ERM journal question 2.

2. Describe the interactions between the teacher and students. Is conversational learning evident? Explain.

            The interactions between the students and teacher are great. They seem to have a great deal of respect for each other and the students seem well behaved. The relationship they have is great. If the aspect of a caring community of learners is not there then the children will be completely unmotivated to learn. Today I have been really paying attention to their interactions. At the beginning of the day the children came in, said hello to their teacher, showed her different pieces of artwork, their drawings, completed forms, etc, then they got their breakfast and sat at their assigned seats. After breakfast they read the morning assignment off of the smartboard. One child asked the teacher what to do before she took time to look at the board and instead of the teacher just saying look at the board she said, “how can you help yourself?” The student looked at the board and realized that there was an assignment on the board. I like how the teacher made the child think and come up with a solution to her not knowing what to do instead of just telling her the assignment. Mrs. Afeld (my practicum teacher) does not make it easy on her children, she challenges them to use their brain and not rely on others.

            I have seen conversational learning everyday at “carpet time”. Everyday the children go to the carpet and sit around Mrs. Afeld while she reads a new book, talks and shares about a previous assignment, or discuss an activity. On this particular day she read a book called “Those Shoes”, a book about a boy who really wants a pair of shoes that all the kids at school seem to be wearing. Though Jeremy’s grandma says that they don’t have room to buy “wants” just “needs” Jeremy is determined to have a pair of those shoes. He sees these cool shoes at a thrift store and buys them even though they are too small he still gets them. Jeremy soon realizes that warm boots, a loving grandmother and the chance to help a friend are far more important than “being cool”. Throughout this story Mrs. Afeld took time to stop and discuss each aspect of the story. They stopped and talked about needs vs. wants and the children listed some of each. She encouraged to them to make connections to their own lives as they read the story. She started out by telling the children to feel free to ask any questions about the story as she read. She said because, “What’s the point of reading IF…..” and they answered “We don’t understand.” This shows me that they are being encouraged to read not just to read but to understand and make meaning of what they are reading.

             This classroom is a talking classroom; they talk about everything. They use their conversation as a learning tool. The teacher will have them periodically stop while reading a book and turn to their partner and share a connection that they have made to the story, or stop and share the picture in their head, or what the page they are reading reminds them of. These connections they are making are solidifying the story in their minds by tying different elements of the story to real life occurrences.  It is evident that during reading they are using conversational learning, I wish I could see a whole day and observe how conversational learning is used within each subject area.