Week 5- McLean (response)

     Like Holly stated in her initial blog post, the teacher in our classroom leads the class discussions and only calls on specific students.  In the classroom discussions that occur, my head teacher asks a question and calls on students until she gets the "right" response she is looking to build upon.  She does not have the patience to listen to the students respond.  However, the classroom discussions that I have witnessed are rarely over a piece of literature.  Usually these conversations are about recess, math, or writer's workshop.

     The classroom would greatly benefit from including more literacy into the classroom, and therefore more book talks or classroom discussions on literacy.  In the article by Triplett and Buchanan, they discussed the importance they found in including these discussions into classroom routines.  In fact, they say, "McCarthey discovered that book discussions can promote critical thinking when topics are related to children's developing identities, including race, gender, and class" (65).  In addition, they state, "Commeyras [...] discovered that students were more motivated to read when discussions were focused on their questions" (70).  These are examples of how book talks are beneficial to children's learning.  

     With that being said, I think it is important to notice that these book talks should be on books with substantial texts, not flowery texts with no meaning or thinking required.  There are purposes to each kind of text, but engaging in a class discussion would best happen with critical literacy.  In addition, children in the classroom should be encouraged to ask questions and discuss.  The students in my placement would greatly benefit from this type of text and class discussions, especially due to the social-economic, racial, language, and cultural differences throughout the classroom.  These students could be teaching each other and sharing ideas/opinions that are not being offered currently.  In response, there should be books read aloud that allow students to discuss these differences with one another and, at the same time, relate to the text which is being read-aloud and talked about. 

     There are many students in my class who sit quietly un-noticed.  They are the students who consistently do what they are told and are average students.  They do not require extra attention from my head teacher, however, their learning could be greatly improved if they were engaged in a discussion which promoted their thinking or allowed them to share their thoughts and experiences.  These students would be an asset to the class and the teacher would get to know their personalities and interests more if these children were included in conversations.  As Triplett and Buchanan say, "Ms. B believed that book discussion was the primary way that she got to know her individual students both cognitively and personally" (67).  Therefore, the learning in my placement could be greatly increased and more students could be actively engaged in their learning through the teacher engaging and learning about her students through classroom discussion.