12/16/2017 0 Comments Comfortable & Challenging: Higher Order THinking and Discussions in the classroom
The students know my favorite questions are "why?" and "how do you know?" I always teach them how to listen to each other, follow up someone else's statement, disagree respectfully, and make the conversation go deeper. We discuss what it takes to make each other feel safe during discussions, because we debate ideas, not people. Then I spend the majority of my time asking probing questions to deepen the conversation. I make them go back to the text for evidence. I don't give them the answers, I give them more questions. On a good day, we all leave feeling like our brains hurt from thinking. We love it! They always tease me that for someone who needs structure and organization, I sure do change things a lot. I use a variety of discussion strategies to get them all to have a voice in the conversation. These are some of my favorites, with links to more options for you to try as well.
Finally, I shared this great resource with my teachers about different discussion strategies. Check it out from Cult of Pedagogy! Any time you can get students talking and thinking hard about academic things and justifying and questioning ideas, it's a win/win for all. The time will pass by so quickly and they will love every minute of the struggle. Set up the class environment to be safe for taking risks, teach them how to talk academically, then throw great questions at them and let them soar!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorA midwest teacher in love with creating awesome opportunities for students to think, communicate, and produce. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Comfortable-Classroom
Archives
August 2023
Categories |