In an earlier blog this month, I philosophize about why students were so weirdly quiet when I asked them to collaborate.
Then serendipitously, I got invited to virtually “sit in” Darin’s silent class discussion, simply by being added to a google space chat. The experience helped me rethink the role of silence, particularly in class spaces that are often noisy and competitive with voices and personalities. “Hey, introverts!” the experience seemed to shout, “this is your chance to interject all of the brilliant things you silently submit for your teacher but rarely assert in class discussion!”
I had this weird phrase in our ed identity draft: “just-in-time feedback”. A lot of you mentioned that it was too jargon-y, and I think you were right. So instead of defining it, I thought I’d illustrate what it looks like in real time . .. from the perspective of “sitting in” one of Darin Maier’s silent discussions 🙂 Thanks to the ease of google spaces, it’s easy to set up and run. I’m totally stealing this format for an my Eng 12 class today. Thanks, Darin. All the flavors of feedback.
Here’s how he set it up:
Then he listed the questions of the day:
Now for the questions: Over the last few weeks, we examined the first two decades of the 20th century, commonly referred to as the Progressive Era, which also included World War I. Just now, you should have finished watching or be finishing up the “1920-1929 Boom to Bust” episode of The Century: America’s Time. My initial questions for you to consider are as follows:
1) Were the 1920s a continuation of the trends of the first two decades of the 1900s, a rejection of them, or something in between?
2) To what degree (using a scale of 0 to 5 if you like, 0 being “not at all” and 5 being “entirely”) did people in the United States begin to develop a common identity as a people in the 1920s?
3) Were the apparent differences between the cities and rural areas in the 1920s a function of the 1920s themselves? Again, the 0 to 5 scale would be appropriate to use.
The students quickly jumped into high gear. And so did Darin, with his just-in-time feedback.
Sometimes this came in the form of a recommendation/request for more evidence.
Sometimes feedback came in the form of a question:
Sometimes his feedback came in the form of an additional resource for learning:
Sometimes affirmation with a bit of extra info:
And sometimes, maybe in the best of times, they come from a peer in the class:
It’s amazing how much teaching Darin did in the scope of a class period without saying a word.
Note: I should probably mention here that none of us can be as Darin-as-Darin. He happens to be particularly built for this kind of quick-paced, quick-thinking, battle-of-rationality that unfolds in real time (speech/debate anyone?) He also happens to know his stuff backwards and forwards, so improv’ing in the moment is more effortless for him than it might be for many of us (for example me, teaching a Shakespeare play I’ve never taught at the start of this year).
Still, I am inspired to learn from his example. I like to think his students were also inspired by the experience, although for some reason after all of Darin’s amazing feedback, only one adult got an accolade. He had a cameo appearance at the end of the chat:
