Teacher Inquiry Blog Post 3

This year I added Extended Discussion into my practice. I did this through the use of Extended Discussion job cards. These meant the learners were able to take certain roles in the discussions to ensure it was student led. These cards included the leader, questioner, answerer, disagreer and repeater. Each learner had a role. Below are the description cards for each role. They have prompts on the cards which many of the learners revert back to when they need help. 

Another card that has been included in extended discussion was the "because" and "I need time to think" cards. These have been great when prompting the students expand on their ideas and to give them time to listen and form their own idea. "I need time to think" has been great for those who take longer to process and lack confidence. It allows them time to listen to others and agree with their idea or state their own opinion. They responded brilliantly to this and often remind me I need to get the help cards if I forget.

In each group we discussed our expectations before we started our extended discussion. If needed, we included the "talking pen" or "talking ball". This meant the learners were able to listen to each other and showed each other respect. This was an addition after noticing that some groups were not focused on the speaker.

The learners have loved using Extended Discussion in their reading. Often changing their roles and trying new ones. This has built more confidence with my learners, especially those how struggle to hold discussions with their peers. 

As I have been away for four weeks, the learners used their initiative to use the extended discussion cards while I have been absent. This has been great as they have been able to run part of their own guided reading sessions during this time. We have building up to this throughout the past term, so to hear they have been able to do this better is amazing.

One thing that didn't work or the learners found difficult was the role of the disagreer. They were trying to disagree with everything said by the other learners which didn't work most of the time. It just didn't make sense. In order to help this, I have now placed it in the middle of the group to use when they deem appropriate. There is no one person with this designated job. So far this has helped.

I will be  adding a written version of their expectations and laminating this. Hopefully this will help combat the talking amongst themselves during the group discussions.

So far I have thoroughly enjoyed this inquiry and have learnt so much in my own practice. I look forward to seeing the progress of the learners throughout.