Hi! This is Katie again! Today I am going to talk to you about what I learned from the article “The many faces of gertrude: Opening and closing possibilities in classroom talk – teachers’ and students’ understandings of classroom culture affect students’ development of critical thinking abilities. two classrooms with contrasting cultures are described here”.
Jane S Townsend and Barbara G Pace, professors at the University of Florida researched the connection between classroom talk and the classroom community. They pulled from two separate research studies conducted by two different researchers about Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother. One study was done on a writing-about- literature class in a community college taught by Mr. Phillips who has 20 years of experience.The purpose of this study was to find out how members of an interpretive community experienced the class, including their perceptions and understanding. The other study was done on an 11th grade literature class of 15 students taught by Ms. Hale who has 6 years of experience. The purpose of this study was to describe the students’ discourse moves, perspectives, and wonderings in a classroom context.
They found that as students adjust to the workings of the classroom community, they respond to the conversations in a way that is appropriate to their setting. If the classroom community allows open dialogue, then students will be exposed to multiple perspectives and will be given the opportunity to open their minds and think critically. If the classroom community is more closed, then students will not be given the opportunity to share their ideas. They also found out more about the benefit of questions in classroom dialogue. Asking questions in a way that allows for different answers and perspectives encourages students to actually answer the question because they will not be so afraid of being wrong. Students in Mr. Phillips class were always asked closed questions — questions that Mr. Phillips was looking for a very particular answer to. Because of this, the students would not really answer his questions because they never knew what he was looking for and thus they no longer wanted to try to guess. In contrast, the students in Ms. Hale’s classroom felt the freedom to not only answer their teacher’s questions, but to also ask questions of their own and pose their own musings to the class.
Additionally they recorded that the different degrees of contact the members of the classroom community have with one another play a factor in how comfortable members were in sharing their thoughts with the others during class. It is important to remember to create a space where students feel like they are fully members of the community so that they feel comfortable initiating dialogue that interests the other members of the classroom. When this space is created students feel comfortable dialoguing not only with their teacher, but also with their peers.
One limitation of this paper is that it only discusses two studies done about two classrooms. There are so many classrooms in the world that it can be hard to make generalizations when we are only given data about two of these classrooms. Additionally, these two classrooms were composed of very few students, approximately 15 students. Thus, we have no data on how classes with more students would have responded. But we did learn that the physical environment is especially important to consider when creating a classroom culture that is inviting to all students. It is important to configure the physical environment in such a way that invites students to dialogue with one another — it is suggested that students sit in such a way that they can see each others’ faces. Creating relationships with one another enables the students to feel comfortable with each other and allows them to participate in dialogue.
Here is the citation for this article:
Townsend, J., & Pace, B. (2005). The many faces of gertrude: Opening and closing possibilities in classroom talk – teachers’ and students’ understandings of classroom culture affect students’ development of critical thinking abilities. two classrooms with contrasting cultures are described here. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy : A Journal from the International Reading Association, 48(7), 584. https://search.proquest.com/docview/216916955?accountid=11488
Let's Talk About Talk 
Katie, I really liked the part where you said “If the classroom community allows open dialogue, then students will be exposed to multiple perspectives and will be given the opportunity to open their minds and think critically.” As a student I wasn’t always the one shouting out my ideas and sharing my views because I always hated the possibility of being wrong. I LOVED being in a classroom setting like this because it always made me not only feel more comfortable to share my ideas, but it made me understand whatever we were discussing better. Dialogue within the classroom is so important for the students understanding, social development, and even for teacher evaluation. How is your experience as a teacher with classroom discourse? As a student did you feel most of your classrooms invited for dialogue from everyone?
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