Guidance to Enable Consensus-Based Activities and Socializing a “Student”: Focusing on the Elementary School First-Grade Classroom Activities

Abstract

In this paper, I focus on the teacher and students interactions during class activities in a elementary school first-grade class and analyzes how consensus-based activities are established within the classroom. The analysis revealed the characteristics of teacher guidance that enables consensus-based activities and the features of the school socialization process through which first-graders, as newcomers to school life, become proficient in such activities.

The analysis showed that activities undertaken based on consensus reached within the classroom did not necessarily require incorporating every student’s opinion to be viable. During the process of interaction, the teacher advanced classroom activities by building upon the contributions of specific students, while simultaneously working to make these activities seem self-evident to the class. By doing so, the teacher created a situation where students engaged in activities based on consensus not as individuals but as members of the class, enabling participation even for students who did not express their opinions.

Based on the above analysis, I pointed out that the process of school socialization, through which students become proficient in consensus-based activities, cannot be understood by treating individuals as the unit of socialization. Rather, it is achieved with the class as the unit. Furthermore, I pointed out that being a socialization process centered on the class unit means it enables students to tackle tasks that would be difficult for them to achieve individually, by working together with other students.