IRF (Initiate Response Feedback)
The IRF (Initiate (teacher) Response (pupil) Feedback (teacher) pattern of pupil-teacher interaction is very common in classrooms. The purpose is mainly to 'test' pupils' understanding. The types of interaction you as teaching assistant have with individual or groups of pupils is likely to follow the same pattern. This method can limit pupil thinking and learning but it doesn't have to.
Activities
1 Have a look at these video clips which give examples of IRF interaction and identify ways in which the teachers enable the pupils to follow up or elaborate their initial response.
School B, Year 10 - IRF (00:24)
You can watch the video via 56k modem or slow (100kbps) / medium (256 kbps) / fast (400kbps) / very fast (800kbps) broadband connections. Alternative format Flash video. You do need to have the flash plugin.
Transcript (20 KB) School A, Year 10 - IRF (01:46)
You can watch the video via 56k modem or slow (100kbps) / medium (256 kbps) / fast (400kbps) / very fast (800kbps) broadband connections. Alternative format Flash video. You do need to have the flash plugin.
School A, Year 7 - IRF (01:04)
You can watch the video via 56k modem or slow (100kbps) / medium (256 kbps) / fast (400kbps) / very fast (800kbps) broadband connections. Alternative format Flash video. You do need to have the flash plugin.
Example Lesson Plan Year 7 School A (137 KB)
Example Lesson Plan Year 10 School A (48 KB)
Example Lesson Plan Year 10 School B (43 KB)
2 One way to make IRF interaction more effective for pupil involvement and learning, is to plan to prompt and question pupils after their initial response, and also to encourage them to ask their own questions. Identify a lesson where you are likely to have this sort of IRF exchange and identify opportunities to include follow-up questions and prompts. You might like also to look at Questioning and prompting pupils in this unit.