Scenario 2: Student is resistant to being part of a conversation about a story that was read. Student answers yes and no questions, but is hesitant to provide evidence and ask questions of others. Where can we go from here? by Cheryl Drew

2024-03-05 17:30:03 UTC

While looking at the Academic Mindset diagram (figure 7.2) in the Zaretta Hammond book the scenario 2 fits with engagement. Engagement because of how the student may feel unengaged with the story. Usually I notice that when students are disengaged they rarely integrate themselves into giving more complex answers that "yes" or "no". When thinking about the quote “Too often we think of a student’s academic mindset as a personal choice or an expression of the family’s valuing of education. In reality, schools do a lot more to influence a negative academic mindset than we’d like to admit." It can be something that a lot of teachers especially ones that teach students who are black and brown culturally get the short end of the stick and from their learned experience they rarely find a way to change.

2024-03-11 18:49:43 UTC

Focusing on engaging the student in the story. This leads to positive completion and understanding of the task. Our past experiences play a big part in our understanding and sense of preparedness. Always providing feedback helps deepen understanding for students.

2024-03-11 19:40:33 UTC

I believe that part of our school's problem with diverse students stems from the lack of connection teachers make with our ELL students. In my class I have witnessed students giving just yes or no responses, solely because they don't understand what is being said. When students don't understand what is asked of them, they are forced to just sit there and try their best to copy whatever the teacher is doing, which hopefully, is guiding them the entire time. For a child to feel as if they don't understand and also that the teacher isn't able to help them, their mindset is to just give up. I believe the only way to change this mindset for kids and those teachers who know there is a disconnect, is by having teachers be trained to communicate with all types of students. Especially if a large percentage of the schools' demographics are ELL students.

2024-03-11 19:41:14 UTC

I think it is important to understand why the student is providing only yes or no responses. Are they not providing evidence and asking questions because they are a second language learner and do not yet have the mastery of the English Language to fully participate in conversations in these ways? Or are they a struggling reader and they were not able to access the text in order to talk about the story with a high level of detail. Either way, it is the teacher's job to know this and plan for scaffolds and supports. When students struggle because we have not ensured that they can be successful, it creates situations that will continuously undermine a child's confidence.

2024-03-11 21:38:51 UTC

Often we tend to convey there are only right or wrong answers. We don't truly take the time to ask "what do you think?" Students very quickly arrive at a stance that there are only right or wrong answers, Too often the thinking process is ignored. That thinking process can yield a rich reservoir of knowledge upon which the students is drawing. The sharing of that reservoir of experiences and background can offer us a window on how our student arrived at their responses for the expanded questions. We can create a class culture that celebrates the thoughts, experiences, and connections our students may bring.

2024-03-11 22:28:30 UTC

There could be multiple factors behind this scenario. It could be fear of taking risks and standing out in front of others or it could be content that is too difficult to the student. We could use different modalities to keep the students engaged using more visual or non-verbal ways to measure students’ understanding of the question and ability to provide evidence. We can help the students transition from being hesitant to more engaged learners by identifying the causes of this student’s apparent “disengagement”.