Letters from a Touchstones Teacher

Letters from a Touchstones® Teacher

This correspondence is between a teacher, Michelle, who has recently started using Touchstones programming in her classroom, and Touchstones staff. We thought you might appreciate reading about Michelle’s progress as a discussion leader and her class’s progress as discussion participants. The Touchstones Discussion Project thanks Michelle for her permission to make her story available to other teachers as encouragement!

1/23/2012
Dear Touchstones,
I attended the workshop in November, and learned a lot. I am so excited to use this in my classroom. I had our first discussion last week using Touchpebbles. Do you have any suggestions on how to get the students to take turns speaking. It was a bigger problem than I thought it would be. Thanks.
Michelle

1/23/2012
Hi Michelle,
Taking turns is something that the students will have to figure out how to do themselves. They should experience a high level of frustration when they do not take turns. So, I would suggest that before your next lesson that you give them a list of things that may or may not have been a part of their last discussion: raising hands, interrupting each other, listening to each other, taking turns speaking, etc. Have them vote (show of hands) on whether or not they thought each behavior had occurred. After each vote, ask them if the behavior (or lack of it) caused problems. Ask your students to talk about those problems and to propose solutions. By increasing your students’ awareness of their behaviors, you will help them to self-regulate. Make the metacognition associated with this part of the Touchstones’ class a fun one and one that includes everyone’s perspectives, particularly those who didn’t speak during the discussion. And most importantly, have the class come to agreement about three goals that it sets for itself for improvement. Then you choose the one that you think is most important for them to focus on first. You can spend an entire Touchstones class on this alone and include a writing assignment that asks your students to write short paragraphs about what they plan to do differently in their Touchstones classes. The more that they have a chance to think about how and why this class is different, the more responsibility they will start taking in terms of their own engagement.

I hope this helps. Good luck!
Touchstones

1/23/2012
Dear Touchstones,
That is great! Thanks. We did discuss some last week about how they thought it went. They did notice that everyone was talking at once. They also mentioned that when their peers were talking, everyone was talking. However, when I was talking no one else was. We discussed this too. I knew this would be one of the more difficult parts to these discussions, but I didn’t realize how difficult. We conduct our next discussion on Thursday. I will let you know how it goes.
Thanks.
Michelle

1/23/2012
Hi Michelle,
You’re on the right track. Just keep encouraging them to reflect on and modify their own behavior. And, let them suffer when they aren’t following the ground rules. Surely some bossy student will try to organize a better effort among them! And the more they are frustrated by themselves, the faster they will come around. This requires patience on your part but it will pay off.

Also, don’t hesitate to use small groups to develop strategies for taking turns. Just keep in mind that any systematic approach will need to be dismantled quickly so that it doesn’t hinder the development of genuine discussion, which should not be a regulated interaction but instead should be a natural flow among the group.

Looking forward to hearing more soon!
Touchstones

1/27/2012
Dear Touchstones,
Ok. So, we completed week 2. We reviewed the ground rules and I asked them which one they thought we should work on improving. They all said “don’t speak when some one else is”. I told them to really focus on this as they discussed in their small group. As I walked around and sat in, they were definitely trying. Once we came to whole group, it became chaotic again. However, they were not as loudly disorganized as last week, and we had several different students participate and respond to another’s comments. There was still a lot of talking at once and side conversations. I am surprised, but I did notice a difference from last week. There were even two students that told others to stop talking. At the end we took five minutes to talk about how it went (with hand raising this time. 
Thanks
Michelle

1/27/2012
Hi Michelle,
Thanks for sending the update! That definitely sounds like progress to me, so keep doing what you’re doing. The fact that some of the students are telling each other to be quiet is a real sign that they are starting to self-govern. It won’t happen over night, but it will happen.

Keep using a very direct and hands-on approach for a couple more sessions and see where you are. Ask your students to score themselves as better or worse after each class and to offer a specific example. Also ask who in the class is frustrated and why. You may even want to ask your class to describe what a really good discussion would look like before you begin any Touchstones work next time. Get them to think and outline what they think would be good and then see what they do with it.

Are there students who are deliberately interfering or is there just a lot of enthusiasm and desire to speak?

Have a great weekend!
Touchstones

2/2/2012
Dear Touchstones,
O.k. so it is week 3 in my third grade class. Wow!!!!!! Today we had a run of 6 people talking without interruption. PROGRESS AT LAST! There were also a few students who were telling others to stop talking. Towards the end after one student shared his opinion, another student (instead of giving his opinion) question the other’s statement. Woooohoooo!!!!!!!!!!!! Our focus is still on not interrupting, but I liked what I saw today. Any other suggestions u have would be great. 
Michelle

2/2/2012
Hi Michelle,
This is GREAT news! Congratulations. I would say that you should stick to the path that you’re on—clearly you’re on the right one! You’re seeing progress already and that’s wonderful. I’m sure that you provide encouragement for your students, but a verbal “nice job” at the end of class and a nod toward your “problem” students if they are improving may reinforce their hard work.

Have a great rest of the week, and thanks again for keeping us posted on how things are going!
Touchstones

2/2/2012
Dear Touchstones,
Thanks. I was very frustrated the first day we did this. I was ready to give up. I thought “there is no way that they will be able to do this. They are too young and have too many behavior issues.” I am glad that I e- mailed you b/c it helped me to keep going. I continue to encourage them each time and use specific examples. They like it when I notice that someone has spurred a productive discussion segment.
I will continue to email you on Thursday’s so that I can keep you informed as well as help me digest the day’s events. 
Michelle