Oral Language Teaching Strategy:
Disagree Agreeably Help students cope with disagreements in social settings by showing them how they can disagree in discussions.
Time: one 30-minute lesson or two 15-minute lessons
Materials: Emotions/Interactions #10
Grouping: whole class or small group
Assessment: Kindergarten Oral Language Assessment Scale
FOCUSING ON THE PICTURE
[Analyzing/inferring]What do you think is happening in this picture? Who are the people in the picture?
Show students the picture. Ask them to look at it and think about what they see and what they think is happening.- Have students turn and share their ideas with a partner.
- Provide time for partner discussion and then invite a few partners to share their thinking with the group.
[Analyzing/inferring]
- Offer prompts to stimulate discussion:
- Who do you think these people are?
This picture makes me think that the children are trying to convince their mom to buy them different type of toys. I think the mom is thinking hard about the children’s choices.
Where do you think they are? What clues in the photograph make you think that?- Why do you think they are at the store?
- What do you think is happening? Why do you think that? We don’t know exactly what is happening, but it is okay to suggest different things that make sense and fit the picture.
GOING DEEPER
[Inferring/evaluating]- Offer prompts that focus the students on the emotions and interaction portrayed:
- How do you think the children feel? Why do you think that?
- What do you think the girl is saying to her mom? How might she be talking to her mom? (in a calm voice, an excited voice)
- What do you think the boy is thinking about the conversation? What clues from the picture tell you that?
- What do you think the mom is thinking about as she is looking at the game the girl is holding?
- How do you solve problems when you don’t get your way?
- As students are answering the questions, demonstrate to them how they can disagree in a positive way with one another’s understanding of what might be happening in the photograph.
Damian: I think the boy is mad his mom won’t buy him a toy.
Nicole: NO! He is trying to break the toy without his mom seeing him!
Teacher: It’s okay to disagree about what you think is happening in the photograph, but you need to say it in a quieter voice and explain what made you think that way.
You may conclude the lesson at this point and do the second part on the next day, or you may decide to continue and do Connecting and Predicting as part of the first lesson.
CONNECTING
Teaching Tip: If you decide to do Connecting and Predicting on the second day, begin your lesson by reviewing the picture with the students.
[Making connections]
- Ask student to connect their personal experiences to the picture. Prompts might include:
- Have you ever felt like either of these children? What was it that made you feel like way?
- How do you let someone else know how you are feeling when you are out with your family or friends?
- What do you do when you don’t get your way? How do others react to you?
- What do you do when you disagree with your mom or dad? A brother or sister? A friend?
How do you feel when you really want something but can’t have it? What do you do?
Offer specific prompts that fit the discussion you have had with the group.
PREDICTING
[Predicting]- Ask students to think about what might happen after this scene in the photograph.
- Invite the group to choose one possible scenario and act it out with partners. Encourage students to recognize that there are many sides to any situation and that it’s important to hear everyone’s ideas.
LESSON EXTENSIONS
- Use the picture as the basis of a shared writing lesson.
- Create a chart with three columns labelled boy/girl/mom.
- Under each column record what the students think each character is thinking and wanting in the picture.
- Discuss with students how the boy and girl would feel if they don’t get their way.
- Use the shared writing as a shared reading text and reread with the students.
- Place the shared writing text in the drama centre where students can take on one of the roles from the picture and role-play the scene.
FOLLOW-UP IN CENTRES
- Display the picture at the drama centre. Students can dramatize what they think the girl might be saying to her mom to convince her to buy the toy she is holding.
- At the art centre students can paint a picture of a toy they would like to have.
- Students can build a new toy using materials at the construction/building centre.
