[Cate3624]

Hello,

I just graduated and my supervisor told me that I needed to improve on student interaction? So what ways can I improve on my student interaction? If you can give me links, that would be great

[uoducks]

improve the interactions your students have with one another? Academic or social? Or do you mean your interactions with students?
Have you used Gonoodle.com ?

Look up Hattie's Visible Thinking. John Saphier's Making Student Thinking Visible is excellent.
There isn't a simple one-size-fits answer.

I'd probably go back to your supervisor and get specifics and more advice. Try not to be defensive. Be open to learning and improving. I graduated in 1997 and was woefully unprepared. My 15K grad program bought me a teaching license and a start. I did my own self study and read dozens of books and attended seminars. I learned class management and tons of techniques over the years.
Consider your real education on being a teacher just starting now.
Good luck.

[mauiwow]

Do you mean interaction as in conversing or engaging students? If it is engagement I recommend getting to know they and surveying topics they enjoy/like and incorporating those ideas into teaching Best of luck!

[ancientciv]

You might want to look in to Kagan Structures for cooperative learning - I've found them very helpful!

[K12ESLteacher]

In simple terms your supervisor probably would like to see the students be more engaged and cooperative amongst themselves. In other words, lean toward student-centered classroom.

A few things I do are the following:
1. During minilessons and active engagement I encourage students to build upon each other's ideas or elaborate on each other's ideas. To support such language I provide students with anchor charts and sentence starters. This is also a great time to build student's vocabulary and ask students to practice it. A very important aspect of doing this is that students do not feel like they have to report to you, but rather - to each other. For example, when student A is responding to my question, student B turns to student A and comments/adds/agrees/disagrees with what student A said. For example:
Student A: I believe that _______ is a strong claim because _____.
Student B (turned to student A): I agree with you _________; however, to make this claim even stronger I suggest that _______.
Student C: (whatever the outcome is)

2. During group work/collaborative learning I ask that students follow agreed upon expectations for small group work and interactions. As part of the classroom routine/expectations students are assigned roles within group (weeks later they assign roles each other), follow through the directions for the work, and then come up with a plan to justify and then present their work.
For example, students have just been taught P.I.E. - author's purpose. Within small group there are 4 students. Each will have a role: a reader, a writer, a presenter and a thinker. In my class everybody is a thinker! So,having a role within a group gives students responsibility and holds each accountable for producing work. Also, once someone reads, others have to listen. Then, whoever writes, the presenter has to work closely with. Finally,

3. During the share, a presenter shares the work. Once again, there has to be a structure put in place for share. Students have to know what steps they take as they share.

Important: during such procedures, students talk 90% of the time while the teacher only facilitates and clarifies. This has worked beautifully in my classroom the last two years. Students' confidence grew immensely!

I hope it helps!

[Foundations]

There is a book called Total Participation Techniques that promotes student engagement and interaction. You can also google "Total Participation Techniques," and it will give you documents full of ideas. Best wishes!

[whatever]

Something I still struggle with on a daily basis after 10 years:

On the very most basic level, make sure your own speech is slower and clearly spoken and then give them time to process and respond.

I know there are times when silence bugs me so I keep talking to fill the [uncomfortable] void. Our students often cannot keep up and/or have the time to process or respond. We have to build that time in on purpose.

Otherwise, we may inadvertently train our students that if they just sit quietly and don't respond in a timely manner, we (the teacher) will answer/respond to our own questions.

I am especially awkward with the silent gaps when nervous, like when I am being observed.

[MamaChickadee]

I agree with checking into Kagan Structures, if it is student to student interaction that you need to improve upon. I have been teaching for over 25 years, and I just went through one day of Kagan training. It is something that you can implement in your daily routine and strengthen student engagement and learning.