Interaction is an important part of the SIOP model and can really enhance a lesson. There needs to be more opportunity for students to interact in the classroom. The article states that teachers usually dominate the linguistic aspect of the lesson, thus leaving students with a limited opportunity to use their language. There are benefits to having students actively engaged in interaction around subject matter. Some benefits include: Brain stimulation, Increased motivation, reduced risk, more processing time and Increased attention.
There are 4 features in the interaction SIOP interaction model. These features include:
Feature 16: Frequent Opportunities for Interaction and Discussion
This feature talks about the importance of balancing the discussions between teachers and students and amongst the students themselves. Effective SIOP teachers don’t just share their knowledge to the students; they create an environment where students can participate by expressing their ideas, opinions and answers. As a teacher, it is important to be aware of students’ mumbled responses and not except them and move on with the lesson. It’s essential to let the students finish their sentence and not complete their thoughts. It’s important students to engage in meaningful conversations with the teacher, while having opportunities to work with fellow classmates, using English to communicate their thoughts and answers.
Feature 17: Grouping Configurations Support Language and Content Objectives of the Lesson
This feature discusses the importance of having a balance between active and passive learning. Putting students in smaller groups during instruction gives the students another way to learn besides teacher-dominated instruction with the whole class. In the text it states that students can use groups to critique or analyze material, create graphic representations of vocabulary terms or concepts, or summarize material. These activities are more meaningful and will increase a student’s learning. Students will retain more information if taught the key point of a lesson in a way that they will remember. Students may not retain as much information if they go over content quickly and move from topic to topic. Different types of groups are effective for different reasons: “Whole class groups are beneficial for introducing new information and concepts, modeling processes, and review. Flexible small groups promote the development of multiple perspectives and encourage collaboration. Partnering encourages success because it provides practice opportunities, scaffolding, and assistance for classmates.” Using a variety of groups will maintain a student’s concentration and interest in the topic.
Feature 18: Sufficient Wait Time for Student Responses Consistently Provided
Wait time is the length of time between utterances and interaction. It is referred to as the length of time the teacher waits for the students to respond before answering the question themselves or calling on someone else to answer the question. The average wait time in the US should be longer to make sure students have time to process what they are thinking. It’s essential for teachers to wait for students to process their thoughts and learn to accept the possibility of silence after their questions.
Feature 19: Ample Opportunity for Students to Clarify Key Concepts in L1
This feature discusses how it’s sometimes important to clarify concepts in the students’ first language. Clarification of key concepts in the students’ first language can help the student academically, especially when their English is not fully developed and used comfortably.
Task: Think about past learning experiences in the classroom. Did your teachers wait for you to respond? Did they interrupt/finish your sentences? How would you implement these features, or at least some, into your future teaching? Explain your idea of a good teaching strategy and compare/contrast with SIOP interaction. Do you identify with Mr. Charles, Mrs. Lantero or Mrs. Manvi's teaching styles?
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I think teachers often assume that when there is silence during discussion, that the students are not understanding the material or not paying attention. The wait time feature of the SIOP model is important for all teachers to remember because just because the students may take time to respond, that they are thinking about the answers. Likewise, as a teacher I want to remember that when a student doesnt speak often during discussion, it isn't because they arent understanding the information or paying attention. Some students are just quiet, and teacher's need to be aware and understanding of this fact. In my own experiences, I have yet to have or observe a teacher that provides ample time for students to respond. Teachers seem to always assume the worst and that their students aren't getting the information. This is not the case, and I hope to implement sufficient wait time in my own classroom. It's just going to be difficult to determine when is sufficient to wait, and when is it necessary to step in and take the lead.
ReplyDeleteAmanda Prince - Blog Post 5
ReplyDeleteTask: Think about past learning experiences in the classroom. Did your teachers wait for you to respond? Did they interrupt/finish your sentences? How would you implement these features, or at least some, into your future teaching? Explain your idea of a good teaching strategy and compare/contrast with SIOP interaction. Do you identify with Mr. Charles, Mrs. Lantero or Mrs. Manvi's teaching styles?
Thinking of my past learning experiences, I feel like most teachers did give sufficient wait time. I remember thinking that sometimes they gave too much wait time, but that was because the teacher was waiting for a specific student to give the answer and I already knew it. Back then, I thought it was weird that the teacher would just sit there and give us so much time to think because I knew the answer, but I understand now how it was very important to give that wait time for the students who were processing the information.
Teachers usually did not interrupt or finish my sentences. But if they had, I can’t imagine how frustrating that would have been.
To implement the features into my future teaching, the SIOP interaction article really sums everything up. I would always give sufficient wait time to students. I would also make sure that students have plenty of opportunities to work in groups of different sizes on a regular basis. The only feature I am not sure about is giving clarification in the L1, the obvious reason being resources; I may not be able to have a teacher’s aid or other student translate or explain concepts to students in their L1 if there is no one else who speaks the student’s L1. In this situation, the reality is that the student would get little to no clarification in the L1. Nevertheless, I would always encourage students to have an electronic translator or mini dictionary with English and their L1 to use as a resource in class.
I identify most with Mr. Charles’ teaching style because he really integrated every feature of the SIOP interaction model well (except for L1 clarification because it was not needed).
For my majority of schooling there was a teacher led discussion where the teacher asked a question and looked for an answer. Or when we interpreted some text and the teacher was looking for a specific interpretation. It was not until my advance language arts classes in high school where the class discussion was student led. This is not something that came easy to us as students. We were not use to this style of classroom discussion, so our teachers had to teach us how to have a discussion this way. It was often annoying because we were expected to participate and we must be knowledgeable about the topic, but we better understood topics and benefited much more from student based instruction.
ReplyDeleteI feel one thing I am currently practicing is an appropriate amount of wait time. The silence after you ask a question is very nerve racking but as a teacher I need to embrace the silence and allow my students to think.
When I was in elementary school, my teachers would give me time to answer the question without interruption. However, in middle and high school, my instructors would cut me off and finish my sentenses. They had a lot of material to cover in a short amount of time, and they wanted to complete the lesson. When I become a teacher, I will make sure to give my students time to analyze things on their own. When my teachers used to cut me off, it made me feel very insecure about my answers so I stopped responding to their questions. I am currently tutoring a fourth grader, and I instructed her to do a special hand signal when she needed help. This gave her the oppurtunity to decide what she can and cannot figure out on her own. She never feels embarrassed about asking for help since no one knows this hand signal except us. I identify with Mr. Charles teaching style. He incorporates each necessary component of the SIOP model into his lesson plan. In doing so, the multisensory approach can prove effective in teaching students with diverse learning backgrounds. In my future teachings I will make sure that I provide the students with a variety of meaningful activities and connect them to the students background experiances. In addition, I will make sure that the assignments are appropriate for students' proficiency levels. The only concept I may not be able to incorporate into my lesson plan all the time is linking the students past experiance with new concepts because in their culture they may not have had the experiance necessary to relate to the subject.
ReplyDeleteI think it is a common misconception that silence simply means the student does not know the answer. I know that growing up, in high school and in college, I have had many teachers attempt to finish my sentences for me, as if they already knew what I was going to say. Sometimes, they were right; however, many times they finished a sentence for me that did not accurately describe what I was trying to get across. This was frustrating because it often felt like they didn't have time to answer my questions or hear my opinions. However, I know this is not the case. I find myself making the same mistake in the classroom, as well. It is so important for ELL students to have "Wait Time" as mentioned in feature 18. This helps students develop thinking skills and strategies on their own. It also gives them time to figure out exactly what they want to say. I know that when I studied abroad in Spain, my host family had to learn to give me this "wait time" because sometimes it would take me longer to figure out which verb tense I needed to use. We, as teachers, need to stop assuming that silence is code for "I don't know the answer."
ReplyDeleteI feel like all of the features are beneficial and important within the classroom, but I know that I would definitely use feature 16 (ample discussion time) and feature 18 (wait time for a response). I work in an ELL classroom right now, and my two mentor teachers are constantly encouraging me to interact and have conversations with the students while they are doing group work. This makes them more comfortable in a conversational setting and gives them practice and also allows them to share opinions.
Over the course of my education career I have had a variety of teachers. I have found that the best teachers are the ones who create class discussions and push students to think critically. I think it is especially important for ELL students to try to work out what they are going to say without the teacher interrupting or finishing their sentences. How else will they learn when the teacher is always butting in? English language learners need to communicate with their teachers and peers to not only become more familiar with the language but also know when to code switch. I believe the teachers who have patience with their students are the ones that create a learning environment where their students can succeed.
ReplyDeleteI have had those teachers who ran their classes very Q&A and used the recitation format. Even though I think these formats should be used at times, they do not create brain stimulation or increase motivation and attention. I find that I learn best when I engage in class discussions and communicate with peers. The SIOP model says on page 119, “While teachers certainly have knowledge to share and discuss with students, learning is more effective when students have an opportunity to participate fully in lessons by discussing ideas and information.”
I really like how Mr. Charles has implemented the SIOP features into his classroom: he reviewed vocabulary with his students before they began the lesson, he gave them adequate amount of time to respond, he allowed the students to work in pairs, and had a discussion. When I have my own classroom I want to give my students frequent opportunities for interaction and discussion. I also will interact with my students in a way that will promote critical thinking and give them adequate amount of time to answer.
In my learning experience, my teachers have done a mix of both. Though, it seemed liked it was based on who the individual student actually was. Depending on who it was, the more “advanced” students seemed to have more time to answer questions, as the teacher was expecting them to eventually come up with the answer. Whereas, “less advanced” students were given less time and the teacher tended to more quickly fill in answers for them or move on. As you can see this is a huge disadvantage. As this continues to happen over and over again, the student gets further behind and even more ignored as they are never expected to know the answer. As a result, when I become a teacher, I want to implement many of these features into my classroom. To get students as involved as possible I will place them into many different types of groups as the article clearly expresses the many benefits of group work. The group work will range in size, mixing student levels such as advanced with less advanced. Not only do I want my students to work together in groups, but I also want to communicate on a teacher to student level by giving each student time to think about what is being asked and allow students time to process the material in their minds. I agree with Mr. Charles teaching style as he incorporates a lot of the SIOP strategies into his classroom. I really like how he scaffolds the students, tells them what they will be doing before they do it, shows an example, has students work with partners, gets students involved by asking them to raise their hands, and he also reviews at the end of the lesson.
ReplyDeleteAs a language learner in high school, I never felt like I was given the appropriate amount of wait time. My teacher would ask questions and expect an answer immediately. I disagreed with this practice. I felt like we should have been given time to think about an answer. By feeling rushed, I became nervous and felt like I was so focused on rushing to give an answer that I did not even think about the question that was being asked. As a future teacher, I would make sure to give students an effective amount of wait time so that they do not feel rushed and have time to develop a thoughtful answer to questions. I also feel that I would implement all of the features of the SIOP interaction model because interaction is key to language learning and comprehension.
ReplyDeleteWhen I had read this article, I totally recognized some of my teachers' actions. I think that it is really common for teacher's to finish student's sentences, because they have a really clear idea of how exactly something should be defined, explained, etc.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to the question strategies presented in the SIOP model, I think it is really important to always be patient. It is crucial to wait until a learner finishes a thought. If the thought is unclear, it is better to ask another student to clarify as opposed to just clarifying as a teacher.
Wait time is really important as well. Like someone above mentioned, if an instantaneous answer is expected, it can be really nerve-wracking to figure out the answer to a question. I think if the teacher is in the habit of letting questions sink in before a discussion, and if the teacher embraces the occasional awkward silence, it gives the students a more comfortable amount of time to answer questions.
One thing that the SIOP didn't mention, but I think is important is how the lesson is planned. I have heard that some teachers will script a lesson, and I think that this is a really poor strategy that will lead to the sort of teacher interruption that was frowned upon in this article. If the lesson plan is extremely rigid, then the teacher will be inflexible with what sort of input they get from the students.
Task: Think about past learning experiences in the classroom. Did your teachers wait for you to respond? Did they interrupt/finish your sentences? How would you implement these features, or at least some, into your future teaching? Explain your idea of a good teaching strategy and compare/contrast with SIOP interaction. Do you identify with Mr. Charles, Mrs. Lantero or Mrs. Manvi's teaching styles?
ReplyDeleteI cant really remember as far back as high school or anything in terms of teacher/student interaction so for the purpose of answering this question I will just use examples from college classrooms. In my experience here at MSU it seems that in my classes that are not large lectures and are more discussion based the professors give students huge amounts of wait time. Just this morning in my SME class which is largely discussion based the professor would ask a question, have us think about it for probably at least a minute and then have students raise their hands. If noone ended up raising their hands then she would have us talk it out in our table groups to figure it out. She would never just give us the answer right off the bat, and if noone had any idea where to start then she would give a few key words to help try and scaffold us to the answer. I have never had a teacher interrupt my speaking in a class or any of my peers speaking, that I can remember anyway. Most of the professors are very respectful when we are speaking and let us get our ideas out, wait until we are finished and then speak. As far as my future teaching goes, like I believe I have expressed in other blogs, I would try to implement as many different strategies as possible, because I believe there are benefits to each and I know that not every method or feature would work best for EVERY student. My favorite feature from this article however would probably be Feature 17: Grouping Configurations Support Language and Content Objectives of the Lesson. When teaching, especially teaching ELL students, I feel like it is extremely important for the students to get opportunities to practice speaking the language as opposed to just sitting around and listening to the material. In my own experience it helps to really reenforce the material and concepts when we have group activities or discussions or whatever that go along with the material. Aside from helping the students with the content material, like I said earlier this feature also gives them opportunities to practice their speech, whether it be one on one with a partner, within a small group or in front of the class to the teacher. The teacher I would most identify with is Mr. Charles, in his classroom he successfully incorporated as many of the SIOP strategies that could be incorporated. In my opinion the SIOP strategies do and would work really well in classroom and in my teaching I would try to use the model as a guideline when planning my own lessons and I would try to incorporate as many of the ideas as I could so the students would have the best learning experience possible.
Task: Think about past learning experiences in the classroom. Did your teachers wait for you to respond? Did they interrupt/finish your sentences? How would you implement these features, or at least some, into your future teaching? Explain your idea of a good teaching strategy and compare/contrast with SIOP interaction. Do you identify with Mr. Charles, Mrs. Lantero or Mrs. Manvi's teaching styles?
ReplyDeleteWhen I look back on my past learning experience, I have had a variety of teachers, all with different teaching styles. Some teachers tend to ask questions & wait for students to respond... almost too long... to the point where people put their heads down for fear of being called on, & other teachers tend to ask questions & then if given no response, quickly move on. Although there are times for everyone, when you just have nothing to comment on in regards to a teacher's question, I think it is better to have a teacher who allows more time to answer the question. This is for a variety of reasons, one, sometimes students need a little more time to translate the question & come up with a response (esp. important with ESL students I would assume), & also, the wait time from a teacher can influence those who do not normally respond to class questions, to respond. Also, I think a longer wait/response time is good for student who may have drifted off in class or lost focus, the teacher can even restate the question, therefore getting their attn. once again, & also restating it for those who are pondering a possible answer. All of these are important, b/c as teachers we will be dealing with a variety of students & situations.
As a teacher I plan on enacting the SIOP model as much as possible. I think it is important to allow opportunities for interaction & discussion, to support lang. content w/ lesson plans, ample opp. for students to clarify key concepts, & ample response time for questions in discussion. I plan on enacting the SIOP interaction model: I'm going to try to explain key concepts very clearly, helping the students understand in the simplest way possible, and then going into detail. I'm also going to encourage group work & discussion on the topics, & encourage questions if they have them.
I thought my teachers gave me ample time to respond. However I had some cases where the class in general did not involve much speaking. There is only one teacher I can think of who didn't really give me enough time to respond - I always felt rushed to say something. And the way she graded my essays, I felt like I had to be really on top of my grammar and pronunciations with NO slip-ups! It was just generally very intimidating to make a response to her. So I think that should be something to be taken into account to - to not be intimidating. I also feel rushed sometimes when speaking to a French-speaker because I know I personally can get impatient with ELL learners (as much as I try to be understanding and to not become frustrated).
ReplyDeleteThe one intimidating teacher would finish or interrupt my sentences, but I think this was because she wanted the class discussions to move along. However my one favorite teacher, if I paused for too long (because I was obviously stuck on how to say something), he would give me suggestions which I actually found helpful. Because I was never going to remember for the life of me what I was trying to say. I think this is a tricky thing to get a hold of because if you don't wait long enough, you could be hindering the student but if you wait too long, they may really need your help! But I think waiting longer than shorter would be better.
I already sort of know when to tell when a student needs help with something or if they're just trying to find the right word they already know because with my friend Yufu who spoke Japanese, I had to use this skill. I hung out with her all the time and I gradually learned to speak slowly and use simpler terms around her and avoid idioms she may not have known. She's kind of the reason I thought of become a TESOL minor. But it is something I am DEFINITELY going to use in my future class room - I think it really helped her and was the reason we ended up getting along so well as friends, because she could actually understand me and didn't have to ask what I meant too often, which is probably comforting to an ELL learner. So I generally think that in itself is a good teaching strategy ... To keep the students comfortable. Because again, my one teacher intimidated me to the point where I dreaded going to her class and I just stopped speaking all together.
I think I like Mr. Charles the best because he followed the SIOP model the most, and I like the ideas of the SIOP model. I think my idea of good teaching strategies identify most with it.
The wait time teachers gave me in elementary school was much longer than in high school or college. Most of my high school/college eduators just wanted to get through the material quickly so they gave us less of a wait time when answering a question. If I was having a difficult time forming an answering, the teacher would interrupt me and quickly choose someone else to respond to the question. These actions would discourage me from answering/asking questions in class. In some instances, my teacher would give the class plenty of wait time to respond to a question but there would only be awkward silence. The misconception was that no one knew the answer but sometimes we were just worried about giving an incorrect answer.
ReplyDeleteAs a future educator, I would try to implement all of the features of the interaction part of the SIOP model. If I had to choose one, the most important might be feature 16 (ample discussion time). I would suggest pairing students up to discuss the concept and then bring the class together to share their thoughts with the teacher. It helps to strengthen the teacher/student and student/student relationships through plenty of discussion. I also believe it gives a student a little more confidence to express their ideas, thoughts and opinions during discussion without having to worry about it being a right or wrong answer.
Teachers can consider implementing feature 16 orally through role play, discussion about a story, drawing a picture and talking about it or word play. Teachers should also encourage elaborated responses during discussion by asking questions beginning with "why is it important..." or "what do you mean by..." These suggestions are my idea of a good strategy for interaction in a classroom and all stem from the SIOP model.
In my past experience learning a foreign language my teachers often gave a lot of time for students to respond. Then did not interrupt or finish my sentences, but if I was struggling with specific vocabulary they would often help me out. For example, if I was struggling with vocabulary that had already been introduced, my instructor would give me the word after a couple seconds of me struggling to get it out (like the teacher did in the SIOP Model when the student was having trouble saying “resistant”). Or if, I could describe a word in German, the instructor would give me that word in German and then draw a picture or do some kind of gesture to confirm that that was indeed what I was talking about. However, the instructor would never just blurt out a word that he thought I was talking about without clarification. I would like to use this in my own teaching. I think making the student struggle a little and work through vocabulary will make the learning of that word much more meaningful. Because I have experience how successful this form of instruction could be, I identify with Mr. Charles’ teaching style the most. Mr. Charles does the best job of incorporating the SIOP Interaction Model features into his lesson. His students are not only interacting with the teacher, but interacting with each other as well, he groups students according to the language and content objectives, and he gives sufficient wait time to his students.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mallory O, when she wrote that wait time is important for all teachers to remember because some students need that time to work through the problem and figure out how to respond. IN my own experience teaching I have struggled with allowing enough wait time. When posing a question to a group of kids is met by silence, the situation often become uncomfortable for the teacher. Sometimes I begin to worry that students may not understand the material or are not paying attention. However, this probably has to do more with my own insecurities than the students’ confusion or boredom. When students are not responding, 10 seconds can feel like a life time. It is in these moments that I forget how important this awkward (for me) silence is. In this area I do not identify with Mr. Charles, but aspire to improve in.
it is interesting that several of you mentioned a difference in how discussions were facilitated by the teacher across your educational career, decreasing instead of increasing the amount of learner contributions and critical thinking. My experience in Germany has been different. I wonder why.
ReplyDelete