DAAWOT Blog #2

Discussion as a Way of Teaching:

There was one thing that stuck out to me when reading this article. 

Class Participation: 

In the article on page 36, it says that 20% of your grade is participation and typically that is correct in university not so much high school that I know of. I sort of disagree with the fact that participation should be graded, why? Because some students have social anxiety and it is hard for students to speak up in class because they do not want to be judged by other students. so they shouldn't be graded to have a social disorder. In the section, it quotes "Use body language (in only a slightly exaggerated way) to show interest in what different speakers are saying". Sometimes peoples body language shows different things besides what they are thinking. So judging their body language as class participation shouldn't be a factor. Kids in school would feel more confident in participation if it wasn't graded.

The Questionnaire:

The questions that I found interesting and I would apply in my classroom are:

• "At what moment in class, this week did you feel most distanced from what was happening?"

This would be a good question to ask in the middle every unit that we teach so we can use the responses to better their understanding of what they feel lost on.

•  "What action that anyone (teacher or student) took in class this week did you find most puzzling or confusing?"

This question, as well as the first, would be helpful to understand how the students are feeling about the current lesson/unit.