Trisha's Initial Response

Collectively, I thought that the readings were interesting in that they call illustrated the different aspects of the teacher-student relationship when introducing literature into an elementary classroom. The readings as a whole brought to my attention disparities that I had not originally thought about when thinking about American English language arts like how often traditional discussion is substituted for real and meaningful discussion of a classroom text. Personally I feel that offering students the chance for literary discussion or instructional conversation or what have you, is important because it offers various perspectives on a similar reading experience and conversing with people who hold different opinions concerning a common experience happens is every day life. However, I feel that this type of educational strategy is problematic in that time is of the essence in all classrooms throughout K-12 schools and at times any discussion, traditional or otherwise, is at a premium and this is a question that I held throughout the collection of readings.

I thought that the reading about response-centered talk was the most helpful and applicable within a classroom community that is already focused on student-directed learning. I like this discussion technique that best because it also allowed the teacher to interject their own personal opinions in a way that was not a singularly correct answer or interpretation and that students felt comfortable with expanding or disagreeing with an opinion. I feel that the situation of teacher transcribing is a positive method for self-reflection and professional development and more importantly, I think that by using response-centered talk for a year with students can only help the class move towards instructional conversations.

Lastly, I feel that the reading concerning instructional conversations is one that illustrates a future goal for first year teachers. Throughout the reading I felt that the approaches were definiately obtainable but on the scale of a five year goal for a first year teacher because I think at the core of the issue of instructional conversation is teacher preparation and background with a certain piece of material. I feel that if a first year teach systematically includes response-centered talk and builds upon his or her own knowledge about how students typically react to a piece of literature that a teacher can professional develop to a level where instructional conversation is possible.