Verbal Behavior of Students

Part 2 – Analysis 
1. In your analysis of the verbal flow you have observed, include responses to the following questions and any other observations you feel are worthwhile. 
a. How many students used their voice during class? 
13

Who did and who did not? 
Did: A6, B3, B4, B6, B7, B8, C1, C4, D1, D3, D5, D6, D8
Did not: C8, D4

What was the percentage of students who spoke? 
13/15=86.7%

b. Was there an observable difference between talkers and non-talkers by gender, race, seating pattern, or achievement? 
It certainly seemed like students sitting near the front were much more engaged with the course content while students in the back were more likely to have conversations with each other, especially D5 and D6. Something I noticed while making this chart was that most of the students sitting in the front happened to be the higher achieving students, I asked my CT if this was done on purpose and he was surprised at the pattern. While it wasn't done on purpose he certainly agreed that with the exception of C1, all the high achieving students were in the front. So whether the students in the front were more engaged because they were higher achieving or more engaged because they sat in the front or were high achieving because they were more engaged because they were sitting in the front is hard to say.

c. Was there an observable difference between those who were directed to respond, those who always gave correct responses, and those who gave irrelevant responses? 
I only found 3 instances of students giving irrelevant answers. I wouldn't say there was a particular pattern to it.

d. Did an individual or small group dominate? Explain. 
B4 and B8 were by far the most dominant. Interestingly enough, the previous day, B4 told me that he "sucked at math". I decided to show him this chart at the end of class and told him how he answered so many questions correctly that I had to start a new line to keep track of them. He seemed surprised and wrote it off as just being a vocal person. My CT told him whether that's the case or not, being strongly engaged in class is how you get better and B4 seemed happy to hear that.

e. How did responses, statements, questions, and so differ? 
I honestly didn't see much difference. Most of the class was on topic while discussing and questions and comments were almost all related to the subject matter.

f. Was there an observable difference in characteristics between those who talked about the mathematics and those who talked about non-subject matter? 
Besides what I've stated earlier about the higher achieving kids in the front being more on topic, not really. The most on topic students were B4, B8, and C1; two Hispanic boys and one Middle-Eastern girl. The most off topic students were D5 and D6 a Hispanic boy and girl. I don't think race or gender played into who was or wasn't invested.

Part 3 – Reflection 1. Use your responses to the questions above to also respond to the following question: a. Based on your observation and analysis, how are you thinking about the verbal communication of your students and what are some strategies you might use to encourage verbal communication that will help you achieve your goals? 

I think my discussion with B4 is the biggest takeaway. Here we had a student who had no faith in his own ability. Even though I believed in him and was shocked when he told me he "sucked at math" another teacher might not have thought too hard about it. However, when presented with irrefutable physical evidence, we found he was actually doing the best in the class (at least when comparing students on classroom engagement). I think doing exercises like this and keeping track of students' activities during class is a good method of assessment besides homework and quizzes.