WNET / UCH Urban Academy
“Exploring Powerful Ideas Inquiry-Based Teaching: Discussing a Teachers Role”
ENCOURAGING MULTIPLE RESPONSES
(in class)
AVRAM BARLOWE:
Is taking the bed an act of freedom? Or is taking the bed an act of theft?
STUDENT:
Both.
STUDENT:
Both.
AVRAM BARLOWE:
Rio. Hold on. Rio and then Saloul.
RIO:
Because, you know, it’s sort of a civilized country and there’s laws and since they’re free they should obey those laws. I’m not saying that they shouldn’t get, you know, Reparations but they shouldn’t just take it upon themselves to take what they think they deserve
AVRAM BARLOWE:
Yes. Jamilla.
JAMILLA:
I feel like they’re acting on example of what they’ve seen. Just like, I guess, the white people took what they wanted and that was their freedom so why can’t they do their same if that’s what they’ve seen? And that’s what they’ve known? So I think it’s the same thing.
ADAM GRUMBACH:
So what do we do specifically to encourage and foster those types of interactions…
AVRAM BARLOWE:
Well, if you’re going to encourage multiple perspectives and, or multiple responses to a text or a source or idea or whatever is at hand, um, you have to listen to what kids are saying so that you’re attuned to the differences in what they’re saying. Um, and you can help them talk to each other in a rigorous way.
ADAM GRUMBACH:
A lot of what we do and what you I think do especially well is heighten the disagreements in classrooms to make clear that, and it’s part of your listening thing, but you have to hear when kids are disagreeing with each other in a way that they don’t necessarily notice they’re-
TERRY WEBER:
Right. Absolutely.
ADAM GRUMBACH:
Disagreeing with each other. And then you have to reframe it so one person is saying this, somebody else is saying this and what do people think? And let them weigh in because that’s the- it’s the gap between- it’s the give and takes on an issue that leads to the analysis.
(in class)
AVRAM BARLOWE:
I think what, let me, if I’m not mistaken, what you’re saying… Yes. They may ultimately have the right to the land we always say and maybe they have the right to the house ultimately but they should wait for the law to give them that house and just taking that without- without the law on their side, that’s stealing. Okay? Jamilla is saying, they’re just- it’s not stealing because they’re taking what they want just like the white people, when they were the masters, took what they wanted. Um, you know, and so for her point of view it’s not stealing. Ezra and then Saloul.
(in roundtable)
AVRAM BARLOWE:
You know it’s working, I mean you don’t always know how well it’s working, but you know it’s working when instantly two or three kids want to respond. Because they- you sort of set the frame-
TERRY WEBER:
Right. It’s hit a nerve for them.
AVRAM BARLOWE:
-for that and it sort of sharpens… There’s kids who may be lurking on the edge of conversation thinking, “Well, what do I feel?” And when you sharpen it well by holding up that dichotomy then you get kids who really want to respond to that.
TERRY WEBER:
Do you think the two kids who raised the issue understood everything you were saying on your terms and it was more for the other kids in class?
AVRAM BARLOWE:
That’s an interesting question because sometimes you’ll restate kids and they’ll say, “Well, that’s not exactly what I meant”. And you have to be careful because, because sometimes you see a position, their position that you really think is sophisticated and you tease it out and rearticulate it and sometimes they feel its not quite what they meant. So you try to do what they’re saying just- And then sometimes you amplify what they’re saying and they say “Yeah, yeah, yeah” but you’ve done too much of the thinking for them so it’s always a very subtle thing.
ADAM GRUMBACH:
I often- I think mis-state student positions sometimes almost a little intentionally just to make it a little more black and white so the slightly less skilled students see the difference a little bit more. And when the student says, “No. No. No. That’s not what I was saying.”, you can sort of feign embarrassment but its an excellent moment for them to exercise their student voice.
AVRAM BARLOWE:
Absolutely.
ADAM GRUMBACH:
I can tell a teacher that “you got it wrong” and that’s a useful thing in class.
AVRAM BARLOWE:
I agree it’s very important.
***TAPE END***
***TRANSCRIPTION END***
3 Comments
Gracelyn Ralph Nov 27, 2014 3:24pm
Caroline C. Sep 5, 2013 3:02pm
Marilyn Anugraham Aug 23, 2013 7:34am