RR 90-5 Talk about text: Changes in content and authority structures in peer response groups.
Abstract
This paper describes the changes in the teacher's authority structure as well as changes in the content of student talk during peer response sessions over the course of a school year in a first-grade classroom. In the beginning of the year, the teacher, Emily Johnson who was beginning her participation in the Teachers College Writing Project, dominated the talk during share sessions, while the students' talk consisted of generic praise and focused on logistical issues about texts. The authority structure changed over the course of the year to allow for students taking more control of the dialogue and focusing on ideas and content within student texts.