Entry 2 ~ Conversational Learning

I can tell that the teacher (Mrs. Grigg) really cares for her students and wants the best for them. For example, the day they were performing their musical, one of the girls was very nervous, and Mrs. Grigg calmed her down and gave her a hug.

As for conversational learning, the teacher labels the students' thinking. An example of this would be when she is doing a read-aloud, the students will make predictions and observations and she uses those terms to label what they are thinking. They have conversation during read-alouds, and she does a good job to anchor their thinking. We had talked before about how the administration wants the teachers to implement balanced literacy. I think that she wants to teach with balanced literacy, but she only uses it for part of the day, so she doesn't know the full purpose of it. During science lab, she uses open-ended questions to guide students' learning. But during math and word work, conversational learning lacks.