Im Just A Teacher So What Do I Know

I chose this picture because this depicts how I think children feel when teachers stand in front of the class and lecture....all they here is....wahh wa wa wa wahhh....

Standard 5- Emphasizing dialogue over lecture

The final standard is challenging us to get out of the habit of “telling the students stuff, testing them, and then tell them more stuff”(course DVD). Instead of lecturing our students we need to be having dialogue with our students and begin to listen more than we talk. When we talk with students instead of talking to our students we are able to see more clearly what their needs are and better ways to assist them. Dr. Tharp suggests this is best done through implementation of small groups where the teacher is having an instructional conversation with approximately 5 students.

Strategy 15-Partner Work, is a great way to include more dialogue into your lessons. Through using partner work in your lessons you are able to have more conversations in the classroom. Teachers are able to visit these partnerships and asked leveled questions, which engages the students in even more dialogue.
I have tried to do away with the “lectures” in my classroom and have more whole class discussions. I have noticed through experience that students enjoy getting to talk with their teacher instead of sitting and listening for long periods of time. Another strategy that I utilize that encourages dialogue is choosing a couple of students to eat lunch with me and have what I like to call “lunch and learn”. I try to do this with my struggling students who need just a little extra one on one time. I have noticed that this is really effective with my ELL students as well. The students feel so special to have lunch with the teacher and they barely even notice they are learning in the process. It makes for great conversation with kids and I always learn so much about the kids as they feel more comfortable opening up to me in this type of setting.