PARTICIPATION GRADE
Explanation, Philosophy, Rational, and Grading of Participation in Classroom Discussions.
Explanation:
A part of a student’s report card is a section called Actively Engages in Learning and Contributes to the Learning Community, abbreviated, AEL. The grade for this section of the report card is determined by how often a student participates in class discussions.
Discussions in my classroom are conducted without the requirement that students raise their hand and wait to be called on in order to contribute to a conversation. This open discussion format does not mean, however, that students can speak at any time they choose thereby creating a shouting match. Students must follow proper social etiquette for discussions. This etiquette is to listen attentively to the person speaking and only contribute to the conversation after the previous speaker has finished. In the case where more than one student begins to speak at the same time, I teach students to quickly either yield to the other(s) or ask to go first.
Philosophy:
The purpose behind the open discussion format is to teach students how to have discussions that reflect real world situations, to teach conversation monopolizers how to yield, and to teach students how to participate in a discussion who; don’t want to, and/or don’t know how to, and/or don’t have the level of confidence needed.
Rational:
During discussions I keep a record of each time a student participates. This information can be found in The Martocchio Post. At the end of each week I use a Bell Curve to issue the EAL grades. Students at the far right side of the curve receive a 4 for exceeding the expectation for participation. Students on the right side of the peak of the curve receive a 3 for meeting the expectation for participation. Students on the left side of the peak of the curve receive a 2 for approaching the expectation for participation. Students who don’t participate will receive a 1 for beginning to progress towards the skills necessary in participation.
Explanation, Philosophy, Rational, and Grading of Participation in Classroom Discussions.
Explanation:
A part of a student’s report card is a section called Actively Engages in Learning and Contributes to the Learning Community, abbreviated, AEL. The grade for this section of the report card is determined by how often a student participates in class discussions.
Discussions in my classroom are conducted without the requirement that students raise their hand and wait to be called on in order to contribute to a conversation. This open discussion format does not mean, however, that students can speak at any time they choose thereby creating a shouting match. Students must follow proper social etiquette for discussions. This etiquette is to listen attentively to the person speaking and only contribute to the conversation after the previous speaker has finished. In the case where more than one student begins to speak at the same time, I teach students to quickly either yield to the other(s) or ask to go first.
Philosophy:
The purpose behind the open discussion format is to teach students how to have discussions that reflect real world situations, to teach conversation monopolizers how to yield, and to teach students how to participate in a discussion who; don’t want to, and/or don’t know how to, and/or don’t have the level of confidence needed.
Rational:
- People almost never have to raise their hand and wait to be called on outside of the classroom setting. Therefore, teaching students to only speak after raising their hand and waiting to be called on, is not teaching them real life skills.
- It is very difficult, and most of the time impossible, when students have their hand raised, for a teacher to know which student has the best information to continue the conversation in the proper direction. Either the teacher calls on the student that usually has appropriate and insightful thoughts, randomly calls on students using some method, or methodically calls on each student one at a time. These strategies can frequently fail because it is impossible to know what each child is thinking, the student that has the most relevant and insightful comments, don’t get called on, and/or students mentally leave the conversation knowing that it is not their turn to share or they will not have another turn to share. The teacher may call on a certain student only to find that the student only wanted to know what time recess occurs. When students are allowed to speak whenever they want, the student can contribute at the time when their thoughts best match the direction of the conversation.
- Students who know that they will only be called on once during a discussion because the teacher has a method to ensure that all students are called on, may mentally leave the conversation knowing that any additional thoughts they have will not be shared with the class because they already had their turn to share. When students know that they can contribute to a conversation whenever they have something relevant to share, they will stay engaged in the conversation and make timely and meaningful contributions.
- Students who are naturally talkative will learn how to avoid monopolizing conversations for their and the other student’s benefit. Have you ever been in a conversation with a person that won’t stop talking? You can’t respond to anything they say. You are effectively shut out of the conversation. You will most likely want to avoid any future encounters with them. I teach talkative students about the disadvantages of monopolizing conversations and how to prevent themselves from continuing in this behavior through watching body language, listening to others’ verbal attempts to interject into the conversation, and thinking about how much they have contributed to the conversation versus how much others have spoken.
- Students who are naturally quiet will learn how to contribute to a conversation. Have you ever been in a conversation where the other person did not have much to say other than the occasional “Yes.”, “No.”, “Fine.” etc.? You most likely found it hard to carry on the conversation and found the person uninteresting. I want to teach quiet students how to contribute to a conversation by listening to the other people speak and either asking follow up questions, asking for clarification, examples to support, more details to explain, agreeing with, disagreeing with, or adding to the comment of the previous speaker. I want them to practice the skill of contributing to a conversation so that when they get older they will be able to conduct a good college or job interview, make a new friend, ask someone out, participate in a work meeting, etc.
- Arguments Against The Open Discussion Format and Rebuttals.
- Argument: “My child won’t participate and will not pay attention to the discussion if they know that they will not be called on.” Rebuttal: If I notice a student who does not seem to be paying attention, I call on them and ask, “What do you think of that?” Students know that I might call on any student at any time and therefore stay engaged in the conversation. I also frequently remind students about the value of being able to contribute to a conversation.
- Argument: “My child can’t think of anything to say that relates to the conversation.” Rebuttal: I teach students that they can contribute to a conversation by; asking a question, answering a question (even if the answer is wrong or off topic), asking for clarification, asking to repeat what was said because they did not hear clearly or understand clearly, agreeing with what was just said, disagreeing with what was just said, or asking the previous speaker to prove or give examples of what they said, etc.
- Argument: “Someone already said what my child was going to say.” Rebuttal: In this case the student can simply say that they feel the same way or agree with the previous speaker, and then explain why.
- Argument: “Everyone is shouting out and my child can’t be heard.” Rebuttal: I do not allow students to shout over each other. I teach them how to share the floor by yielding to another student or to ask to go first. I closely monitor all discussions to make sure everyone is being polite and taking turns.
- Argument: “My child never gets a chance to participate.” Rebuttal: At the end of each phase of a discussion I let the room go silent. Then I ask, “Does anyone else have something to say?” I wait again to give anyone who has something else to say, their chance to speak. If no one says anything, I move on to the next topic of the discussion.
- Argument: “It would be better to have a system where each child is called upon in a discussion.” A system where every student is assured a time to contribute to the discussion will ensure that every student gets a good grade for participation.” Rebuttal: This system, however, will only accomplish this one goal at the cost of teaching the monopolizers how not to monopolize, the quiet, how to contribute, and all students, how to carry on a conversation by listening to others. In addition, a system where each child is called upon does not allow for the most timely and relevant information to be shared because it is impossible to know who has that information unless an open discussion format is used to allow that person to speak when it is most opportune. If a student knows that they will not be called on, they might mentally leave the conversation knowing that it is not their turn to share or they will not have another turn to share. The teacher may call on a certain student only to find that the student only wanted to know what time recess occurs. When students are allowed to speak whenever they want, the student can contribute at the time when their thoughts best match the direction of the conversation. Finally, such a system will cause students to always be dependent on a teacher or leader to call on them before they share and to facilitate discussions.
During discussions I keep a record of each time a student participates. This information can be found in The Martocchio Post. At the end of each week I use a Bell Curve to issue the EAL grades. Students at the far right side of the curve receive a 4 for exceeding the expectation for participation. Students on the right side of the peak of the curve receive a 3 for meeting the expectation for participation. Students on the left side of the peak of the curve receive a 2 for approaching the expectation for participation. Students who don’t participate will receive a 1 for beginning to progress towards the skills necessary in participation.