Often, we find our plans for instruction don't happen the ways we expect them to. These puzzling moments happen when kids catch us off guard, say something seemingly incorrect or off point. By turning these puzzling moments around on ourselves, the teachers, we look at these instances in new ways. We err on the side that says the children make sense or have valid reasons behind their thinking and contributions. These moments should be explored further and can be explored further through recording conversations and stopping time to look more closely at them. We don't always understand something until we have time to think about it, hear it repeated, and put aside our assumptions. This is at the heart of "stopping time".
During a science talk, Ballenger asks her class if mold is alive, and, in allowing the conversation to follow the direction of the kids (stepping back, which is hard to do), the conversation moved to talking about what other things they think are alive. The kids came up with the sun, the moon, and the clouds. Rather than Ballenger interrupting and correcting their ideas, she records talk that becomes valuable to her in possibly understanding how her kids are thinking, making sense of the world, and what knowledge they already possess.
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Below are excerpts of the conversation and what Ballenger believes is going on:
Michel: It's always bright...and when the sun goes down it comes back.
- Ballenger thinks that Michael may be associating the sun's setting and falling with when someone goes away and comes back; this is a kind of proof that they are alive. (p. 22)
Rubens: If [the sun] wasn't alive, then the sun wouldn't light and we wouldn't have no light and all we'd have is dark nighttime and all we'd do is dreaming, dreaming, dreaming.
- Ballenger thinks that Rubens seemed to be thinking of light and life as connected and darkness as connected to sleep or death. (p. 22)
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Similarly, I decided to record a turn-and-talk that took place during a math whole group lesson on determining the cost of (some weight) of an item when the cost is set per pound. (JF = teacher)
JF: So adding on another 1 dollar and 10 cents... and that will get you to 3 dollars and 30 cents. Thumb up if you agree with Samantha. Excellent. $3.30... hm. I’m gonna go again a little bit out of order and I want to look at 4 pounds of carrots. How would you be able to figure out the cost of 4 pounds of carrots? How could you figure that out? Turn and tell the person next to you.
Students break into conversation.
One partnership:
Myles: ...It’s $4 dollars and 40 cents because every time it goes up--
Samantha: because...because you can just add $1.10!
Myles: Whatever the dollar is is going to be that...it’s going to be that number. But for 10... 10... I already know what 10 is. When you get to 10 and 10...you get 100 cents is 1 dollar so that would be 11 dollars.
Samantha: For me, I just at 10 cents to get to 40 and then I just add another dollar to get to 4.
In my analysis during stopping time, I found that Myles breaks from what the teacher is asking the partnership to do when he moves right on to figuring out what 10 pounds of carrots is. Rather than looking at this as an off-task behavior, looking at it as something valuable. Earlier in the lesson, the teacher skipped over 10 pounds (which appears first in the rate table) because solving sequentially for 3 pounds then 4 pounds was less of a burden. Myles, however, is one example of a student who is ready for elegant solutions (finding the quickest, simplest, effective way to solve a problem), and maybe can share the burden of teaching a solving strategy to the rest of his peers.
In Ballenger's book she talks about stopping time, and the importance of it, however after our discussion in class at the moment when you are teaching it is difficult to remember, "stopping time".
ReplyDeleteSpecifically in my internship classroom, there are a number of students who love share their ideas and talk about the topic of conversation however it is by calling out. My teacher and I when we are teaching see this as disruptive, and not good behavior. Although I see it as disruptive, after watching my cooperating teacher teach I see a new light in calling out.
Taking a closer look at one of the students that calls out frequently, I listened to his ideas that he calls out, and what he actually wants to say. What he wants to say in relation to the conversation is relevant and on topic, however my cooperating teacher sends him back to his seat because he is disruptive. After observing this instance, I see the importance of stopping time. If my cooperating teacher takes a moment, stops, and has that child share, or implements a turn and talk that child and the other children can all share their ideas, and maybe, eliminate some of the calling out that occurs.
Meg, I can totally relate to this. This happens very frequently in math in my classroom as well. I always have those students who jump the process and call out the answer while they do mental math. As much as I would love to stop and acknowledge the learning that is taking place in the student's mind, I find myself reminding them of the classroom rules to raise their hands and to give students time to show their work. This challenged me to remember that these students should be acknowledged for their thinking and that even though they did not show the process they are definitely revealing learning in their own way. This gives me the responsibility to think of other strategies to stop time and take note of these moments.
ReplyDeleteThanks Meg! :)
I can relate to this in my classroom as well! There are many times when I see students and teachers interacting and it is very difficult to know exactly what is going on in the middle of a lesson. A teacher might think that a student does not understand what is going on or that a student is confused, but the student might just be trying to explain to the teacher what he or she thinks. I had to conduct an inter-visitation the other day. I went to a third grade classroom and watched Ms. S teach a mathematics lesson. The lesson was on pictographs. One student kept calling out "I love oatmeal raisin cookies! It makes me sad that no one likes them like me! They are the best!!!" The teacher asked the student to stop calling out, but did not value that he was actually extremely on target. If she had let him explain his thinking, she would have realized that he was saying he was upset because on the pictograph it clearly got the least votes for favorite cookie. I find that I do this myself as a teacher and am working on slowing down time and noticing what Ballenger points out is so important to notice in the moment.
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