"What's worth knowing, and what's worth
learning, and what is education really for?" (p. 225)
DEBRIEFING
Debriefing is the central piece to facilitating play based learning. It takes time to learn the skills for debriefing, and the first step to effective debriefing is to consider the power of our responses. As teachers, we interact with children continually throughout the day. Our goal should be to respond thoughtfully, appropriately, and sensitively in ways that are helpful, not hurtful.
It is important for us to consider our power, and formulate responses that are respectful and empowering, and that attend to what the child has said.
Learning the interaction skills for debriefing...
Attending
All successful interactions begin with learning the skill of attending – listening closely to what another is saying. When attending, we should:
· Make and hold eye contact
· Listen to what is being said – show with our body language that we care about what the child is saying
· Discern the tone, and nuances of expression
· Look for evidence of any affect that the student is revealing
· Be aware of indicators of stress shown by the student
· Avoid commenting on the student’s idea
· Avoid giving our own idea in response to what the student is saying
· Take in the full meaning of what is being said
· Make it safe for the student to present the idea (p. 202)
Upon hearing the child’s idea, the teacher should formulate a response that
· Does not evaluate the student’s idea, in either word or tone
· Thoughtfully and accurately paraphrases the student’s idea
· Is respectful; shows natural interest; is non-judgmental; and helps the student feel safe, non-defensive,
and non-threatened (pp. 202-203)
Responses that paraphrase
Paraphrasing is the first skill of debriefing, and is the most natural form of responding. It allows you to fully attend rather than thinking of your response, sets debriefing interactions in motion, and encourages and extends pupil thinking. Paraphrasing may say what the child has said back in different words, or may interpret or read affect into the statement. Close paraphrasing more accurately captures the child’s idea, while reading in and interpreting increase the risk of misinterpreting the child’s idea.
“Paraphrasing, used skillfully, can lead to rich and provocative debriefing sessions, in which big ideas are illuminated.” (pp. 205-6) However, without careful attention to detail, and a defined big idea, paraphrasing may also lead nowhere.
Additional types of responses
More sophisticated types of responses include responses requiring analysis and responses that generate new ideas. These types of responses should be used sparingly and interspersed into the discussion as they raise the level of “cognitive risk” (p. 211) by challenging children's thinking.
Responses that require analysis ask children to go beyond their observations.
They may:
· Ask for examples
· Ask if assumptions are being made
· Ask where the child got the idea from
· Ask if the child has thought of alternatives
· Ask that comparisons be made
· Ask that the child give some data to support the idea (p. 207)
As children get used to being responded to in this way they learn “habits of thinking” (p. 207). As children develop habits of thinking, they:
· Learn to take responsibility for what they say
· Base their arguments on data
· Examine alternatives before choosing
· Think about ideas rather than merely collecting bits of information
Responses that challenge children’s thinking in the most sophisticated way call for the generation of new ideas.
These responses ask children to extend thinking beyond observation, and may ask them to:
· Generate hypotheses
· Interpret data
· Identify criteria used in making judgments
· Apply principles in new situations
· Make predictions about what is theoretically possible
· Explain how a theory may be tested
· Create new and imaginative schemes (p. 211)
These more challenging types of responses should also be used sparingly – only once or twice in a session. The nature of these responses will shift the inquiry in new directions, and too many of this type of response will disrupt the natural flow of the conversation. Thoughtful paraphrasing grounds discussion, keeping it on track and relaxed, while more challenging responses used sparingly encourage divergent thinking on the topic being explored.
Why should we debrief?
Wassermann defines the goal of debriefing as encouraging children think more about their ideas and what they are saying, rather than trying to elicit ‘correct’ answers. Debriefing sessions end “on a note of unfinished business” (p. 224), and beg for replay so that children can make new discoveries.
In many important matters, there are no clearly defined right answers. Often, the answer depends on the circumstances. We (our group) feel that it is important to encourage children to think critically about issues, and to be flexible in their thinking. Wassermann suggests that thinking raises the tolerance for ambiguity, and encourages us to explore the unknown. She then asks a question that struck each of us: “What’s worth knowing, and what’s worth learning, and what is education really for?” (p. 225)
Critique
In this section, we appreciated the reminder of the power our responses hold, as well as the advice to remain neutral in our responses, rather than imbuing them with judgment - positive or negative. We also agree that it can be difficult not to give the 'right' answer, and to accept that many questions do not have a single right or wrong answer. We like that debriefing ends on a note of unfinished business, inviting further investigation. Our group considered the reality that while we may utilize a strategy such as this on our own teaching, next year's teacher may not. We agreed that we can only control what we do ourselves, and that for us, it is important to foster critical thinking skills in our students, and to provide them with hands on, inquiry based activities, regardless of what the next year holds.
Some of us found the idea of debriefing rather daunting, and Wassermann herself acknowledges that it takes time to develop the skills to respond and debrief naturally.
Debriefing is the central piece to facilitating play based learning. It takes time to learn the skills for debriefing, and the first step to effective debriefing is to consider the power of our responses. As teachers, we interact with children continually throughout the day. Our goal should be to respond thoughtfully, appropriately, and sensitively in ways that are helpful, not hurtful.
It is important for us to consider our power, and formulate responses that are respectful and empowering, and that attend to what the child has said.
Learning the interaction skills for debriefing...
Attending
All successful interactions begin with learning the skill of attending – listening closely to what another is saying. When attending, we should:
· Make and hold eye contact
· Listen to what is being said – show with our body language that we care about what the child is saying
· Discern the tone, and nuances of expression
· Look for evidence of any affect that the student is revealing
· Be aware of indicators of stress shown by the student
· Avoid commenting on the student’s idea
· Avoid giving our own idea in response to what the student is saying
· Take in the full meaning of what is being said
· Make it safe for the student to present the idea (p. 202)
Upon hearing the child’s idea, the teacher should formulate a response that
· Does not evaluate the student’s idea, in either word or tone
· Thoughtfully and accurately paraphrases the student’s idea
· Is respectful; shows natural interest; is non-judgmental; and helps the student feel safe, non-defensive,
and non-threatened (pp. 202-203)
Responses that paraphrase
Paraphrasing is the first skill of debriefing, and is the most natural form of responding. It allows you to fully attend rather than thinking of your response, sets debriefing interactions in motion, and encourages and extends pupil thinking. Paraphrasing may say what the child has said back in different words, or may interpret or read affect into the statement. Close paraphrasing more accurately captures the child’s idea, while reading in and interpreting increase the risk of misinterpreting the child’s idea.
“Paraphrasing, used skillfully, can lead to rich and provocative debriefing sessions, in which big ideas are illuminated.” (pp. 205-6) However, without careful attention to detail, and a defined big idea, paraphrasing may also lead nowhere.
Additional types of responses
More sophisticated types of responses include responses requiring analysis and responses that generate new ideas. These types of responses should be used sparingly and interspersed into the discussion as they raise the level of “cognitive risk” (p. 211) by challenging children's thinking.
Responses that require analysis ask children to go beyond their observations.
They may:
· Ask for examples
· Ask if assumptions are being made
· Ask where the child got the idea from
· Ask if the child has thought of alternatives
· Ask that comparisons be made
· Ask that the child give some data to support the idea (p. 207)
As children get used to being responded to in this way they learn “habits of thinking” (p. 207). As children develop habits of thinking, they:
· Learn to take responsibility for what they say
· Base their arguments on data
· Examine alternatives before choosing
· Think about ideas rather than merely collecting bits of information
Responses that challenge children’s thinking in the most sophisticated way call for the generation of new ideas.
These responses ask children to extend thinking beyond observation, and may ask them to:
· Generate hypotheses
· Interpret data
· Identify criteria used in making judgments
· Apply principles in new situations
· Make predictions about what is theoretically possible
· Explain how a theory may be tested
· Create new and imaginative schemes (p. 211)
These more challenging types of responses should also be used sparingly – only once or twice in a session. The nature of these responses will shift the inquiry in new directions, and too many of this type of response will disrupt the natural flow of the conversation. Thoughtful paraphrasing grounds discussion, keeping it on track and relaxed, while more challenging responses used sparingly encourage divergent thinking on the topic being explored.
Why should we debrief?
Wassermann defines the goal of debriefing as encouraging children think more about their ideas and what they are saying, rather than trying to elicit ‘correct’ answers. Debriefing sessions end “on a note of unfinished business” (p. 224), and beg for replay so that children can make new discoveries.
In many important matters, there are no clearly defined right answers. Often, the answer depends on the circumstances. We (our group) feel that it is important to encourage children to think critically about issues, and to be flexible in their thinking. Wassermann suggests that thinking raises the tolerance for ambiguity, and encourages us to explore the unknown. She then asks a question that struck each of us: “What’s worth knowing, and what’s worth learning, and what is education really for?” (p. 225)
Critique
In this section, we appreciated the reminder of the power our responses hold, as well as the advice to remain neutral in our responses, rather than imbuing them with judgment - positive or negative. We also agree that it can be difficult not to give the 'right' answer, and to accept that many questions do not have a single right or wrong answer. We like that debriefing ends on a note of unfinished business, inviting further investigation. Our group considered the reality that while we may utilize a strategy such as this on our own teaching, next year's teacher may not. We agreed that we can only control what we do ourselves, and that for us, it is important to foster critical thinking skills in our students, and to provide them with hands on, inquiry based activities, regardless of what the next year holds.
Some of us found the idea of debriefing rather daunting, and Wassermann herself acknowledges that it takes time to develop the skills to respond and debrief naturally.