2) Challenges: students give one-word answers,

teachers' biases/objectiveness,

students' personalities,

students' prior/content knowledge,

time constraint

teacher's training - may not be equipped to handle discussion

2) students might not be equipped with the prior knowledge or know-how to engage in dialogic conversations. Eg. Students are not exposed to wider social issues and therefore unable to contribute, will clam up.

Enhancing students ability to articulate thoughts and listen actively improves communication.

How then we can make it more fluid for those shy and less confident students?

2) Challenge:

• to ensure children are on task

• to steer the conversation to ensure a rich discussion

  
  

1. Collectivity - teacher and class engaged in a learning task

2. Support - providing a safe space

3. Reciprocity - listening to one another

4. Cumulation - building on each other's idea

5. Purposefulness - having a clear outcome which has the buy-in from the class

Pros:

Deepens students understanding of topic of discussion.

For it to work:

• Requires planning of the questions based on Bloom's Taxonomy.

• Might require whole-school approach for greater buy-in and pervasiveness.

2) Maintaining control in the classroom and ensuring that discussions remain productive can be challenging for teachers. Dialogic discussions require a balance between open dialogue and structured guidance, which can be difficult to manage, especially in our large classrooms.