Do you like to talk?
Are you a good listener?
When can talking help you
to learn?
This
year I have been using dyad’s in my class to help my middle school math
students to understand what they are learning.
During a dyad students pair up and discuss a given topic. There is a set amount of time for each
student to talk and during that time there are guidelines to follow.
1.
Only
the person who is the designated talker may be talking. The other person can only listen. They may not make any comments during the set
time.
2.
The
talker needs to talk the entire time about the subject even if it feels like he
is just babbling.
3.
The
listener must be an active listener.
They must try to make eye contact and not fiddle or look off into space.
4.
All
discussions during dyads are confidential.
They are a chance for people to verbalize what is in their head not for
others to get information to share.
5.
It
is best to start with a small amount of time and then work up. It is amazing how difficult it can be for
people to talk for a minute and to be quiet and listen for a minute.
I
always begin with basic prompts like “What will you do after school?” or “What is your favorite food and
why?”. Then when they are comfortable
with the concept I move on to prompts like “What is the process for adding
fractions?” or “How are mean, median and
mode different?”
I
think dyad’s are great for many reasons.
Dyad’s make a great buffer activity when the day’s lesson ends 3 minutes
early. Also, when a person is given a
chance to verbalize what they know about a topic it can enlighten them as to
how much (or how little) they really do know.
Sometimes it can help clarify an idea that a student was struggling with
or it can bring up questions that the student can then ask the next day.
Try
a dyad in your own classroom and see if you think it is also a worthwhile
activity.