Is anybody listening?

Next time you are at a metropolitan dinner party / down the pub, try this conversational gambit:

"Arthur, what do you think about what Sheila just said?"

Chances are Arthur will say something interesting in response to Sheila, whether they agree or not.

Now try the same question in a Maths lesson. No hands up - just 'cold call' a child.

"Sam, what do you think about what Alice just said?"

Half the time I tried this, I got the answer "I don't know, I wasn't listening."

I began to realise that the children in my classes were very good at 'listening', as long as that meant looking at the teacher; they were not accustomed to listening to each other, still less to responding to each other.

If the children in a class don't see that they learn things together, and don't value hearing other answers, they miss out on a lot of valuable experience.

I have tried strategies such as bringing children to the front of class and making them the teacher, but that isn't practical for every response. So I've starting a two fold approach.

First of all I praise good listening. When a child responds to another child, even if it is just to reiterate what the first child contributed, I recognise and praise them for listening well. I try to cold call children who are modelling good listening to contribute and make this expectation explicit. If a child doesn't have anything to say, I ask the previous child to repeat what they said.

Secondly, I've started to use the ABC model for responding to each other. after a co tribute on, I cold call another child and other them the choice of:
A Agree with the first child (and say why)
B Build on the first contribution,  but develop it.
C Challenge the first contribution.

I saw this strategy outlined in 'Making Every Primary Lesson Count' by Jo Payne and Mel Scott