(a) Do any of the transcripts contain the sort of talk you, as a teacher, would expect to be taking place while children are working in school?
(b) Are the children functioning as a group? That is, are they collaborating with one another, or do they seem to be working individually?
(c) Are the children considering one another’s ideas carefully?
(d) Do the children request information from one another?
(e) Does anyone give a reason for what they say?
(f) Which transcript contains talk of a kind that you think is educationally most valuable?
Can you say why?
Transcript 1: Taking turns
Three children – Jade, Lucy and Micky – have been asked to work together to complete some non-verbal reasoning tests which were presented to them as ‘puzzles’. They have to choose which one of eight tiles will match a given background pattern.
Micky: See, I told you!
Lucy: Shut up, Micky!
Micky: People will think – Lucy: Stop showing off!
Jade: I know what these are.
Micky: One, two, three. Now it’s my turn.
Lucy: No, it’s not your turn! It was your turn just a minute ago!
Jade: It’s number eight.
Lucy: Now it’s your turn, Jade.
Jade: Number eight and number seven.
Micky: Now it’s my turn. Don’t tell me.
Jade: That one, Micky.
Micky: Big, middle, and small.
Lucy: It’s your turn – no, it’s my turn. It’s that one.
Micky: That one.
Lucy: No, that one’s already been on.
Micky: Where, where, where, where!
Lucy: Stop it! Shut up, Micky!
Jade: There’s loads that haven’t been on. There’s loads that haven’t been on!
Lucy: Micky, it isn’t your turn.
Jade: It’s my turn, actually.
Transcript 2: Does that look better?
Two children, Angela and Bridget, have been asked to work together to compile a page for the class newspaper. They have done some research in the library, and are now sorting out the format of the information on the screen.
Bridget: Does that look better?
Angela: OK.
Bridget: Down, yes.
Angela: OK, OK.
Bridget: Does that look all right or too small?
Angela: OK. What happened to my. . . it’s supposed to be on the first page/second page as well.
Angela: How does that sound? (reads quote)
Bridget: Yes that sounds good, we have to do something, because we’ve done animal testing on this, we’ve got to do something a bit . . . it’s a bit heavy.
Angela: Yes I know. I’m not going to put it on page three.
Bridget: Four.
Angela: I said I’m not going to put it on page three.
Bridget: Yes I know.
Angela: . . . we’ll have to scatter a few jokes on this page.
Bridget: Yes and some of the names quiz.
Transcript 3: Ain’t worth it, is it?
Three children – Gavin, Sara and Tammy – have been asked to work together to agree on a suitable outcome for a story which has a moral dimension. The story is about Kate, whose friend Robert has told her that he stole a box of chocolates from a shop, to give to his mother who is ill. Kate has promised not to tell anyone.
Gavin: (reads) Kate was worried. Should she tell her parents or not. Here are some of her thoughts. Stealing is wrong. I promised not to tell anyone. Robert is my friend, if I tell he will get into trouble. Robert is kind. He stole the chocolates for his sick mother. Talk together and decide what Kate should do. Then click on one of these buttons. Does not tell her parents or tells her parents. (reading ends) Right we’ve got to talk about it.
(Tammy looks at Sara) Tammy: What do you think?
Sara: What do you think?
Gavin: I think even though he is her friend then, um, she shouldn’t tell of him because, em, well she should tell of him, em, because was, was, if he’s stealing it it’s not worth having a friend that steals is it?
Tammy: No.
Sara: Why? I don’t agree.
Tammy: We said why. I think that one as well do you?
(Tammy points to the screen and looks at Sara) Gavin: I think she should tell her parents. Do you?
Tammy: I think I’m – I think even though he is her friend, because he’s stealing she should still tell her parents, and her parents might give her the money and she, she might be able to go to the shop and give them the money.
Sara: I think um –
Gavin: – but then she’s paying for the thing he stole, so I think he should get the money anyway. He should have his –
Sara: I think that he should go and tell his mother.
Gavin: – own money Mum.
Tammy: – even though she has promised.
Sara: Because he’s, well you shouldn’t break a promise really should you?
Gavin: What’s it worth having a friend if he’s going to steal?
Tammy: If he steals. If you know he’s stolen if she don’t tell her parents then he will be getting away with it.
Gavin: It’s not worth having a friend that steals is it?
(Three-second pause) Sara: OK then.
Tammy: Ain’t worth it is it?
Sara: Tells her parents. (Sarah clicks mouse) Gavin: Yeah go on.
Tammy: (reads) Robert stole a box of
Gavin: A box of chocolates from Mrs Cook’s shop.
Comment
The way the children have interpreted the teacher’s instruction to work togetherdiffers widely among the groups.
Transcript 1: Taking turns
In this group, the children are in competition with one another. Little information is shared, and much of the talk is to do with the impossible task of making the turn-taking ‘fair’. Each is trying to sort things out in their own way, but their styles of doing so conflict, and the children blame one another for this.
Transcript 2: Does that look better?
In this short extract from a much longer tape containing largely the same sort of talk, the chil- dren are working together agreeably. They accept one another’s ideas without querying them.
It is the sort of talk that goes on between friends who have decided to help one another. The page is being compiled steadily by the girls, with no critical appraisal of its quality or design.
Transcript 3: Ain’t worth it, is it?
In this group, the children engage with one another in a serious discussion. They question one another’s ideas, and ask one another for reasons to justify assertions they make. This is done in a spirit of open enquiry, and all voices are heard. Opinions are respected. Eventually they are able to reach a decision to which they have all contributed.