conversation. Our standards even require 5th-grade students to not only articulate their own understanding and ideas, but also participate in discussions, consider the viewpoints of others, and build on the ideas of others. When asked to talk about almost any academic subject, students tend to each give quick sentences and the conversation dies there. They willingly listen to their classmates but they can’t or don’t want to expand upon or question those ideas.
While working on my inquiry audit trail, one strategy that I came across was called “Conver-stations”. This is a discussion strategy where students move between small groups to deepen conversation. Students are organized into small groups to begin their discussions. After a few minutes of discussion, 1-2 students are asked to rotate to the next small group while the others stay. This rotation of just a few members from each group occurs every few minutes so that the small groups are constantly changing. As students move through the different groups, they are picking up different ideas and perspectives and taking them with them to share with a new group. Students are encouraged to write down not only their own thoughts but also the thoughts of others that they thought were interesting.
I really love the idea of this strategy because it exposes students to many different ideas but in a small group setting that could be less intimidating for some students. For students who might struggle to form their thoughts, it could help them to listen to the ideas of others and, when they move to the next group, use those thoughts and words to form their own. I would like to try this with our upcoming atomic bomb debate. This is a topic students tend to take a side and get passionate about. I would love to see if listening to everyone’s different perspectives changes any ones point of view or if they are able to build upon the ideas they hear to strengthen their own position. This could be great practice for sharing ideas and responding to the ideas of others and I can’t wait to try it out!
https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/conver-stations-strategy
Stevie, I really like this strategy because I have seen many difficulties with communication. My own children struggle to talk on the phone and listening to them is painful! They simply do not know how to converse, how to take turns, and how to end the conversation. As you mentioned, they say a few things and then the conversation dies. I like having them work in a small group because it is not as intimidating. I also like the idea of them taking notes as they listen to their peer. I think it is great to expose them to other people's ideas and teach them how to listen respectfully, how to state their opinion without offending, and how to hold a conversation. Great strategy! -Brandi Nolan
ReplyDeleteI really like this strategy! As a student, I always HATED whole-group debates/discussions. Even when I had ideas, it was always so intimidating for me to share in front of the whole class. This is a great way to give all your kids a "safe" way to form and share their thoughts. And the atomic bomb debate is a great way to get it going, because it's pretty easy to form a strong opinion about that topic!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this strategy Stevie. I agree, students have a hard time keeping an academic conversation going, and I think that letting them be in small groups that constantly change could be beneficial. I would love to see this in action, and I would imagine it might take a couple of tries to have students fully participating because of the awkward stage of joining in a new conversation.
ReplyDeleteThis strategy is fantastic! It can absolutely be intimidating for students to share their ideas among their peers, especially if they are not confident in their answers. Have you noticed the confidence of your students increase? I can imagine that it definitely helps to bring those students who do not normally speak out, be willing to share either their ideas or the ideas of others.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great strategy! I totally believe students have such a hard time verbally expressing or elaborating on their thoughts or beliefs aloud. Unfortunately, I think technology has done this to them. Also, many students are shy to speak in front of the entire class. The small group setting will make them feel much more comfortable. I would love to see this done and also implement this if I were to teach again. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Stevie,
ReplyDeleteMany times I have made the mistake of assigning student discussions rather than teaching students how to engage in productive discourse with each other and am always on the look out for strategies that provide support for students to grow soft skills that undergrid beneficial and insightful peer conversations. Your "Conver-Stations" strategy that you described in this blog post does just that. It provides a specific protocol that helps provide multiple perspectives and opportunities to practice their conversation skills with the targeted purpose of gathering different perspectives for the culminating writing product. I can't wait to use this one in my practice. Thanks for sharing!
Dawn