Sunday, February 6, 2011
Discussion: Week 5 Readings
I think the article about a new view of discussion by Almasi is very beneficial for educators to read and be aware of. The new form of discussion is defined as, “Individuals collaboratively construct meaning or consider alternate interpretations of the text in order to arrive at new understandings.” This form of discussion is very beneficial as compared to the traditional form of discussion, which is referred to in the article as recitation. I have been involved in both discussion and recitation in the classroom and as the article states discussion is a much more beneficial way for students to interact with the text. In high school when I was involved in recitation I felt a lot like Corrine who mentioned in the article that the reason her class as discussions is so the kids who go to the bathroom can know what they missed. Recitation is boring for students and goes over the main points of the text. This type of discussion is teacher run and asks the students literal questions, which is not engaging and does not allow students to think critically. The new form of discussion focuses on interaction between students and the text. The main goal is for the students to have a deeper meaning of the text and to be able to connect it to their daily lives. An activity that I remember doing in college that reminds me of the new form of discussion is in my English 210 class we had to get in small groups and discuss what we thought the meaning of the book was and why the author chose to do the things they did. We did this for every book and it helped me have a deeper understanding of the book. I think it is important that teachers know the difference between recitation and discussion because in order for students to be fully literate they should be able to pull the deep meaning out of texts.
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Jessica,
ReplyDeleteYour post made me reflect on my time spent in Eng 210 as well. However, we held our discussions as a class instead of in smaller groups but I think it's safe to assume we got similar results. But its interesting to think that I don't remember the exact play by play of any of the books but I do remember a lot of the meanings that came out of them. And that's the important part, isn't it? It's not necessary to remember every event in what order but to remember the theme or why events happened in the way they did.
Thanks for sharing!
Melody
I think one important point you bring up is that recitation is boring. I, too, have experienced mostly this type of discussion when observing or partaking in classroom discussion. This definitely does not allow students to engage with the text. I think that discussions need to be less about evaluation or simply expressing thoughts. It should connect thoughts which lead to new ideas and new ways of thinking. When student actively engage with the text and with each other that is when meaningful learning is taking place. An excellant example of this is in your ENG210 class you mentioned.
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