See also The nature of classroom communication; Facilitating complex thinking.
Rosemary had planned a lesson for her second grade class about personal and social management, but she was not satisfied with it. She had taken the general goal directly from the state's official curriculum guide for health education: “Students will identify positive communication skills”, it said. But the guide said nothing about how to translate this goal into practice.
She was thinking that she would use puppets to demonstrate how to communicate in positive ways. The puppets would engage in dialogue, during which they would nod their heads appropriately, focus on the speaker, not interrupt, and keep still while listening. Maybe she would include a few communication mistakes as well times when a puppet might interrupt in appropriately, for example and challenge students to identify those moments.
Her plan seemed fine as far as it went, but she felt unsure about two things. One concern was how to make sure that students got the point of the activity, and did not regard it simply as entertainment. How should she introduce the activity? What should she say about it, either beforehand, during, or afterwards? What exactly should she tell students she is expecting from them?
The other concern was with the very format of the activity. She did not want students just to know about good communication skills; she wanted them to use them as well. The puppets did not seem to help with this latter purpose. How, she wondered, could she get students to take responsibility for practicing good communication? Was there a way to modify or extend the puppet activity that would do this? Or perhaps additional activities that students could do?
Think of the range of instructional strategies available to Rosemary. Then answer each of the following questions.
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