Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Supporting Classroom Discourse with Non-verbal Communication Norms

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.




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