Lesson Discourse Analysis

Kim Blake

November 17, 2020

Voices in the Classroom

Part 1: Classroom Context

In this video lesson, Voices in the Classroom, we see a fifth grade teacher, Kathryn Bomer, is starting her day with a read aloud.  Her students are from diverse populations in Austin, Texas; mainly spanish (10 students), white (4 students) and black (3 students). The classroom management has been taught and maintained very well throughout the school year.  The students know to sit on the floor or in their designated spot. They sit quietly with the notebook and pencil and they are ready to listen to the story.  When they are asked a question they raise their hand and answer when called on.  When anyone is speaking the students are paying attention to what is being said so they can respond as well. This class of fifth graders is a very interactive and engaged group of students.  Their classroom is an inviting and calm learning environment that has multicultural anchor charts, pictures, sayings and books around the room and on the walls. 

Part 2:  Classroom Lesson Discourse

Language is used to establish norms of interaction and engagement by establishing a dynamic routine.  If you use dynamic language and encourage your students to think about why they are doing a read aloud a certain way they will understand and commit to doing it in that way.  It can make more sense to a student to know that you would like them to come to a certain area of the room and sit in a group on the floor or on benches while you read to them. This encourages them to discuss certain parts of the book as a whole group or larger conversation partners than if they were seated at their desks.  Establishing the norms of how to engage other students during a discussion is also extremely important.  Students need to understand that they need to treat others with respect the way they would like to be respected.  They each have something to offer and learn from one another and that learning is an ongoing process.  When they can understand dynamic language and thinking their discussions are extremely valuable, not just in academic settings, but also in life situations.

The language that this teacher uses throughout the lesson is dynamic thinking.  She is encouraging the students to examine and really think about what is happening in the story.  She also expects them to take their thinking to the next level and apply it to their own life and situations that happen around them.  She has the students use accountable thinking by using phrases such as “I agree with” or “I don’t agree with” and

why. By using these phrases it shows the students that they are accountable for their thoughts and that they are paying attention and acknowledging what they are saying 

and feeling.  She is challenging her students to work hard and think deeper.  “In other words, a single comment can profoundly change the academic and moral choices children make.  It literally changes the world they live in.” (Johnsonston, 2012, p.13)

Throughout this lesson I heard Ms. Bomer use the phrases ”I hadn’t thought of that” or “You're having unbelievable conversations.” This tool is allowing the students the affirmation that they are indeed on the correct train of thought that she was hoping they would reach.  It also encourages them to continue working together as a group or even by themselves but to also push past and deeper to make connections with other students, texts or real life.  Working together or listening to others ideas is a great way to make and form connections with ideas and texts that the teacher did not think of stating.  It is also a great way to help solve problems.  Working in groups or talking in group situations is a time to learn new things and that everyone has something to say and everyone should be heard. “Challenging activities present no threat, only the promise of learning something new.” (Johnston, 2012, p. 12)

Throughout the lesson the teacher and the students speak.  I went back and rewatched the video and I noticed the students did the majority of the talking.  They were respectfully one at a time talking about their opinions and answering the teacher’s questions.  No one in the group interrupted anyone or indicated that anyone was incorrect.  It was a great dialogue with many different cultural background opinions.  As Ellen Langer said “The widespread failure to recognize the insights that can be found in all different perspectives may itself constitute a disability.”  (cited in Johnston, 2012, p.7)

The role of academic language was apparent throughout the lesson. The students knew to use accountable talk when discussing what others said. They used dynamic thinking when talking and discussing and they also used their notebooks to record their thoughts about what other students said and how they felt about a particular subject or metaphor they were discussing.  Their notebooks were used especially at the end of the lesson when the teacher read the last paragraph of the day and then asked the kids to write down “something they were wondering about, something they were dying to say, or a prediction they were going to make.”  Everyone had to write something down to discuss tomorrow.  She watched to make sure everyone was writing and from what I could tell they all were very engaged in this activity.  They were all eagerly looking forward to reading the book the next day.

Dynamic language was fostered by the teacher and among all of the students throughout this read aloud lesson.  It is very apparent that these students have been

listening to the way that their teacher has been speaking to them all year and have reacted exactly as she has envisioned them to.  These students were taught how to 

work hard for what they want.  They were taught that the goal is to learn as much as you can about the subject you are teaching them.  Challenging activities are what will get them to these successes.   Learning this does take some time as unfortunately not all teachers work this way.  Ms. Bomer is a very talented teacher and makes dynamic teaching and learning very easy.  To these kids this way of thinking and speaking is a normal way of everyday speaking and thinking.  

Part 3:  Personal Response:

I find that Ms. Bomer is a wonderful teacher.  She takes something as “easy” as a read aloud and turns it into a full blown lesson that the students are enjoying and looking forward to every morning.   It is the end of the school year for these students, and Ms Bomer has chosen the book Color of My Words by Lynn Josephs to read to her class.  It is obvious that she has a close and genuine relationship with her students. These children respect and trust her and have great conversations around a book that contains some difficult topics.  Ms. Bomer uses a great deal of open ended questions with her students.  She “leads” them into a certain direction that she would like them to discover without giving them directions.  She is very thought provoking with these students as they have been taught how to use accountable talk when they are answering questions as well as dynamic thinking.  These students also know how to have a discussion and understand that collaboration is not always easy.  Their goal as students is to learn as much as they can and these students are showing that they are.  They are learning then applying what they are learning to real life situations.   

Responding to Literature

Part 1:  Describe the Classroom Context

In the second video we see the classroom of Mr. Rich Thompson.  He is a fourth grade teacher at Canyon Elementary School in Hungry Horse, Montana.  The students in his class that we focus on in this video clip are a group of five white students; both male and female.  These students have a range of abilities when it comes to reading and writing.  The teacher allows the children to select the book they would like to read out of the four available.  On the walls of the classroom I noticed that there are anchor charts, pictures of books, maps, and posters that show diversity and inclusion.  The procedures and norms that I noticed right away were that the children knew exactly what to do when they came into the room.  They came in, grabbed their book and their reading response journals and sat at their desks and waited for the teacher’s direction.  The climate of the classroom is comfortable yet busy.  You can tell that these kids have busy bodies but they are in control.

Part 2:  Classroom Lesson Discourse

In this video we see that Mr. Thompson does use language to establish classroom norms.  He greets the students in the morning and has some level of small talk with them.  You can hear him say Happy Birthday to one of the students in the morning and then again at the table in the reading group.  The students know the routine of coming in, gathering their materials and sitting at their desks.  Mr. Thompson does remind the students that they will need their reading response journals.  This could be a new item or he is reinforcing the routine of bringing it with them.  I did not see the routine written out as we did not see the board, so I’m not sure if the students know the routine by memory.  The kids knew where to go for their groups and moved quickly.  The group that stayed in his room that was not working with him knew to sit down, read and work on their logs.  There was no excessive noise ever and no one from outside the small group interrupted Mr. Thompson with a question.  They knew this routine as well.

The type of language that Mr. Thompson uses throughout his lesson is dynamic language.  He is sitting with the group of students and interacting with them on their level as opposed to acting as a teacher.  He is leading the discussion but he is still discussing it with them.  His questions are dynamic and open ended: “Do you remember what she wanted for her birthday? What do you think will happen? What do you remember about…?”  I did like the way these students used the phrase “I’m reading a book called About Winn Dixie and it is about……”  I thought that was a good way to to work through a retell of a story.  Mr. Thompson is very thoughtful about what and when he says things so that the students can think and respond to his questions and to other student’s comments. He models to the students how to behave and interact with each other in this discussion.  “Those who adopt dynamic theories, explain behavior in terms of mental processes-feelings and beliefs.” (Thompson, 2012, p.21)

The way that language is used to construct a democratic learning environment is very visible with this group of students.  This is a high energy group of students with a great deal to say about this story and a short amount of time to discuss it.  The teacher has done a great job demonstrating to these students how to interact with each in a group discussion.  All of these students were heard, were respectful, commented and gave some insights.  There was no one telling anyone that their idea or comment was wrong and everyone listened.  At times there were two kids trying to speak at the same time, but one would back off respectfully and another time the teacher had to say “just a minute” and the student waited.  The teacher did go back to that student as he indicated so that student was heard.  You can tell by these interactions that interrupting happens often.  However, Mr. Thompson does mean it when he says just a minute or I will be with you in a minute, otherwise these students would continue to interrupt him 

relentlessly. Having been taught how to have a discussion like this and not constantly interrupting is a good way to explain to students that this is a skill they will use in the future in middle and high school as well as in their professional work lives.  When people are trying to learn something together and they disagree, dynamic learning theorists focus on the conflict in ideas and try to integrate  their different perspectives.  As a result, each develops a more positive view of his or her partner’s ability. (Johnston, 2012, p. 20)

In this video all of the students in the group and the teacher spoke.  The students were being led in a discussion by the teacher but the students were doing most of the speaking.  Not all of the students participated equally. There were three students that dominated the conversation but all five of the students did participate in the discussion.  The teacher did a nice job of asking questions to the two students that appeared to be on the quieter side.  He knew what type of question to ask them and then they started talking.  My favorite part of this discussion was when he saw that the quieter girl had drawn a picture of what might have happened and he asked her about it.  She told the group all about the picture and the entire group talked about it.  The smile on her face was magical.  That was not necessarily what happened in the story, but it could have been, and Mr. Thompson brought that picture into the discussion to get her talking.

The role of academic language throughout this lesson is used as a tool for both motivation and grading.  Mr. Thompson uses the response logs as a way to make sure that the students are reading what they are supposed to be reading and participating in the discussion.  The students have three jobs with this log: record what they read, summarize what they read or answer questions, and write a thought, wonder or predict statements to talk about next time.  He then grades them using a two point scale for participating in the discussion and having their logs filled out.  I think this is a great idea to keep the students accountable.  You can also see that Mr. Thompson is modeling this as he is annotating throughout the entire discussion so that the students know that it is important to do this as well.

It is apparent that these students are working together as a group in a dynamic language environment.  Mr. Thompson has fostered this idea and taught these students how to have a group discussion the correct way and how to use tools when reading.  These students are learning the why and how something is happening in the story and moving beyond it by asking what if this happened instead.  Just by someone drawing a picture in their notebook it opened the conversation up to a new perspective that might not have been addressed by another teacher.  A fixed view teacher would have dismissed the drawing because it was not part of the story, but a dynamic view teacher would have  done exactly what  Mr. Thompson did and leaned toward a restorative 

justice stance.  Johnston explains a restorative justice stance as “repairing an error rather than simply judging and punishing the perpetrator.” (Johnston, 2012, p. 21) 

Part 3:  Personal Response

In this video clip I found Mr. Thompson to be a good dynamic theory teacher.  This small group of fourth grade students was full of energy and wanted to tell their side of the story.  It was nice to see how Mr. Thompson came down to their level and discussed the book with them instead of at them.  They truly did have a discussion.  He did a great job modeling and remodeling how he wanted the discussion interaction to go.  There were two times when the students tried to interrupt other students, but he handled those students quickly and everyone got to speak.  The interaction among the students was very positive and respectful.  It is clear that these students enjoy this book, their group, and the work they are putting into their response logs.  An aha moment I had was the use of the reading response log and the “grading system.”  I think that could be modified to be used in my third grade classroom in reading and math groups for accountability.  I just need to modify it for distance learning as well.  

In this short amount of time, we also see that there were two things going on in Mr. Thompson’s classroom.  The group that was not working directly with him was working at their desk on their book and reading response log.  All of these students knew the classroom routine and followed it quickly and quietly. They all worked the entire time knowing what to do until he signaled the entire class to transition to the next activity.