{"id":846,"date":"2014-03-05T22:28:45","date_gmt":"2014-03-05T22:28:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carmelschettino.com\/wp\/?p=846"},"modified":"2014-03-06T18:53:55","modified_gmt":"2014-03-06T18:53:55","slug":"having-student-be-more-aware-of-their-contributions-in-pbl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carmelschettino.com\/dev0418\/2014\/03\/05\/having-student-be-more-aware-of-their-contributions-in-pbl\/","title":{"rendered":"Having Students Be More Aware of their Contributions in PBL"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the things I do at the middle of the term to have students reflect on the way that they talk about mathematics in class, is have them evaluate their work with my\u00a0Student Self-Report on Class Contribution<\/a>\u00a0and I give them detailed feedback on their rankings of each type of question and what I think about their work so far. \u00a0But what I’ve found in the past is that it’s hard for them to remember specific examples of when they “helped to support the point by contributing evidence” or “raised a problem in another person’s solution” weeks or days after the fact. \u00a0Students have so much to think about during a class period that it really needs to be “in the moment” for them to be deliberately thinking about what they are doing and saying to each other.<\/p>\n

So I had this idea that I would actually have them keep track of the types of questions and comments they made to each other over a five day period at the end of the term and then hand it in to me. \u00a0This way they would check off each category of question or comment at the moment when they did it. \u00a0So I made copies of this table of\u00a0Student Analysis of Contribution<\/a>\u00a0and had them keep it on their desks while we were discussing topics or problems in class. \u00a0They had to have something to write with while they were talking and taking notes too.<\/p>\n

Initially the students were very concerned about how they were going to tell the difference between each of the types of contributions. \u00a0But little by little, it became easier. \u00a0These categories were not arbitrary, they happened all the time, they just hadn’t really thought about it before. \u00a0 For example, when a student presented a problem but had made an error and didn’t know it, another student usually “raised a complication in another person’s soltuion” or “pointed out an unspoken assumption or misunderstanding.” \u00a0These are important contributions that they were making every day about mathematics and are important critical thinking skills they didn’t even realize they were developing. \u00a0I just wanted to help them be more specific about realizing it.<\/p>\n

The first day we did this I heard some students say something like, “Ooh, I just…(brief pause while looking at the table)… ‘started the group discussion on a rich, productive track by posing a detailed question.” with pride and excitement (and maybe a little sarcasm). \u00a0But after three days of doing it, and students seeing that they had places that they could check off, one student actually said, “I think that this table makes our conversations more interesting.”<\/p>\n

Here are some samples of student feedback:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Quiet student who needs to work on all types of comments and questions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This first respondent is a student is very quiet, and she knows it. \u00a0She rarely speaks in class, but is actively listening. \u00a0I’ve spoken to her about why she does not ask questions or share her ideas in class and she says that she is afraid of being wrong in front of everyone. \u00a0My hope all year has been that seeing everyone else be wrong regularly would eventually show her how acceptable it was in class. \u00a0It was clear that using this table showed her that there are many different ways to contribute to class discussion. \u00a0When she presented her problems in class (which she will do when asked) she is very capable and knows that she is contributing evidence or examples, but she rarely questions others’ work. \u00a0I do remember the time when she “built on” what was said by asking a question about someone else’s solution. \u00a0She also sometimes asks for clarification of her own understanding, but I know that she’s capable of more. \u00a0I struggle with how to encourage her to get more out of class discussion, but at least now she knows how important a role she can play.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Outgoing student who lacks interaction from other kids<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is a really interesting student who is quite inquisitive and very comfortable with sharing his ideas. \u00a0When he has a question or comment, it’s very easy to get him to go to the board and naturally start writing another idea or possible solution method. \u00a0However, I noticed was missing in his table were checks in the two rows that had to do with “inviting others” into his thought process and also making comments on others’ solutions and ideas. \u00a0It made me wonder how much time in class he spends listening to other students talking<\/strong> or if he is just listening to his own ideas in his own mind. \u00a0I am working on trying to get him to collaborate more – with his creative mind it would behoove him to start interacting more with others.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Outgoing student who is unaware of his effect on others<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This table belongs to a student who really has overestimated his contributions to class. \u00a0He definitely spends a lot of time talking (and hence I spend a lot of time managing his unrelated talking unfortunately) and thinks that talking – any kind of talking – is useful and contributing to class discussion. \u00a0One of the things I have talked to him about is the idea of active listening<\/strong> and how important not speaking can be. \u00a0He has not yet caught onto the idea of being respectful while listening, and still is considering his next talking move while others are trying to make their points. \u00a0It will be a difficult discussion, but a necessary one for this young man to grow in important ways. \u00a0At least I now have this chart to refer to when I have that discussion.<\/p>\n

So was this exercise everything I had hoped? \u00a0Not really – but it definitely had some great highlights. \u00a0Class discussion was very exciting and interesting while students were aware and deliberate knowing the different types of ways in which they could contribute. \u00a0Knowing that they had to hand this table in to me in 5 days was putting the onus on them to show that they had or had not fulfilled what I had observed of them in class. \u00a0I do believe they learned a lot about what they were capable of. \u00a0I do believe I would do it again.<\/p>\n\n

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One of the things I do at the middle of the term to have students reflect on the way that they talk about mathematics in class, is have them evaluate their work with my\u00a0Student Self-Report on Class Contribution\u00a0and I give them detailed feedback on their rankings of each type of question and what I think […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,111,11,17,19],"tags":[66,105],"class_list":["post-846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agency","category-assessment","category-in-the-classroom","category-other-resources","category-relational-pedagogy","tag-classroom-discourse","tag-relational-pedagogy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelschettino.com\/dev0418\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelschettino.com\/dev0418\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelschettino.com\/dev0418\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelschettino.com\/dev0418\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelschettino.com\/dev0418\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=846"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelschettino.com\/dev0418\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":868,"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelschettino.com\/dev0418\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846\/revisions\/868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelschettino.com\/dev0418\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelschettino.com\/dev0418\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelschettino.com\/dev0418\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}