Classroom Discourse

Athena Taylor

1.

Greeting of the Class

Year 8 English

Welcome, everyone. Bums on seats and pens out please.

This greeting is used as a light-hearted, inclusive gesture to the students as
they enter. It represents minimal fuss and also informs the as to exactly
what the teacher wants from them: to sit in their designated seats and take
out their writing implements in preparation for the days activity.
Usually the teacher, when administering this greeting, is situated at the
front and centre of the classroom. That gives her the greatest vantage point
with which to direct the students entering, as well as presenting herself as
the central figure of the classroom, and directing the students attention
towards her.
Generally the students responded well to this greeting, sitting down and
arranging themselves in expectation of the lesson. It is important to follow
on quickly with more specific instructions, so as not to lose their attention
and allow the lesson to meander off-course. But as a preliminary
groundwork in setting up the classroom, it works well and provides the
necessary structure to begin teaching. It also helps if the same greeting is
repeated every day; the students respond well to the routine and know
exactly what was expected of them in entering the classroom.

2.

Getting attention of the Class

Year 9 English

Eyes to the front please. Listening now.

This was the general command given by the teacher when she wanted to
recall the students attention to the front of the classroom for direct teacher
instruction. It would usually be accompanied by her positioning herself
front and centre and spreading her arms wide to indicate she wanted the
class to focus on her.
Sometimes it is quite difficult to recall the attention of a class that has been
involved in small group activity or discussion. Although it is tempting to
raise your voice and yell to alert the students to what you want them to do,
in general the teacher avoided doing this as it tended to raise the decible
level of the classroom and resulted in more resistance than a gentle
command.
If students did not comply with the request, the teacher utilised the power
of silence and wait-time in order to bring the attention back to herself. This
was surprisingly effective, and is a good alternative to simply raising your
voice and shouting over the top of the students. Instead, the teacher would
stand at the front of the room in pointed silence, until the only remaining
noise was from those few stragglers who were continuing their
conversations. They quickly got the idea and were silent, and I found this to
be a very effective teaching tool.

3.

Giving student praise

Year 10 English

Thats an excellent answer. Well done.

In general praise was used liberally in the classroom, it being a highschool
with a number of students from struggling backgrounds and/or learning
difficulties, who responded extremely well to targeted praise. Praise was
used for circumstances of student compliance with teacher instructions,
the completion of tasks, and giving correct answers or successful
demonstrations of student learning. I found it to be by far the most effective
tool in engendering student co-operation and participation, particularly for
those students inclined to non-involvement in the classroom and those of
lower academic ability.
The teachers method in giving praise was to always make it specific to a
task or action on the student, rather than vague and generalised. It was also
policy to give praise immediately, rather than wait until the end of the
lesson, so that the student was aware of what they were being praised for
and had the good behaviour fresh in their mind.
For the most part, praise was given aloud and in front of the class, to which
most students responded well. However, there were some students who
indicated a dislike of being openly praised in front of their peers, and in
these instances the teacher made sure to approach the student quietly and
give the praise one-on-one.
Whilst praise was used quite liberally, it was also recognised as important
not to over-praise the students for simple things like sitting down, getting
ones book out, or completing very minor teacher instructions. This was
regarded as watering down the effectiveness of praise, and so the teacher
made sure only to praise the students for work when it was deemed to be
effective and appropriate. In general I thought this strategy worked very
well.

4.

Showing enthusiasm for the subject

Year 11 English

Do we see how characterisation is being used here? How the author is using
it to represent the theme of isolation and disaffection?
I found that the most important aspect to keep in mind when generating
enthusiasm for our subject (English) was the use of inclusive language and
personal pronouns by the teacher. This helped to give the students
ownership of the learning process, a process I found to be crucial in
generating their interest and subsequent participation in the unit. Using
we rather than you involves the students in the process of learning, so
that the interaction becomes a system of give and take rather than
detached secondary absorption.
It also helps in generating motivation when key terms and indicias of the
intended learning are included in the teachers speech. For instance, in the
example above, the teacher is using words such as characterisation,
isolation and disaffection in a way that indicates to the student that these
are ideas they should focus on, but without deliberately presenting them in
traditional list format. Repetition of this kind can have a subliminal effect
on student learning, and can be very effective in helping students retain
crucial information in tandem with more conventional methods.
Having said that, it is also important for the teacher to avoid overloading
students with technical information, and in doing so obfuscating the key
messages of the text or unit. This is where inclusive pronouns can prove so
useful, as they provide a way to bring students into the learning process,
keeping them engaged and reminding them that they are the primary
stakeholders in the entire teaching process.

5.

A corrective command to a student

Year 8 English (boy with behavioural issues)

First corrective: Thanks, x.

Second corrective: No more talking, x, or I will move you to the front of the
class.
Third and final corrective: X, I am moving you to the front of the class
because you refused to follow my instructions.
In this interaction, the crucial and most important element of teacher
language is in fact non-verbal; that is, the ability to keep calm and maintain
an appearance of professionalism and cordiality even if it is not being
reciprocated by the student. Correctives should always be administered in
a non-confrontational manner, so as not to unnecessarily escalate emotions
in the classroom. As the teacher it is always our responsibility not to rise to
the provocations that some students may present, but rather continue to
act calm and rational at all times.
To assist with this, a routine and structured approach to student
misbehaviour is ideal. This helps by maintaining teacher confidence in the
procedure, as well as giving students certainty of outcome and, ultimately,
predictable consequences. If the corrective method for certain
misbehaviours is well-known and generally pre-accepted upon entering the
classroom, then there is far less confrontation when initiating these
procedures, and also less opportunity for student arguing and resistance.
In my teaching prac, I found moving troublesome students to be one of the
most effective methods of dealing with distraction. This may have had to do
with the make-up of the class, which was a high literacy and high-achieving
class except for two problem boys who tended to sit together at the back of
the classroom. Consequently, moving them was generally successful, as it
separated the epicentre of misbehaviour and relocated each boy to a group
of well-behaved students who acted as natural dampeners. In a class with
a different make-up of students, this may not have been so effective.
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