With so many classrooms making distinguished efforts to
incorporate collaborative conversations and discourse, this excerpt from Ellie
Cowen and Megan Nee’s article, 6 Hand Signals That Bring Learning to Life, really gives teachers an easy guide to
support non-verbal and verbal communication in the classroom.
One of the greatest challenges in teaching a classroom of
diverse learners is determining what students are thinking and how they are
feeling about the concepts being introduced or processed. Many of the thoughts
that pass through students' minds would be of great value for their teachers to
know, but opportunities to hear them can feel few and far between.
In many classrooms, students use non-verbals to communicate
certain thoughts when teachers introduce hand signals for bathroom breaks,
"quiet" signals, and silent cheers. But teachers can look to
non-verbals for more than classroom management. During discourse, visible and
nonintrusive signals provide instant feedback for peers and valuable insight
for teachers about students' moment-to-moment reasoning and comprehension of
the content being discussed. They are a great starting point to collaborative classroom discourse!
Here are six handy hand signals try in your classroom. Call them whatever you want, but here are some visuals and the descriptions below.
"I agree!"
The "I agree" symbol, the pinky and thumb extended
like “hang loose”, derived from the ASL sign with the same meaning, is popular
in American classrooms as an outlet for enthusiastic agreement. When a student
hears a strategy or solution path that matches his thinking, he makes the
"me, too" sign, acknowledging his classmate's reasoning, expressing
that he had a similar idea, and communicating his understanding of what has
been shared.
"I disagree."
When students disagree with a statement that they've just
heard or need to hear more so that they can follow the speaker's reasoning,
they hold up a single index finger to express that they have a "point of
interest."
"I have
something to add."
The "build upon" signal consists of placing one
fist on top of the other to represent the idea of "building."
Students use this to express that they have something to say that will add to a
classmate's idea.
"I can
paraphrase or restate."
Students make air quotes to express that they can paraphrase
or restate in another way what they've just heard.
"Complete the
thought."
This signal, made by touching the fingertips of both hands
together in an "A" shape can be used by teachers or students to
remind a speaker that she needs to include a unit or a label, be more precise, or
to use a complete sentence to express her thinking.
"I have a
conjecture."
After being introduced to conjectures, an opinion or
conclusion formed on the basis of the information known, a students can show
the "conjecture" signal: they place a fist, which represents an
imaginary light bulb, on top of their heads to indicate that they have a
conjecture to share.
Adapted from Edutopia: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/hand-signals-bring-learning-to-life-ellie-cowen
