Comments on: @nstearns do you have a pencil? http://lazyteacher.edublogs.org/2008/07/04/nstearns-do-you-have-a-pencil/ Classroom Ju-Jitsu or Rationalized Inertia? You decide. Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:11:27 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 hourly 1 By: Vicki Davis http://lazyteacher.edublogs.org/2008/07/04/nstearns-do-you-have-a-pencil/comment-page-1/#comment-2 Vicki Davis Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:52:32 +0000 http://lazyteacher.edublogs.org/?p=24#comment-2 I use it in the classroom and have found that it is excellent for test reviews, group notetaking, and when I'm sharing a lot of links or starting a new online web technology (sharing the links helps a lot.) I wouldn't use it in all cases, but it is great for posing questions and including beginners or quieter people in the conversation. I've seen many people that don't talk emerge into the class conversation because of amazing contribution in the backchannel. There is a time and place for this (aka attention) -- but if the focus is on the material -- then it is focusing. I teach my students how to focus on the material and we talk about being a "professional student" in our classroom spaces. If they go way off on a tangent - they aren't paying attention and the backchannel moderator (I always appoint one AND a google jockey) is to pull it back to the topic at hand. Done right, a backchannel is a great addition. Done wrong, it is just another distraction. I use it in the classroom and have found that it is excellent for test reviews, group notetaking, and when I’m sharing a lot of links or starting a new online web technology (sharing the links helps a lot.) I wouldn’t use it in all cases, but it is great for posing questions and including beginners or quieter people in the conversation.

I’ve seen many people that don’t talk emerge into the class conversation because of amazing contribution in the backchannel. There is a time and place for this (aka attention) — but if the focus is on the material — then it is focusing. I teach my students how to focus on the material and we talk about being a “professional student” in our classroom spaces. If they go way off on a tangent – they aren’t paying attention and the backchannel moderator (I always appoint one AND a google jockey) is to pull it back to the topic at hand.

Done right, a backchannel is a great addition. Done wrong, it is just another distraction.

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