Raising hands during discussion vs. not

[Kendall]

I read the following in a book called The Reading Workshop by Serafini. Maybe this will only apply to those of us with larger families or those who teach co-op type classes. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. I want to do more discussions with 5 or 6 of my children participating (age almost 4 to 14) and had been wondering if I need to institute raising hands! After reading this I am wondering some more. I want to discuss how to apply his comments(and whether they apply) to our homeschools.

 

 

pg 71 Sharing without raising hands

If students can carry on a conversation without raising their hands to be recognized, they have to pay more attention to each others’ comments in order to know when to speak. Because they are trying to add to the conversation, children have to be listening to each other and must learn how to politely enter the conversation. I believe that when children are used to raising their hands, they simply “tune out†until they hear their name called. This is not an easy habit to break and takes much practice, but the effects on the quality of the discussions can be remarkable.

[MomatHWTK]

I think I might try formally making all my teaching situations "no hand raising" situations. The only time anyone really has to raise their hand at home is to interrupt me- which I can't stand. When I am not actually trying to read a sentence or tell them something, we all discuss the topic freely. When I teach at church the kids just all pipe in when they get a chance.

 

I think it probably would be just as easy to work on teaching the appropriate social cues as it would be to teach everyone to raise their hands. Now- if I could just get my two middle children to not pop their hands up the minute I start talking. :glare:

[mumto2]

When I am teaching my kids touch my hand so I know they have a question. That way I can finish my idea first. As soon as I pause they can talk. Hand raising and thumb wiggling are really distracting in the home environment. I think they would be in a classroom too but 20 kids can't reach over and touch the teacher!

[LillyMama]

:bigear:

 

I think it's different for age groups and situations. My 5.5 year old daughter raises her hand all the time and I think she got it from BSF and Sunday School. And I think half the time she's not listening while she waits her turn. The other half, she is listening and by the time I call on her, she's forgotten what she wants to say.

 

Personally, I have decided not to address it one way or the other. If she needs to know that behavior in order to get the most out of places I like her to go- Sunday School- then she can keep on doing it. But I'm not about to make my son do it in our home-schooling classroom. But you're juggling a bigger and more diverse group.

 

I had a study group leader in college that used this method: if you had an idea or question, you could raise your hand to ask the current speaker to pause. During the pause, you could write down your question, then indicate when you were ready for the speaker to continue. You didn't speak then, so the speaker's flow was less disrupted. Then there would be question/discussion time at the end. This was effective, but it also assumes a level of writing and focus of which I'm unsure of when it develops. Maybe you could do a mixture of these- have kids old enough to write take writing pauses, where younger kids were allowed to raise their hands?

[Ellie]

Seems to me there's a difference between people discussing things together, and someone asking (or answering) questions while a teacher is lecturing/teaching. The first wouldn't require anyone to raise his hand (although participants need to listen carefully and try not to interrupt); the second would.

[Bloggermom]

I don't require my children to raise their hands, but they do get some exposure to that during Sunday School at church.