The outcome was typical of past experiences. The students were shy to share ideas at the start. They Year 5 students were more reluctant than the Year 6 students who had a year of experience in comparison.
Half of the Year 5 group only spoke once with some prompting and encouragement. A couple of Year 5s spoke more than 5 times. The Year 6 group were more confident and dominated the conversations.
Most responses consisted of the students responding to a question that was asked by the teacher. Only in the second half of the seminar did the students tend to piggy back off the ideas of others and begin to expand on their own statement.
Next steps:
- Provide strategies and opportunities for the Year 5 students and some of our Year 6 students to build their confidence and increase their level of participation.
- Provide more resources and tasks around speaking, listening and thinking e.g. more tasks where students have to research a topic and then present to the class.
