Reflection 10

The meaning of "The teacher is the gatekeeper" is that teachers control most of the talking in the classroom. Teachers are invloved in about more than a thousand conversations with their student's everyday. That is a lot of verbal exhanges. It could be about the smallest things but teachers talk during most of the day. Phillip Jackson came up with the term gatekeeping to describe the things that keep teachers the busiest. As gatekeepers, it is up to the teacher who talks, when, and for how long, along with the normal direction of the communication. There are classroom patterns that have effects on the interaction between both the student and the teacher. Some of these patterns are beneficial and some not so much. About two-thirds of classroom time is nothing but talking. And all of that talk is from the teacher. If that is the case then there really isn't much conversation coming from the students. There is just a whole lot of listening. When teachers give lectures eighty five percent of the lecture is the teacher talking. There is just a lecture and direct. The teacher gives the lecture asks questions and reacts to the students comments. Yes, questioning triggers curiosity from the students but it is usually the teacher asking the questions. The teacher asks about three hundred and forty eight questions a day. It is very rare that a student will ask an academic question. Teachers should make it a part of the requirements for students to come up with at least five questions about each lesson. That will increase conversation between the teacher and the students, In my classroom i would have students sit in groups of five. Each student wil come up with one question about what I just taught. The students will dicuss what question they want to ask me as a group when I get to their table,. I will answer the question that the group has asked and have the other groups write down that groups question and my answer. I think this will help out with the interaction crisis and it will keep students invloved in the lecture. Most of the questions asked from students use only rote memory. Usually teachers only wait a few seconds for students to ask questions about what was just taught. I believe it takes more than a few seconds for the student to get their questions together in their head together before they say them aloud. Maybe the children are too shy or ashamed of their questions, and teachers should encourage them more to ask the question. Students are told to be quiet inthe classroom and just listen. However, silent students have less positive atitudes and lower achievemnt. New teachers should challenge themselves to turn their gatekeeping role into a way that is beneficial to students, instead of gatekeeping for behavior.