As part of their projects, groups were given the challenge to find 3 people who they could share their aims and intentions of their projects with. When they were first given this challenge a week ago, about two thirds of the class took it which was positive to see. Sadly, the ones who did not engage with the task were the quiet and shy ones of the groups. I wondered if they knew how to approach people and ask them questions. I assumed when we put the challenge out, that students could just 'do it'. I decided to put together a short presentation giving students clues as to how to introduce themselves to a new person and how to continue a conversation going.
Lesson:
I reminded the class of the challenge from the previous week. I talked to the class about the importance of knowing the skills as it may not come natural to some students.
I modelled an example of good conversation skills with Karl and another student in the front of the class. I got them to practice in pairs then some groups had the opportunity to practice with real people.
I then wanted students to write down how would draft an email as it was another way to communicate with people. These instructions were written on the board.
Outcome:
Quite positive overall. I observed 2 to 3 students in some groups still not fully participating and approached them quietly to see how they were. I could tell that they found it difficult not because they didn't know what to do, but were afraid of not knowing what to say back to other people. I need to think about strategies that will not be too overwhelming for the shy students but would hopefully support them better in approaching others when they need to. On reflection, I feel I need to be more clear and definitive in what skills I want the kids to learn when it comes to interviewing. I think I need to look specifically at the Talanoa as a tool that be more scaffolding and supportive of the kids and their learning.
The photo shows a few students in team DonkCorn presenting their project brainstorm.
Something that I have found particularly profound with remote teaching and learning, is that communication has to be articulated in great detail in order to be understood for everybody involved in the conversation. I have found that I am using visual cues through the hangout itself, chat responses to demonstrate understanding, and encouraging students to present their work often, in order to gain a shared understanding of tasks and the requirements of tasks. It is almost as though the need to be understood, has meant that I have had to refine my communication skills as a teacher, and my students have had to refine their communication skills as learners, when we are face to face in the classroom. Have you found this at all in your online teaching experiences?
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