My plan for our discussion on the Treaty of Versailles was to have the students take the lead, but I made the mistake of not explicitly telling them my plan. I think I hesitated to tell them, because I lacked the confidence that a student-led discussion would go well. I also was nervous to single out a specific student and force them into the role of facilitator. Fortunately, I picked a student who was excited to facilitate. Unfortunately, over and over again he kept directing the conversation back to me, rather than his and his peers. I wasn’t sure how to get him to focus more on eliciting engagement from other students than the teacher, without undermining his authority as the discussion facilitator.
-
Sigal
9th Grade
World History
Preservice Teaching Year
- What is the teacher's dilemma? Consider the teacher's goals, possible actions, beliefs about the situation and the students, and their own self-perceptions.
- Complete or modify the following sentence in a way that captures the teacher's central tension in the situation: "While on the one hand, the teacher believed/wanted/felt/did __________, on the other hand, they believed/wanted/felt/did __________."
- Thinking times where you have assigned students to take on roles in the discussion, how do you decide when to intervene in support of those roles when your goal is for the students to take ownership of the discussion?