Recall
and Pairing
Recall has
to do with remembering. Re-member means bringing again to your limbs,
bringing it
into the will, making it your own.
What has
been presented as new content has a chance to settle with a night’s sleep in
between, to go deeper and take on greater significance than if the content is
skipped over too quickly.
Recall is a
perfect chance to get all the children’s active and meaningful engagement.
The
teacher’s preparation is paramount in successful recall. The skill lies in
being able to frame the questions so that the children can achieve their best.
The
3 day rhythm plays a important part in the recall
process, although many teachers find a 2 day rhythm easier to work with:
Day 1:
children listen to new content.
Day 2:
recall yesterday’s content, bring it back to consciousness, have some thoughts
about it.
Day 3:
Understand the ideas behind the content and apply through independent work
(book work/modelling/drama etc).
Some
examples as starting points for recall:
·
“Who can remember yesterday’s story,
hands up…”
·
Teacher names 3 children to come up and
tell yesterday’s story.
·
Teacher tells 3 children to listen
carefully as it will be their turn to retell
·
tomorrow. Get 2 confident children with
1 shy one or someone who never raises their hand.
·
Go along rows and children all say one
thing.
·
Children’s names are written on
lollipop sticks which are selected randomly
·
by the teacher; this way the teacher
can differentiate the question depending
on the child’s ability.
·
All children asked to say one word in
relation to theme, which teacher writes
up in preparation for writing.
·
Ask all children to write down one
sentence they remember.
·
One person starts retelling and at
crucial point, teacher asks next one to
·
continue.
For
classes 1&2:
·
Acting out story
·
Mime
·
Modelling
·
Free rendering
·
Question/answer (hands up) “What did
the king say to the maid?” “What was
the frog’s reply?”… single word
answers. This way the recall becomes very
bitty and may have a tendency to be
‘heady’ with no flow. Children in class 1
should be given the opportunity to
recall the whole story, each taking a turn.
This aids memory, helps them learn to formulate complete
sentences and gives ideas for their own writing.
Recall
and Pairing
On
the subject of hands up, in some schools, the teachers tell the
children
there will
be no hands up but ‘wait time’ so no one can rush to put up their
hand and
give the answer before others have had time to think. This leads to:
• all
children being given a fairer chance
• children
learn to listen more carefully
• more time
for the slower ones to think and not feel pressured
• improved
overall confidence of the less able children
• greater
possibility of respect for each other’s ideas
• the quick
children are not always the king pin
• the able
ones have to learn to hold back
• there are
valuable moments of quiet in the classroom
• there is
less of a tendency of unformulated or jumbled thoughts
Asking
Questions
When
questioning children in recall, different types of questions elicit different
types
of answers:
1) Ones
where only 1 answer can be correct (2+2=4)
2)
Deliberately incorrect statements (to wake children up) “Glasgow is the capital
of
Scotland”
(yes/no answers)
3) Ones
where there will be open-ended answers, where it’s a matter of opinion/for
debate. (In
Waldorf education we don’t ask children enough of these questions,
especially
when we test them at end of main lesson) Such questions encourage
children to
think for themselves. It gives confidence as no answer is incorrect.
Pairing
and working with a desk partner:
The idea of
working with a desk partner or pairing is not new in main stream
education.
As a means of getting all children actively engaged in the learning process in
many areas of main lesson, it has only really been taken up more recently in
Waldorf schools. It puts emphasis on the children’s learning rather than the
teacher’s teaching, resulting in moving away from the teacher doing most of the
work. Recall is the obvious area where it is can be used successfully and positively.
One teacher
I know of worked with her class in the following way: At the beginning
of each main
lesson, the children took the name of one of their class out of a hat and
that was the
person they sat next to and were paired with for that main lesson. The
following
main lesson they had a new desk partner. The teacher said it took some
getting used
to for the class and ultimately they enjoyed working with different
children
each new main lesson. The challenge for the teacher was when two children
were paired
who did not necessarily get on or who disrupted the lesson! She was
insistent,
however, that the pair remain together and learn to get on as best they could.
This can
only work, I think, in a well-held class with a clear authority in the helm!
Benefits
of recall through pairing:
• It trains
children’s listening
• It gets
children in the habit of talking to the point
• It gives
children time to think
• It
increases confidence
Recall
and Pairing
• All
children are called upon to be active and participate
• There is a
break from the teacher’s voice!
• Children
who always have hands up and are listened to get used to not being the
centre of
the universe
• It’s
easier for the teacher to see if someone is being lazy and is not engaged.
• It has the
potential of being more interesting!
• It makes a
longer-lasting impression
• All
children become familiar with sharing ideas and speaking out
Some
Recall ideas involving pairing in main lesson ~ class 5 or 6 upwards:
·
Tell each other something about yesterday’s
content. Be prepared to share this with the class.
·
Take turns in telling each other
yesterday’s story.
·
What did you understand was happening
in yesterday’s experiment on colour?
·
Talk to your partner about whether you
feel sending the aristocracy to the guillotine was justified. If not, why?
·
Discuss yesterday’s content and write
down 2 things each.
·
Make a plan with your desk partner
about what you would want to include in the writing on Spain from yesterday’s
main lesson.
·
Talk about the content of yesterday’s
presentation. Each write several sentences, read each other’s and make
suggestions about what the other has written which you feel is valuable.
·
Explain yesterday’s decimal work to
your desk partner.
Other
ideas for pairing; maths/English work:
·
Correct partner’s work (spelling)
·
Check partner on 10 spellings coming up
in test.
·
Piece of descriptive writing, check
partner’s work for use of adjectives, and make suggestions of other descriptive
words they could use instead of ‘nice’
·
Teacher hands class piece of writing,
poorly composed; together with desk
partner, rewrite and read to class.
·
Remind desk partner about “I before E”
rule (and others)
·
Test your desk partner on times tables.
·
Can you see partner’s mistake in maths?
Take 2 minutes to explain where
mistake lies.
·
Long division: child has made
deliberate mistake; desk partner must find it.
·
Remind each other of yesterday’s
percentage work and set 3 calculations for
the other to do in the same vein.
·
Recall the rule for multiplying
fractions.
Angela Querido
September 2015
