Classroom Discourse
Page Location: Literacy Tools --> Classroom Discourse
WHY?
Conversation builds oral language, which is a foundation for reading and writing (Roskos, Tabors, and Lenhart 2009)
Academic Discourse has an average effect size of 0.82 (John Hattie)
Oral interaction is one of the main avenues for developing critical thinking skills (Reznitskaya, Anderson, and Kuo 2007)
STEM Discourse: Strengthening Reasoning, Strengthening Language (WIDA, 2017)
Discourse tools from WIDA (NSF) - Doing and Talking Science and Math
WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition
Kindergarten—Grade 12
Promote equity for multilingual learners
Teach language and content together
Elaborate/Clarify/Question
Use of conversation stems from Academic Conversation Placemat
(all categories)
Socratic Seminar Rubric
Socratic Seminar
Self-Assessment Rubric
Accountable Talk Rubric (all categories)
Accountable Talk Guidelines
Teacher Tool for Self-Assessment of ability to lead classroom discussion
Reading Nonfiction
Rigor and Talk checklist in Appendix C
Supporting Ideas with Example and Evidence
Individual self-assessment for older students
Individual self-assessment for younger students
Goals for Productive Discussion and Nine Talk Moves
Paraphrasing
Building On Ideas or Challenging Ideas
Synthesizing Key Ideas of the Conversation
Math: Levels of Classroom Discourse rubric
New!! WIDA Focus On STEM Discourse: Strengthening Reasoning, Strengthening Language
Goals for Productive Discussions and Nine Talk Moves - Checklist - TERC Inquiry Project
Resources to Support Discourse in Mathematics
Talk Like a Mathematician -- Math Discourse Cards
Math Solution Peer Analysis
The Language of Whole Group Mathematical Discussions
Resources for Discourse Discussion -- Dec. 17, 2014 Mission Literacy Workgroup
Embedding Discourse into the Classroom -- Ppt
Classroom Discourse Placemat
Reasons to Converse in School -- Sort Cards
Academic Conversations Bookmark
Collaborative Conversations - Article
n-Word Lesson Resources
- Socratic Seminar Lesson Plan
- Socratic Seminar Lesson Packet
- Smart Board Slides
- Reading Packet Using Socratic Circles in HS English Class
Fostering Classroom Discussions About Complex Ideas and Texts
Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey -- IRA Engaging the Adolescent Learner Series Dec. 2013
"Classroom discussions should allow students to engage in purposeful talk, manage their use of academic and domain-specific language and concepts, and provide an opportunity for students to learn about themselves, each other, and the world."
- Use Questions to Drive Text-Based Discussions
- Teachers' Conversational Moves in Discussion
- Accountable Talk Frames (See "The First Twenty Days")
- Use Classroom Routines to Prepare Students for Discussions
- Annotation
- Text-Rendering Experience
- Socratic Seminar
"Rather than initiate, respond, evaluate, let’s initiate, maintain, refrain. It is a truism in our profession: A good teacher tells you where to look, but not what to see."
Collaborative Conversations -- Fisher and Frey presentation
Collaborative Conversations -- Doug Fisher Ppt
Collaborative Conversations: Speaking and Listening in Secondary Classrooms
West Ed Schools Moving Up Webinar Archive and links to resources (Feb 13, 2013)
Nancy Frey Ppt Handout
Collaborative Conversations -- Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey
Conversation Roundtable
Students need time every day in every class to practice their collaborative conversations.
An easy way to do this is to use a conversation roundtable.
Students fold a piece of paper to form 4 quadrants. As they read a selected piece of text, they
take notes in the upper left quadrant. Then they take turns discussing the text and recording the content that their peers share in the other quadrants. At the end of the conversation,
they can summarize their understanding of the text, identify the theme, or ask questions (depending on the task that was assigned by the teacher) in the area in the center.
Constructing Classroom Conversations
Constructive Classroom Conversations has been offered as a free MOOC course since Fall 2013. If you started the class in an earlier session, but were unable to finish, or if you would like a refresher, we encourage you to sign up for the upcoming Spring 2016 session.
Please follow the links below to register:
Spring 2016 Constructive Classroom Conversations: Mastering Language for College and Career Readiness (Elementary and Secondary)
The course will run from Thursday, February 18, 2016 to Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Session 1 - Constructive Conversations I
Session 2 - Teaching the Constructive Conversation Skills
Session 3 - Constructive Conversations II
Session 4 - Collaboration, Communication, and Community
Related Ppt. Fall 2013
Academic Conversations: Classroom Talk That Fosters Critical Thinking and Content Understandings (September 2011) Stenhouse
Jeff Zwiers and Marie Crawford
Five Core Academic Conversation Skills
1 - Elaborating, clarifying, and questioning
2 - Supporting ideas with examples and evidence
3 - Building on ideas
4 - Paraphrasing
5 - Synthesizing key ideas of the conversation
Related PD Ppt presentation from Princess Anne Middle School
Academic conversations
Building Academic Language: Essential Practices for Content Classrooms
Jeff Zwiers (Jossey-Bass and IRA)
(2014 edition (revised to reflect CCSS)) to be released in April 2014)
Lists Table of Contents and Chapter Descriptions
Download a audiobook version
Major topics and themes include:
- What is academic language and how does it differ by content area?
- How can language-building activities (discussions, small groups, etc.) support content understanding?
- How can we build language abilities for content reading and writing - and vice versa?
- How can we build on students' diverse ways of understanding, learning, and communicating about the world?
- How can we more effectively model and scaffold academic language in our teaching and assessment?
- Describe Complexity
- Describe Higher-Order Thinking _
- Describe Abstraction
Considerations for developing a Framework for Embedding Discourse - Resource Links
Right Question Institute --
Question Formulation Technique (QFT) -- Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions
The skill of question asking is far too rarely deliberately taught in school. The QFT teaching strategy provides a simple, yet powerful way to get students asking their own questions and building off their peers’ questions.
Make Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions (Harvard Education Press: 2011)
makes two simple arguments:
- All students should and can learn to formulate their own questions
- All educators can easily teach the skill as part of their regular practice
Preview Make Just One Change on Amazon.com
Making Thinking Visible
Notice and Note
Reading Apprenticeship Routines
D Buehl
David Booth -- I've Got Something to Say about How Student Voices Inform our Teaching