W and M ch. 10

I found so much good information it became hard for me to target one major idea in the text. I would like to address wait time, “saving face” and volunteering. Starting with wait time, we all have been in an instance where a teacher or professor has asked a question and expected an immediate response. Sometimes it takes a few seconds, minutes or a whole discussion to figure out how one feels about a certain topic or question. It is increasingly important for us, as new teachers, to realize that sometimes students need to think about it before they can construct an answer. In ch. 10 they talk about how it can be hard to stand in front of a classroom and pose a question while students just look back with blank faces. Students need time to think and teachers need to give them that time. However, sometimes, the case may be that the question was too hard, it needs to be reworded, or simply dropped. There are some questions that will receive no responses. It is stated that after a point in time momentum will be lost as well as the groups attention. Finding that medium is quite the challenge for a teacher.

“Saving Face” became a part of all of our lives at some point or another. Sometimes a student will be called on and they will have no idea of the answer. Instead of picking someone else or letting the student fail, there are a few other options. As a teacher we can ask questions guiding them to the answer, or a simpler way, have them choose a friend to help them with the answer. These techniques can help students in so many ways. Students never want to look wrong in front of their peers, especially at such a young age. By helping them along the way, or having them pick a friend to help they are still learning, and they are keeping their pride.

To start I should say that volunteers in the classroom are great, however, Weinstein and Mignano point out that they don’t necessarily represent the whole class. Just because a volunteer understands the material doesn’t mean that Victoria in the back of the class understands. One technique could be for the teacher to choose the volunteer, so that they feel useful and can still participate (which we know enhances learning), and then choose another student (perhaps a non-volunteer) to restate what the person before said. That way they are participating as well, they are listening, and they are learning by rewording what someone else has already said. If the student cannot reword it, the teacher will be able to better address what might be a whole class misunderstanding.