Discussions

• After reading the Almasi article on A New View of Discussion, I realized that my teacher uses mostly a recitation approach to discussions. There are active discussions that happen all across the subjects, but for the most part they are lead by the teacher, with mostly a IRE approach as was discussed in the article. My mentor teacher mostly asks questions that have specific answers, and when there is someone in the discussion other than herself that acts as a inquisitor, she offers the explanation instead of going to the other students for potential ideas.
•  Looking back on some of the discussions we have had in the class, particularly one last week when we were talking about Martin Luther King Jr., I realize that with quick easy modifications from the teacher in terms of how much she was contributing, what types of questions she was asking/wanted answered, that this could have become a discussion instead of a recitation. 
• For example, the students were making connections from their selves to the text, with one student asking "So where were all the Mexicans at during this time?"  (making a connection to the fact that he was part Mexican). The teacher simply answered the question to the best of her ability. I feel as if this could have been an opportunity to get the other students involved in a discussion, asking their opinions on segregation and what not. During this discussion there wasn't much of a collaborative attempt to construct meaning, mainly questions being posed and answered by the students.
•  The teacher could does do a good job of getting everyone involved with answering questions during recitations but doesn't ask the questions that promote rich discussions such as, Why? How does that make you feel? What do you think about that? Who has something to say? The students in my classroom are a very talkative bunch and could really benifit and would get a lot from more discussions and exploring each others thoughts and ideas.