Engaging Kindergarten �Students in Discussion
Alexis Brock- Kindergarten Teacher
About myself:
Alexis Brock- Kindergarten Teacher
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The � Problem
Kindergarten students struggle to have successful discussion.
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During my observation of my kindergarten students, I noticed that students do not understand proper ways to have a discussion in the classroom. Some of these issues include... not participating at all, not staying on topic, and being disrespectful to other students' thoughts and ideas.
Kindergarteners are expected to meet common core speaking and listening standards. In order to meet these standards my class must take part in rich and structured conversations. There are so many learning benefits when students are engaged and can defend their positions, and be able to ask and answer questions.
Why?
Teacher Opinion
I believe this problem exists because this is the first year a lot of these students have ever been in a school setting. Students in kindergarten have never been given the opportunity to have discussion before this year. Kindergarteners are learning proper ways to communicate with their peers and are learning to deal with everyday emotion proper procedures and expectations. Discussion is a much more difficult concept.
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Student Inventory
I have a classroom of 18 kindergarteners. There are exactly 9 boys and 9 girls. Here are the results of the students' opinions on discussion:
33% of students said they don't know what to say
56% of students said they are too shy to speak up in class/discussions
14% of students said they enjoy discussion/ speaking up in class.
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Student Testimonial 1
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Student Testimonial 2
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The Solution
Speak-Up Stems
The idea I plan to test is speak up stems. By implementing this tool in my classroom, I believe they will learn to successfully engage in classroom conversations.
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What are Speak Up Stems��
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Possible Speak up Stems
Speak up Stem that keeps the discussion going
Speak Up Stems gives students the opportunity to respond in the form of complete sentences to communicate effectively. It provides them with a sentence starter and helps them correctly formulate a response while defending their positions. It allows students to respond and agree or disagree to their peers thoughts and ideas in a respectful manner.
How Will We Know?
ADD A FOOTER
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Thank You!
Alexis Brock
If it's true that speak-up stems promote active participation and engagement during classroom conversations I predict that our discussions will be more successful. Meaning they will stay on topic be able to form an opinion and respond to their peers in a respectful thoughtful manner. There is also a long term expectation with this tool. By engaging in these various topics students will yield more learning increasing students achievement My students will have more developed communication skills. and develop critical speaking and listening skills.