Towards the end of Term 2 both extension groups participated in a Paideia Seminar. The seminars were filmed and then I analysed how well the students participated during the seminars.
This is a graph that shows the Year 5&6 Extension group results. There were only 3 students who spoke at least 10 times or more. There were 8 students who spoke between 5-10 times. Four students spoke less than 5 times and three students were away. The more confident students tended to contribute more ideas and were able to elaborate on what they were saying.
Here is a graph of the Year 7&8 Extension students participation from their Paideia Seminar last term. One student dominated the conversations with more than 15 talk times. Another student who was also quite confident spoke more than 10 times. There were 8 students who spoke between 5-10 times. Five students spoke less than 5 times and two students were away. The students who spoke the most tended to be very self-confident and articulate. This was in contrast to the shy students who needed to be prompted to share.
This is the second year that I have been using Paideia Seminars to encourage students to think and to communicate clearly with others. Once again the confidence of the student makes a big difference in whether or not they participated effectively, regardless of whether they researched their inquiry topic effectively or not.
Next steps: To focus on helping the shy students use effective strategies to help them to prepare well and to share their ideas. To encourage the shy students to contribute more often in the next Paideia seminar at the end of the term.