Student Roles

For this week’s reading, “Student Roles” from “A New View of Discussion” by Janice F. Almasi, I learned about four different roles that students can play during a discussion versus during a recitation. These roles are inquisitor, facilitator, evaluator, and respondent. Prior to reading the description of these individual roles, I was quite apprehensive that these roles may not be as unique in a discussion versus a recitation as the introductory paragraph suggested. However, subsequent to reading the descriptions of the respective roles, I realized that there really are four potential roles that students can play during a discussion among peers.

After reading about the roles, I began to analyze my prior experience observing Elementary School students during discussions and recitations. As stated in the text, respondent is a role that students have traditionally played; it is also a role that I have frequently observed in both discussions and recitations. Inquisitor is a role that I have seen some students play during a recitation, though I have seen this role played much more frequently during discussions. For example, I recently observed a discussion amongst several of the second graders at my field placement asking each other to explain the rational behind each other’s interpretation of a poem. Facilitator is a role that I had a more difficult time racking my brain to think of a personal example. However, there is a girl in my field placement who, when working with groups or having a group discussion about a topic, always tries her best to incorporate other children in her group by asking their opinions about previous statements. Finally, the role of evaluator is one that, for me, seems to go hand in hand with inquisitor. This is because many times, by being inquisitive, the children begin to challenge each other’s ideas.

I have realized, after reading this particular section, that students can gain a plethora of knowledge through participating in a discussion. By this I mean that students are able to learn how to act as an inquisitor, facilitator, evaluator, and respondent; all of which are roles that are frequently played in real-life discussions. Through learning these roles in a familiar and safe context (school), children can then eventually feel comfortable using the roles in their everyday lives.