It is just a question, that does not mean anything is incorrect.
It is late on Thanksgiving evening and one thing I am thankful for is not having a stack of papers to grade while on break. It is one of the many positives that comes with using Oral Defense (thanks @edunators) as one of my assessment vehicles (term via@rickwormeli).
About 2 weeks ago my students received their new objective for the section. We did some close reading, small group discussion, watched a video and read an article with a reading guide. While I attended the National Council of Social Studies Conference my students started on choice activities based on DI and the target. (My middle school has block scheduling and A-B days. I see half of the 7th grade for 90 minutes on A days and the other half on B days. That is why it has taken me 2 weeks to get to this point). The two days before Thanksgiving break the students started oral defense, rather I started oral defense. As the students were finishing up their choice projects, I walked around the room and asked about the activities. My question was basically asking each one the target but I framed it around their activity. For instance if a student was writing about Winnie Pooh and the scarcity of honey, I asked them to explain the basic concepts of economics using Winnie the Pooh.
Even after 10 years of teaching their reactions to the questions took me back a little. The students knew they were to be graded using oral defense, they new it was coming and it was happening. The reaction by the students after I asked the question was they had done something wrong, something incorrect. The students back pedaled, said "I thought," "Was I not suppose to use a cartoon character," "Is opportunity cost used wrong?" It was not just a few students doing this, it was the majority.
I noticed the same thing happens when I ask a them to go deeper on an answer. I cold call or use a randomizer on the Smartboard for discussions in class. If a student gives a straight answer to a question I follow up with "why do you think that..." or "Explain how you came to...." and "Can you give more details?" I have found the students shut down, they think again their answer was wrong. This is definitely not the case. It does not matter if it is correct or incorrect, I want to know their thinking.
Who has broken my students? Where did they get idea that when someone asks a question it means they are wrong? Explaining to them before a discussion or before I ask question that it does not mean they did anything wrong doesn't seem to reassure them. Is it educational confidence, is it low in my students? How do I bring it back up?
My oral defense has be come defensive but not the defensive I was hoping to find. I want to them to defend that they learned the target, not defend how they showed me what they have learned.
On Monday morning before I finish up asking the students their questions, I will once again explain, it does not mean anything is wrong. I will make sure to give them a smile, say something positive, give a fist bump or a high five or anything to boost their educational confidence. As their year goes on, as I push the students to go deeper in their answers, and make sure to give the proper encouragement, I will begin to see an increase in defending what they have learned not what they have done.
Coming soon....NCSS 2013-Oliver Stone, racing to sessions, finding a place to charge and why was no one on Twitter (seriously, there was like 10 total and either I already knew them or eventually met them!0
About 2 weeks ago my students received their new objective for the section. We did some close reading, small group discussion, watched a video and read an article with a reading guide. While I attended the National Council of Social Studies Conference my students started on choice activities based on DI and the target. (My middle school has block scheduling and A-B days. I see half of the 7th grade for 90 minutes on A days and the other half on B days. That is why it has taken me 2 weeks to get to this point). The two days before Thanksgiving break the students started oral defense, rather I started oral defense. As the students were finishing up their choice projects, I walked around the room and asked about the activities. My question was basically asking each one the target but I framed it around their activity. For instance if a student was writing about Winnie Pooh and the scarcity of honey, I asked them to explain the basic concepts of economics using Winnie the Pooh.
Even after 10 years of teaching their reactions to the questions took me back a little. The students knew they were to be graded using oral defense, they new it was coming and it was happening. The reaction by the students after I asked the question was they had done something wrong, something incorrect. The students back pedaled, said "I thought," "Was I not suppose to use a cartoon character," "Is opportunity cost used wrong?" It was not just a few students doing this, it was the majority.
I noticed the same thing happens when I ask a them to go deeper on an answer. I cold call or use a randomizer on the Smartboard for discussions in class. If a student gives a straight answer to a question I follow up with "why do you think that..." or "Explain how you came to...." and "Can you give more details?" I have found the students shut down, they think again their answer was wrong. This is definitely not the case. It does not matter if it is correct or incorrect, I want to know their thinking.
Who has broken my students? Where did they get idea that when someone asks a question it means they are wrong? Explaining to them before a discussion or before I ask question that it does not mean they did anything wrong doesn't seem to reassure them. Is it educational confidence, is it low in my students? How do I bring it back up?
My oral defense has be come defensive but not the defensive I was hoping to find. I want to them to defend that they learned the target, not defend how they showed me what they have learned.
On Monday morning before I finish up asking the students their questions, I will once again explain, it does not mean anything is wrong. I will make sure to give them a smile, say something positive, give a fist bump or a high five or anything to boost their educational confidence. As their year goes on, as I push the students to go deeper in their answers, and make sure to give the proper encouragement, I will begin to see an increase in defending what they have learned not what they have done.
Coming soon....NCSS 2013-Oliver Stone, racing to sessions, finding a place to charge and why was no one on Twitter (seriously, there was like 10 total and either I already knew them or eventually met them!0
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