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Talk partners are a great way for encouraging discussion in the classroom, Wray stressing the importance of promoting children’s own thinking and learning (in Cremin, T. and Arthur, J., 2014). By doing this, you are creating an environment where children are becoming active learners by encouraging them to think about their own opinions. Consequently, you get to hear a range of voices and opinions.

It also teaches children good listening skills. A good discussion (whether it be in talk partners, small groups or a whole class) needs rules in order for it to be successful. One of these is listening to what everyone else has to say, regardless of whether you share their opinion or not. This is a great way of preparing children for later life, allowing them to be able to listen to others and value their opinions.

Talk partners also provides an opportunity to support children who are less confident. Hargreaves, Gipps and Pickering (in Cremin, T. and Arthur, J., 2014, p. 318.) comment that the use of partners allows children to test their ideas out before they share them. As a result, they can alter their response before they share it with the entire class allowing them to feel more confident about their answers. This can encourage children who would not normally speak in class to contribute due to their increased confidence. It is therefore important to think about partnerships, it perhaps being helpful to pair a lower ability student with a higher ability student who can support them during this discussion and help them to develop their ideas.

There are issues with talk partners, however. Whilst certain partnerships may be beneficial some may not. For example, if friends are partnered together then they may talk about other topics rather than the one they are meant to be discussing. Also, if two students who were both struggling with a topic were partnered together they will struggle to have a discussion and consequently, this strategy will not develop their learning as they will be unable to talk about the topic they are being asked to.

Whilst the use of talk partners may allow children to become more confident in their ideas, it does not necessarily mean they will be willing to share them. This can mean that the same voices are still being heard. It is therefore important to consider how these ideas are shared with the class, the use of a random picking scheme such as names of lolly sticks helping to enable this sharing of different voices and opinions.

Emily Sparkes

Thank you Emily

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A teaching strategy that I find interesting and wanted to explore more was demonstration/modelling. Some people have stated that modelling is much more in depth than demonstration. Teresa Cremin and James Arthur portray modelling as a simple procedure of this aspect of teaching strategy is the teacher demonstrates/models the skill being taught which enables the children to see the thought process that links the problem to the solution (Cremin, T and Arthur J,2014). From watching some video clips demonstrating this teaching strategy, I have learnt that it fulfils the need of each type of learner: auditory, visual and kinaesthetic. This is achieved by providing the information of the topic and the process for the task that is set by the teacher, visually through the modelling and then by getting the children involved with the process and letting them practise a few before they do the actual task. The advantages of this strategy may include that children might feel more confident to explore what is being asked of them and it often makes the topic clearer for a child. However, there are a few limitations such as children may begin to depend on and expect models before each subject and lower ability students are more likely to accept what is being modelled and not challenge the work further.

Laura Gale

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Positive praise seems to be an underrated and underappreciated teaching strategy. It is often forgotten about because teachers can unintentionally focus on the negatives. There is nothing wrong with telling a child that they are behaving unacceptably (for chatting or calling out), however it is important to ensure you are looking after a child’s sense of self. If a child’s basic and psychological needs are not being met, they will be unable to reach self-fulfilment (Maslow, 1943). It is understandable that constructing a healthy classroom can be difficult due to behaviour management; alongside a long list of other challenges. Teacher praise is an effective classroom management tool at any age (Floress et al., 2017), and it should be used. It is important to remember that constant reprimanding can cause a child’s self-confidence and overall self-worth to diminish (Mandel Glazer, 2001). There is a fine line between too much praise and not enough, learning can be improved by increasing a child’s awareness of their own mind and by encouraging them to think (Wray, 2014). Praising children is likely to produce corresponding behaviours (Rogers Warren et al., 2017), suggesting children are more likely to show a positive attitude towards the teacher who has given them the praise. Interestingly the effectiveness of praise shows an increase when used alongside other teaching strategies such as modelling and reinforcement (Rogers Warren et al., 2017). Teaching strategies are an important factor in teaching a high-quality lesson, using them together, is even better.

Elizabeth McGovern

Thank you Elizabeth.

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Talk partners is an easy way to include class discussion during any topic of the curriculum. This strategy has many strengths including: encouraging listening, learning from others and giving children extra time to think if needed. As well as these positive outcomes it also impacts learning. Vygotsky (1978, cited in Cremin and Arther, 2014, p.77) stated that "knowledge is not simply constructed, it is co-constructed." He goes on to argue that "learning is a collaborative process" (Cremin and Arthur, 2014, p.57). This theory explains how strategies that involve discussion are a great aid to learning in the classroom.

One thing to consider when using this strategy is that partnership needs to be effective; pairs may not always go together for many different reasons. One thing Vygotsky mentions is that "children understand the world through their interactions with more experienced others". This could suggest that talk partners may work for lots of pupils but teachers may need more intervention with high-flyers for them to also benefit from this discussion.

A study looking at discussion within a learning environment was conducted by Jacobson (2014). Students in a class were offered opportunities to turn and talk in a consistent manner. This benefited their ability to perform in a writing workshop. This shows how discussion with peers can have a positive impact on the learning of each pupil.

Emma Goodswen

Thank you Emma.

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Notes from working in group Hannah and Tegan

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Discussion is a very useful tool in exploring children’s prior knowledge and understanding of a subject. It allows for self-directed learning to take place, as children explore new concepts, and for teachers to intervene to give meaningful context to anything that has arisen.

By utilising different forms of discussion it is possible to encourage all children to make meaningful contributions. Beginning with ‘Talk Partners’ allows children to explore their initial thoughts and ideas in a safe context. Talking aloud with a partner helps children to better organise their thinking in a scenario where they need not feel so embarrassed as they might talking in front of a group or whole class.

Moving on to group based discussions allows children to better focus and channel their ideas. At this stage it is appropriate for children to record their ideas, which helps solidify their thinking and promote learning of new knowledge. Here the teacher can intervene in order to offer meaningful context to childrens’ ideas and to promote democratic discussion.

Finally, finishing with whole class discussion will allow the teacher to lead while bringing together the different threads of the discussion and to summarise what has been learnt. Here the teacher can continue to promote democratic, respectful discussion while modelling how to reach a conclusion.

In order for discussion to be effective, it is important that the teacher knows the children in their class well. Without this children can easily end up in groups that could suppress their involvement and prevent certain children from making a meaningful contribution. Teachers also need to be mindful of providing clear boundaries for discussion activities and maintaining good lesson structure in order for learning to take place. Discussion is a great way to introduce new concepts but has limited potential for some parts of the core curriculum, such as Maths.

Thomas Streamer

Thank you Thomas

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I chose to focus on scaffolding (where learners work independently but with support from a teacher) because this is something which is most often neglected in teaching strategies and the jump between full support and full independence can be too rapid (Cremin and Arthur, 2014, p.94). In the phonics video, the teacher uses worksheets for the children to practise writing the letter formation so that they do not have to immediately write the letters independently. This, alongside the phrase she taught them to say, shows them tackling the task with clearly visible confidence. However, there can be times when scaffolding has its limitations; Van de Pol et al. (2015, p.615) suggest that while scaffolding was effective in promoting progress when there was a large amount of independent work, it was less effective when there was already a large amount of modelling and little independent work, resulting in lower levels of achievement.

Marie Davies

Thank you Marie

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The teaching strategy I have focused on is that of Practicing and Rehearsing with reference to the video on phonics. the teacher says the N sound herself, and by show of hands lets the children know its their chance to copy. She then using visual guides (words beginning with the N sound) for two reasons; to allow the children to say the N sound but allow them to connect the phoneme to a familiar object. Then she in cooperates the net picture into the n so the children can see ‘Nobby is looking after the net’, she makes sure the children repeat what she says, and therefore allowing the rule to sink in. In reference of the Learning to be a primary school teacher book, the teacher is applying the “apprenticeship approach”, the children “develop the confidence through repeated sharing … until the teacher can withdraw entirely” (Cremin &Arthur 2014) and the children are applying the rule independently in their school work. In conclusion the teacher demonstrates clearly that by practising (copying the teacher) and rehearsing (either by using the hands to ‘draw’ the letter or writing the letter) the phonic rule is cemented into the childrens mind and making it fun by characterising the letter which is more than likely going to stick in their minds as it’s a fun visual, Nobby over his net and writing as say the phrase. Charlotte Attley 

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The teaching strategy I have focused on is that of Practicing and Rehearsing with reference to the video on phonics. the teacher says the N sound herself, and by show of hands lets the children know its their chance to copy. She then using visual guides (words beginning with the N sound) for two reasons; to allow the children to say the N sound but allow them to connect the phoneme to a familiar object. Then she in cooperates the net picture into the n so the children can see ‘Nobby is looking after the net’, she makes sure the children repeat what she says, and therefore allowing the rule to sink in. In reference of the Learning to be a primary school teacher book, the teacher is applying the “apprenticeship approach”, the children “develop the confidence through repeated sharing … until the teacher can withdraw entirely” (Cremin &Arthur 2014) and the children are applying the rule independently in their school work. In conclusion the teacher demonstrates clearly that by practising (copying the teacher) and rehearsing (either by using the hands to ‘draw’ the letter or writing the letter) the phonic rule is cemented into the childrens mind and making it fun by characterising the letter which is more than likely going to stick in their minds as it’s a fun visual, Nobby over his net and writing as say the phrase. Charlotte Attley 

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Thank you Charlotte

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A teaching strategy I have explored within this online learning event is demonstration. After watching a variety of different video clips, I have been able to identify strengths in which enhances the child's learning development. One strength of this particular teaching strategy is familiarity. The child can observe a demonstrated of the task by an expert and therefore they can feel comfortable and confident to experiment and explore the task either individually or with a peer. Within, Learning to Teach in the Primary School, it is suggested that "one relatively simple procedure is that of the teacher modelling how he or she tackles the skills being taught" (Cremin & Arthur: 2014, 94), exemplifying how modelling and demonstration can be a prime teaching strategy providing the children with the opportunity to observe the thought process prior to a task. A limitation of demonstration, could be that the children then copy the same demonstration, rather than adapting the demonstration to their own task. However, this could be prevented by demonstrating an example which is away from the enclosed topic.

Aneisha Vincitore

Thank you Aneisha