Allie Hughes

Project 3: Expanding Instructional Repertoire

Part One: Proposal

My overall teaching stance and philosophy heavily relies and focuses on student talk.

This stance requires more student-led discussions and opportunities where students voices are

heard. It allows for coteaching to be a focus in the classroom. Emdin describes when coteaching

is demonstrated in the classroom, students develop the agency or power to act in ways that

challenge the oppression they are often conditioned to be silent about. (92) In my classroom,

students will directly benefit from this. Being able to present their own thoughts that they are

passionate about makes them an active participant in the classroom. They are showing their

power. The population of my classes has a variety of cultures, home lives, economic status, and

upbringing. By giving the students a time and place for them to discuss their ideas, they will

display agency in the classroom. For this to occur, I must make the classroom a safe place where

students feel comfortable enough to share their own thoughts and talk about the things they feel

they need to be silent about. Without this safe space notion, students will not feel comfortable

enough to open up and discuss their authentic thoughts on a variety of topics. In my classroom,

the main student engagement problem is lack of participation during the discussion times.

Students in my class are sometimes disruptive and talk during inappropriate times or they simply

do not participate at all. Earlier in my internship year, I planned for a group discussion over the

book we were reading. I prepared students by giving them time to compose their thoughts to

essential questions that we have discussed throughout out the novel. During the discussion, there
was an extreme lack of participation. Students were not open to sharing their ideas without being

called on. Instead of the student led discussion I had hoped for, it because a teacher led

discussion where I would ask the questions and they would answer. As the discussion was taking

place, I realized that I needed to prepare them to talk and explain their ideas to each other. Most

of them only talked to the 2-3 people who are near them in the seating chart or their 2-3 friends

in the class. I had to make a change before the next discussion because I knew it would not be

successful if they were unable to share their ideas with each other.

I think that by providing students with adequate preparation time to work on discussion

topics and implementing an inside/outside circle speed dating discussion, students will feel safe

and actively participate. This will create a lower stakes discussion so students can practice

talking one on one and presenting their ideas to a peer. The speed dating discussion will only last

about 2-3 minutes. After the time is up, the inside circle will rotate to the next person. This will

then start an entirely new discussion and the students will be able to learn from their last

discussion on how they can edit their thoughts for their current one. By providing students with

time to practice talking to peers, presenting ideas, displaying their evidence, and collaborating

with each other, it will help students in future discussions. Hopefully they will not be shy when

presenting information to the class. This small circle discussion will be a beginning step that

allows for students to talk with their peers out of their normal group and still practice presenting

their thoughts. Setting time ahead of the discussion to talk about it gives the students time to

gather their thoughts. Student motivation and engagement will directly be impacted because the

student talk will be less disruptive and more for instructional and educational gains. Providing

students with a mock discussion simulation can also directly impact their next discussion

positively. If they witness the manners and ways to talk with each other, they will feel more at
peace with leading the class discussion. The learning goals of this approach is to increase student

talk. It is also in place to increase the talk between student and student. When students can in

turn hold an educational discussion with each other, that is when coteaching occurs. Students

become the learners from their peers and classmates. My approach to plan for preparation before

the discussion will further my goals of coteaching in the classroom.

I chose the lack of student talk for this project because I believe it is a problem that most

teachers have. Whether the teacher is a novice or a veteran, this is something that is always

problematic. Throughout my time at MSU, the idea of classroom community and creating a safe

space was heavily promoted. I personally try to strive for this every day. For some, it is harder

than it seems. Being able to try new ways to positively affect this notion will be extremely

beneficial. All students are different which makes all classrooms, even class periods, different.

The hypothesis I presented about ways to incorporate appropriately timed student dialogue in the

classroom should directly help this notion of coteaching in the classroom.

Part Two: Action Plan

I plan to implement a speed dating discussion. I will number students off and put them

into two groups. One group will form the outside of the circle while the other group will be on

the inside of the circle. Students will line up facing each other and talk about the topic provided.

They will have 2-3 minutes to discuss both of their topics and then we will rotate to the next pair

where they will repeat the steps. I believe that to prepare students to participate in a discussion,

they must first be comfortable discussing with all peers in the classroom. In previous discussion,

I feel as if students were not participating because they were not prepared to speak in front of the

class. By doing this inside/outside circle discussion, students will become prepared. The dialogue
between the two individual speakers will be richer and authentic. This preparation will prepare

students for the discussion and give them adequate time to practice. They will practice what it is

like to disagree with someone and how to turn that into an engaging discussion. The pre-

activities will give students the preparation they need to complete an educational Socratic

seminar. For example, each student will be required to answer a question presented at the

beginning of class. They will write their answers on a notecard. After all students have answered

the question based on their own opinions is when we will start the circle discussion. Whether

they read straight from their notecard or elaborate more on their ideas, they need to clearly speak

to their group members. This is a good idea to get students talking to each other and lose that fear

of public speaking. The smaller group forum makes for a low stakes discussion. I will model this

to my students by completing something like this. I will ask for other teachers or volunteer

students to come to the front of the room and enact exactly what the students should be doing.

This approach will force me to maximize my classroom management skills. I must be focused on

up to 10 groups at a time. Identifying students who are not actively participating can be a

difficult aspect. I expect to see some students not using the allotted time wisely. I may have to

add more questions to the initial question or topic so students have enough time to discuss.

According to Content-Area Discussions, No classroom will change overnight from one

dominated by teacher talk to one that is filled with high levels of academic discourse. After all, in

many cases our students arrive at our doors with years of experience remaining quiet while the

teacher does all of the workLike all other aspects of learning, it takes time, repetition, and

scaffolded instruction for them to learn how to engage in sophisticated classroom discussions.

Students are accustomed to listen to the teacher and by forcing them to be the ones talking will

push them out of their comfort zone. Some students might shy away from the talk and get off
task. Once identifying those students, I will have to make it clear to them that a Socratic seminar

is necessary and this is great practice for that upcoming discussion. Students in my classes are

comfortable staying within their comfort zone. Forcing them to leave that comfort zone will

directly assist the classroom discussion.

This plan will be feasible in my teaching context because it is something that students can

always go back to. Students will understand what it is like to talk to their peers. My students

have to complete many discussions in the future for not only my class, but for their other core

subjects as well. I am excited to see how this action plan affects student talk in future

discussions. This pre-discussion activity should directly assist the lack of student talk that I have

mentioned in my proposal.

Part Three: Evaluation of Efforts

The three forms of evidence I will collect to evaluate my efforts will be the video

recording, student survey, and a map of where I am throughout the lesson in relation to my

students. I plan to use the video to identify what all students are doing in the classroom and how

well they are completing the pre-discussion activity. I believe that the video will show the

engagement of the students and directly produce positive and useful feedback. Seeing how the

students are working together is the key for this activity. Also, along with the video, I believe the

diagram map with demonstrate where I am at throughout the lesson. Taking a closer look at

where I am around the classroom will show if I am participating with students, answering

questions, and identifying their needs. Together with the video, the diagram will act as a second

layer. Combining both the video, which will closely monitor the students, and the diagram,

which will closely monitor myself, I will be able to gain feedback that is helpful. The video will
show me concrete evidence of how the students are responding to my lesson and how prepared

they are to start the class discussion afterwards.

As well as monitoring my own movements around the classroom, I plan to gain feedback

from both my mentor teacher and the students. I want to give the students a survey before about

their willingness to participate in a group discussion and see how that changes after the activity.

Their feedback will be completely on how well the activity worked for them. This will act as an

exit slip to the activity. I will ask my mentor teacher to monitor classroom management and how

engaged the students are throughout this instruction. I believe that a combination of all forms of

feedback will assist in evaluating my efforts in this activity. These forms of data will show

different types of information about my activity and lesson goal. I will get a well-rounded variety

of feedback to view for my part for of the project. I will be able to identify what went well and

what needed more help on. I am excited to see the video, movement tracker diagram, student

feedback, and mentor teacher feedback to alter my lesson for further usage.

My students and their parents have all signed a video consent form before for another

Michigan State class. They are accustomed to having a camera in the room because I have done

it before. I do not believe they will be acting differently because of the camera or mentor teacher

observing in the room.

After watching the video, I was not able to monitor my movements in the classroom like

I had hoped. A student blocked the recording camera and I did not catch it until after the time

provided for the discussion. Although I was unable to monitor my movements, I was able to

collect student and mentor teacher feedback. Overall, the students felt like they gained so much

more from this activity. Afterwards, students asked me, Can we do this again before our next

discussion? I was ecstatic to hear the positive remarks and I was extremely eager to read the
feedback that the students would mention on the survey. The day before the discussion I asked

students to answer a question regarding their willingness to participate in a group discussion and

why. 1 meant that they would not volunteer for a class discussion even if it was for a grade and

10 meaning they would actively be engaging with the talk of their peers, respond respectfully,

and discuss their own thoughts without being hesitant. Over 80% of the class was below a 5. The

other 20% of the class was scattered between 6-10. Only 2 people circled the 10 and 1 person

circled the 9. This was astounding to me. I knew that my students were very hesitant to

participate but I was unaware of those numbers. After the Inside/Outside Circle pre-discussion I

gave students the same survey and asked them to leave comments on what they liked and what

they didnt like of the lesson. After the discussion, the numbers rose significantly. Now 80% of

the class was between a 4 and 9. I thought this was amazing. I know that if I continue to do this

pre-discussion activity that students will continue to raise their numbers to a 10. While reading

some of the comments, I was glad to hear what students had to say. Some of the comments that

were said are listed below:

- I liked that I didnt just have to talk to my friends. I am extremely shy and I think by

talking to people I do not normally talk to will help me for more talking in the class.
- This is the only class we practice how to talk and how to share our ideas. I liked it.
- It helped me a lot.
- Im glad we could do this. I liked to talk to my friends but do it in a way that is for

school.

Some students still mentioned how they did not like taking. The students who did not have

extremely positive comments did show some positive ideas, for example, I still circled a 2

because I dont like talking. I dont want to participate with the full class but I liked the small

one-on-one talk. Although the person still circled a two, I know that if I plan for more small

group discussions that this person can raise their number!

around the room often and was able to stop in and talk with every group in the 2-3 minutes

provided. His only needs work comment was on the time frame. I was slightly inconsistent

with the time I gave to each group. I understand that I talked longer with each group during some

rotations causing the number to go over 3 minutes. By adding a timer to the front of the room, I

believe that this will help myself keep track of time, but also allow the students to identify how

much more time they have in each rotation.

https://mediaspace.msu.edu/media/Lesson+Plan+-+Inside-Outside+Circles/1_8sjtem6v

Part Four: Conclusion & Reflection

When implementing this pre-discussion activity, I hoped to prepare students to participate

in a full discussion in the future. I previously had a discussion that did not entirely engage the

students in my classroom. With this, I knew that the discussion preparation that I was executing

before was not particularly helpful. This exact activity would reach to a variety of student

learning types because they use a combination of skills. Not only are they speaking out loud, but

they are collaborating and producing their own ideas and information. By no means are my

students shy, but the thought of expressing your feelings in front of the whole class can be

extremely scary. After the first discussion did not go well, I hoped that another pre-discussion

activity would help. I hoped that students would be continuously talking in the time provided and

even engage further than the notes on their notecard. I set it up exactly how I wanted it to go. I

tied this speed dating discussion preparation into another close reading lesson of a song. I asked

students to take a notecard and write down their favorite song, genre, and why. They had to have

reasoning to back up their claim. I split the class into two different groups. Because our
classroom is oddly shaped, I asked students to help move the desks to the sides of the room. I

decided that it would be best if we formed two circles, an inside and an outside, to talk with each

other. Rather than letting students roam around the room to find partners, I knew that this would

be less chaotic and not allow for students to only find their close friends to talk to. The good

news is that students were talking. Students were engaging in meaningful discussions with peers

who they would not normally talk to. As I was walking around the room, I could hear students

responding to their peers and asking new questions that branched the previous questions and

answers they had on their notecard. Without even knowing it, the students were participating in a

collaborative dialogue with whichever student was in front of them at that time. The only bad

things that happened were some groups were off task. Some groups did not use the full 2-minute

period to talk with the students across from them. The only solution to this would be to require

students to write more on their notecards. Having each student come to the pre-discussion

activity with more information and more questions presented might assist in the student talk.

Overall, I do think the good outweighs the bad. Students were up out of their seat using their

speaking skills. Students were making claims and defending their own position on their favorite

song. If I were to do this again, I would do it often throughout the year. It can be a quick way to

have students talk about their journal prompts at the beginning of class, essential questions from

the text, their thesis statements for an upcoming paper, or even just about their weekend. Another

way to implement this activity would be to set the desks up in a row and having students sit on

both sides of the desk. Each stop they would be looking across the desk to their partner. One side

of the row will always move, forcing students to talk to a new student each time. This might be

less chaotic and allow for a more personal discussion setting. I know that I will change this

activity each time I implement it, but I believe that if students are becoming familiar with
everyone in the class, then it is a successful activity. In this specific example, students were

engaged with each other, talking about their favorite songs, and talking with new peers out of

their friend/comfort zone.

After reviewing the student collected surveys, I noticed that students did like this activity.

Student 1 wrote, I enjoyed doing this because I was able to share my opinions. Im not sure if it

will help me for a final discussion, but I was able to practice talking and we dont normally do

that in classes. Student 2 wrote, I liked this. Sometimes I wanted to talk longer than the 2

minutes that Ms. H. gave us. Per the students, they enjoyed it. Also, I could see how I moved

throughout the room in the beginning of the activity. Along with the previously stated data

collections, I was also able to use my mentor teachers feedback. With both his feedback and the

video feedback, I was able to identify that my directions were not as clear as I had hoped. I think

for next time I will do more of a demonstration like I mentioned in my Action Plan. I wish I

could have executed it and the directions slightly better than I actually did. Due to a student

getting in the way of the camera, I was unable to continually watch myself. I believe that the

more I moved around, the more I was holding students accountable. No one wanted to be the

couple that was not talking when I was near them.

I hypothesized that this will positively affect student talk in the classroom. The

inside/outside circles showed great promise and throughout the rest of the class I could see that

the students were more willing to share ideas, make claims, and back up their claims using

thoughtful evidence. Looking at my conclusion of how everything went, I already stated some

new things I would change for next time. I think that adding a clearer instruction will assist

students in the collaboration efforts. They will have more time to talk and be more comfortable
in talking. Using a timer on the board will display how much more time students have to talk and

can help them use their time wisely to make sure both partners have time to discuss.

What I hypothesized and what actually happened were extremely close. I saw the results I

was hoping for, and with a little tweaks/alterations, I believe that this can be an even more

successful pre-discussion activity.