Inspiring Dialogue: Dialogic Teaching

In this weeks reading we had to read a chapter about Dialogic Tools to use in our future classrooms. A Dialogic Tool is defined as an activity, heuristic, assemblage, guide, or other mechanism a teacher uses in planning and practice that helps scaffold students into talking to learn. In basic terms it's a strategy to improve student talking. Using dialogic Tools in your classroom will insure you the teacher ask authentic questions that will create discussion in class, rather then right and wrong questions.

Also in this chapter there is Teacher-Led Tools and Student-Led Tools, both of which I found interesting and relatable as a student.

Some examples of Teacher-Led Tools that I liked were Four Corners and Take A Stand. Both of these strategies are both that I would like to use while practicing. Four Corners will be helpful in the classroom because it will ask students from each corner of their choosing to elaborate on their stances and interpretations. Along with Take A Stand, which is very similar to Four Corners, will help students get up from their seat and choose a side of the room, where they "stand" on the discussion.

There were many Student-Led tools that were mentioned in this chapter. Some that I found that would be practical in my future classroom were Fishbowl, Gallery Walk, Socratic Seminar, and Role-Playing Games. Fishbowl will help students discuss and take notes together and hear the opinions of all students. Gallery Walk will once again get the students up and moving together to see all opinions of certain quotes and questions. They will also be able to write or talk about their opinions of the artifacts. Socratic Seminar is a great lesson for the teacher to step back and let the students run their own lesson. This strategy is a great deal of preparation for the students, but will show their handwork and dedication. Role-Playing games will be a fun and silly experience for the students. When they get to pretend to be talk show hosts or radio callers they will be able to have fun and also learn more with a deep discussion with the author.

Dialogic Tools are extremely important for future classrooms because it helps with deeper understandings from the students. To my knowledge as a student I know that I have always hated just the standard