“Stops”:
·
My first “stop” occurred when
the term “revoicing” was first defined (see below). I had never heard of the term, revoicing, and
I had to reread the definition a couple of times to engrain it more concretely
in my head so that I could recall it as it was discussed throughout the
reading. I also stopped to reflect on
how, or even if, I use revoicing in my own classroom.
. . .the
reuttering of another person’s speech through repetition, expansion,
rephrasing, and reporting.
· My second “stop” occurred after
reading the excerpt between Sammie, the teacher, and Charlie. Upon reading this, I gained a clearer
understanding of what revoicing meant, as the teacher essentially reworded what
the students were saying. However, I
noticed that the teacher also supplemented the students’ comments with specific
terminology that the students did not use.
On one side, I see this as being useful to connect the students’
thinking with what is being learned in the classroom at the time, and on the
other side I was thinking that we need to be very careful that we’re not
putting words into the students’ mouths.
Too often, as teachers, we make assumptions as to how a student came
about finding a solution to a problem.
Perhaps if the teacher were to ask more guiding/prompting questions, the
students would have come up with the terminology themselves.
·
My third “stop” was when a
teacher mentioned that they had used revoicing to catch a student who wasn’t
paying attention, by asking them to revoice what another student had just
said. The teacher had said that it helped
keep students paying attention during discussion time. I would be wary to use revoicing as a
consequence for not listening, as it could develop a negative connotation.
Questions to ask the author:
- · Would you suggest asking students to revoice what other students are saying (rather than the teacher doing the revoicing)? ß You answered my question further into the reading. . .Yes, it does seem to be a good idea!
- · Would you recommend that revoicing be used school-wide to help reinforce a common language, so that over the years the students begin to use the language themselves?
- · As a study group, did you practice revoicing yourselves when discussing readings, and your own classroom practices?
When reading your response I found myself stopping at your first "stop." I likewise felt it was imperative to really understand what the word meant in order to grapple with what you were explaining. I like the idea you raise about revoicing being something that needs to be practiced. I feel like it is a valuable experience to learn to explain the same thing in different ways, however, I also believe it to be a skill. We ask students all the time to when recording research, so why not do it with other things around the classroom. Lastly, I will definitely think twice before I start putting words into students mouths, because I do feel that is so easy to do. I do find it helpful sometimes however to introduce new vocabulary by renaming a students' thought. I really appreciate your questions at the end David because they were things that I had thought of or enjoyed thinking about at the end.
ReplyDeleteI personally think that revoicing is a multi-functional practice within a classroom. As suggested in the article that depending on the time of the day, the method of revoicing functions at its best in different ways. For example, in the morning, revoicing may be used as an icebreaker to elicit student interest and promote student participation. Throughout the day, it may be ideal to ask the students to practice revoicing amongst themselves in the form of class discussion. Perhaps, at the end of the day, the teacher may use revoicing for classroom management and wrap up activity. I have a question about your second question. You mentioned about school-wide practice of revoicing to build a common language. What do you mean by "common language"? Are you referring to an immersion environment or a cultural assimilation? However, I agree that revoicing is a very practical approach in everyday conversation whether in the classroom, the hallways, or amongst the staff. Revoicing demands the attention of the listener and helps the speaker to be understood. In such a sense, fostering revoicing school-wide is a wonderful way to build a stronger community where everyone's voice and opinion is valued.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the responses Jubilee and Phillipa! To answer you question Jubilee, by a school using common language in their math curriculum, all teachers, for example, would use the phrase 'regrouping' instead of 'borrowing'. This way there is less confusion when certain terminology is used.
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