Quiz Show Classroom

In chapter 10 of Weinstein and Mignano's "Elementary Classroom Management" we further see the importance of classroom discussions versus the standard I-R-E protocol that teachers have seem to have adopted. I thought the opening of this chapter put it brilliantly, "the interaction is more like a quiz show than a true conversation" (p. 299). I had never had thought about it this way but when you think about it, I-R-E and quiz shows are pretty similar. Upon further consideration, I definitely do not want to be the Bob Barker of my classroom.

The text continues by giving us the example of Barbara's classroom recitation. I also thought this was useful because it showed a teacher-directed lesson that at first glance might seem like your typical I-R-E quiz show but also, as the text explains, is a functional tool. The text states "five useful functions of classroom recitations" (p. 302). First, it was important that Barbara knew that her students were understanding the text they were reading. It was also important that she asked somewhat higher level thinking questions instead of "who is the main character?" Next, Barbara was able to "prod" her students into thinking about the answers. Also, she was able to interact with most of her students during this recitation. Lastly, most of the students were able to keep up with Barbara's questions. I thought it was also useful that Barbara explained her reasoning for using this recitation, teacher-guided lesson.

I think discussions in the classroom are hard to come by, especially in the lower grades. Although I do think to some point the I-R-E has its advantages (Such as in Barbara's example), many I-R-E lessons come off as a quiz show and as teachers we need to strive to get away from this.