Fostering Classroom Discussion - Beginning Teacher Meeting
Here are the top 10 influences on achievement from John Hattie’s research: Classroom Discussion #7
Rank Most Influence Effect Size
1 Self-reported grades/Student expectations 1.44
2 Piagetian programs 1.28
3 Response to Intervention 1.07
4 Teacher credibility 0.90
5 Providing formative evaluation 0.90
6 Micro-teaching 0.88
7 Classroom discussion 0.82
8 Comprehensive interventions for learning disabled students 0.77
9 Teacher clarity 0.75
10 Feedback
Rank Most Influence Effect Size
1 Self-reported grades/Student expectations 1.44
2 Piagetian programs 1.28
3 Response to Intervention 1.07
4 Teacher credibility 0.90
5 Providing formative evaluation 0.90
6 Micro-teaching 0.88
7 Classroom discussion 0.82
8 Comprehensive interventions for learning disabled students 0.77
9 Teacher clarity 0.75
10 Feedback
Tips for Creating a Successful Classroom Discussion
( from Edutopia: Rethinking Whole Class Discussion by Todd Finley and We are Teachers:13 Strategies to Improve Student Classroom Discussions by Samantha Cleaver)
1. Decide first what the goal for your discussion is - what do you want your students to learn from this discussion? Is discussion the best way to achieve this goal?
2. Choose texts that inspire debate. Some texts that are a good choice for fluency are not a good choice for discussion. READ whatever you choose first, to make sure there is depth in the text., especially in the lower grades. Look for stories that naturally raise questions about why characters do what they do.
3. Use good questions! You want to engage students from the first question. Questions are the greatest tool you have to encourage student thinking. Make sure your questions are purposeful, prepared in advance, are starting points for further conversations and allow you to assess student learning. How do you craft dense prompts? Try to emphasize divergent over convergent questions, teach students how to approach question asking and answering, and provide authentic follow-up questions. Authentic questions are questions that you are genially interested in exploring and that evoke a variety of responses from students.
2. Choose texts that inspire debate. Some texts that are a good choice for fluency are not a good choice for discussion. READ whatever you choose first, to make sure there is depth in the text., especially in the lower grades. Look for stories that naturally raise questions about why characters do what they do.
3. Use good questions! You want to engage students from the first question. Questions are the greatest tool you have to encourage student thinking. Make sure your questions are purposeful, prepared in advance, are starting points for further conversations and allow you to assess student learning. How do you craft dense prompts? Try to emphasize divergent over convergent questions, teach students how to approach question asking and answering, and provide authentic follow-up questions. Authentic questions are questions that you are genially interested in exploring and that evoke a variety of responses from students.
4. Consider seating arrangements for discussion. Students should be able to see each other. 5. Many students will need to be taught how to engage in academic dialogue. This is especially true for ELL/ESL students. It is helpful to provide conversation stems on a poster board or index cards:
6. Strategize how you will deal with students who dominate, are off topic, inaccurate, or unresponsive. This is a good topic to discuss with your colleagues and share ideas. 7. Get evidence from the get go. Require students to have evidence ready at the start of the discussion. Requiring evidence early in the discussion sets an expectation. Reinforcing that expectation turns using textual evidence into a habit. 8. Invite multiple perspectives. Students may think that finding evidence is proof that there's one right answer. But in discussion, evidence will actually open up a text to different interpretations. Students can read statements in different ways. This will help students understand that people can read the same statement but interpret it in different ways. Establish the expectation that answers can and will diverge. 9. Add interpretation. Students may want to find a quote and declare themselves done. The challenge is to get the student to expand and explain.Graph organizers can be helpful for this. Use a graphic organizer with 3 columns: They write their answer in the first column, note textual evidence in the second, and explain their evidence in the third. 10. Use sentence starters strategically. They can help students know the direction in which they are supposed to go. 11. Develop and deepen arguments. There are good video examples of this on Teaching channel 12. Slow down Discussion. Most discussions move too quickly and great ideas get lost. . Stopping to get evidence slow the speed of the discussion. Be sure to give students the time to find just the right piece of evidence in the text. A good tip when students are getting antsy is to choose one of your students that are ready to share and then go back to the student that needed time to find the text. 13. Practice in a pattern. To avoid everyone addressing just one idea, use a discussion structure that requires debate. For example, each student must respond by addressing the claims made by the person before them and then respond with their counterclaim. 14. Go for the nitty-gritty. Once students have answered the focus question, encourage them to get into the details. Exploring different sentences and words can engage students with additional aspects of the text and spin off into an analysis of the author's craft. 15. Anticipate and correct students misunderstandings. Just because there is more than one right answer, doesn't mean there is a wrong answer. You can prompt the student making the mistake to go back to the text or have the whole group do this. It is important that the students leave with a clear understanding of what the text said and how. 16. Encourage ownership. You can tell you students are making progress when they move from using prescribed sentence starters to using their own words. Listen for how students personalize the discussion, and encourage them to develop their own voice. 17. Reflect. After a whole class discussion it is often beneficial to have the students write a reflection. They answer the focus question a second time, explain whether or not they changed their answer, and reflect on how the evidence brought up during the discussion influenced their thinking. This anchor chart keeps students grounded in the elements of a quality discussion.
|
This anchor chart merges sentence starters with examples that help students see how to present their evidence in full sentences.
Sticky notes added to this anchor chart allow you to keep it up-to-date with the best ways each sentence starter was used.
For discussions that center on character decisions, this anchor chart encourages students to use textual evidence to support their character analysis.
Use any text to create this anchor chart that prompts students to go back to the text. This chart also reinforces paraphrasing and reminds students tout ideas from the text into their own words.
Quotes and ideas from the text (in blue) and the ideas that come from them (in orange) reinforce the idea that you have to find evidence and use it to make a claim.
|
Use this chart to track which students are proposing textual evidence (with box for each student) or keep track of textual evidence that students find each day (with box for each day of discussion)
|
This anchor chart can be used over and over as students use sticky notes to respond to different stories
|
When you are reading multiple texts about a subject, record textual evidence with different colors for each type of text (fiction and informational texts, primary and secondary sources, etc.)
|
Encourage students to get, use, and think about evidence with this anchor chart. The levels and images (inner tube, snorkel, and gold treasure) could also be used to give students feedback on how they are using textual evidence.
|
Socratic Method/Paideia SeminarWhat is a Paideia Seminar?You’ve all probably experienced the Socratic Seminar in college, a formal class discussion that values the power of questioning in building shared knowledge. A Paideia Seminar is similar, but it takes the Socratic discussion to the next level, as it embodies important guidelines of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and aligns to the CCSS.
The National Paideia Center defines the Paideia Seminar as a collaborative, intellectual dialogue facilitated with open-ended questions about a text. . What is the Basic Structure of a Paideia Seminar?A Paideia Seminar includes a pre-seminar, the seminar, and a post-seminar. Once you facilitate your first seminar, you will see its ability to engage all students in the exploration of rigorous text because it integrates so many of the UDL Guidelines. Pre-seminar: During the pre-seminar, students are organized in a circle so they can all make eye contact. In this session, you will review standards and objectives (UDL Guideline 8.1), activate or supply important background knowledge for the text (UDL Guideline 3.1), clarify important vocabulary (UDL Guideline 2.1), and ask students to participate in a self-assessment (UDL Guideline 9.3). During this self-assessment, students reflect on how they usually participate in group discussions and create an individual goal for the session with your support (UDL Guideline 6.1). An example of a goal may be, “I will look at every person while he or she is speaking,” or “I will participate at least twice and use ideas from the text.” Also, you should support students as they create group goals, such as “We will build on each other’s ideas by linking to the ideas of others.” Having agreed-upon rules for discussion minimizes threats and distractions (UDL Guideline 7.3) which would prevent students from participating. Seminar: During the seminar, facilitate discussion by asking open-ended questions about the text. As students answer, require them to refer to the text by citing specific details and quoting actual passages to support their point of view (CCSS, Anchor Reading 1). During this session, you will ask questions about the main idea of the text, focus and analyze textual details, and require students to personalize, or transfer and generalize acquired knowledge to their own lives (UDL Guideline 3.4). Post-seminar: In the post-seminar, ask students to reflect on their progress toward group and individual goals and the standards (UDL Guideline 9.3). This reflection is often done in writing or drawing, but you can use multiple tools for construction and composition (UDL Guideline 5.2). I provide choices for students so they can reflect in ways that are meaningful to them. For example, you may ask students to reflect in a poem, a poster, a blog, a talk show script, a video or PowerPoint, or a journal entry. Where can I find examples of Paideia Seminars?You can find free Paideia lesson plans on the Paideia National Center website. I have personally used many, and can’t say enough good things about the process and the products that result from implementing the seminar in the classroom. As one of my students said last year when I tried to teach a close reading lesson another way, “Can’t we just Paideia this?” Katie Novak, Ed.D., works for Chelmsford Public Schools in Massachusetts as the K–12 reading coordinator, Title I director, and ELL director. With more than a decade of teaching experience (including postsecondary), Novak continues to teach and also designs and presents workshops nationally and internationally focusing on teacher implementation of UDL. If you have questions about how to implement UDL contact Katie at katienovakudl.com. For more ideas about how to meet the Common Core State Standards using Universal Design for Learning, read Katie Novak’s new book, UDL Now!: A Teacher’s Monday-Morning Guide to Implementing Common Core Standards Using Universal Design for Learning. |
|
FishbowlA fishbowl conversation is a form of dialog that can be used when discussing topics within large groups.Four to five chairs are arranged in an inner circle. This is the fishbowl. The remaining chairs are arranged in concentric circles outside the fishbowl. A few participants are selected to fill the fishbowl, while the rest of the group sit on the chairs outside the fishbowl. In an open fishbowl, one chair is left empty. In a closed fishbowl, all chairs are filled. The moderator introduces the topic and the participants start discussing the topic. The audience outside the fishbowl listen in on the discussion.
In an open fishbowl, any member of the audience can, at any time, occupy the empty chair and join the fishbowl. When this happens, an existing member of the fishbowl must voluntarily leave the fishbowl and free a chair. The discussion continues with participants frequently entering and leaving the fishbowl. Depending on how large your audience is you can have many audience members spend some time in the fishbowl and take part in the discussion. When time runs out, the fishbowl is closed and the moderator summarizes the discussion. An immediate variation of this is to have only two chairs in the central group. When someone in the audience wants to join the two-way conversation, they come forward and tap the shoulder of the person they want to replace, at some point when they are not talking. The tapped speaker must then return to the outer circles, being replaced by the new speaker, who carries on the conversation in their place. In a closed fishbowl, the initial participants speak for some time. When time runs out, they leave the fishbowl and a new group from the audience enters the fishbowl. This continues until many audience members have spent some time in the fishbowl. Once the final group has concluded, the moderator closes the fishbowl and summarizes the discussion. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwxnBv-dNBI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pGVR6ZF_2M |
|
|
|
Bounce CardsHow it works: – Select a student with whom to practice modeling a conversation for the class to observe. Practice with that student before modeling this with the class. – Model the “wrong way” to hold a conversation. Demonstrate a conversation that ends quickly once both parties have shared their responses, with no back-and-forth dialogue between the two parties. Discuss the importance of conversational skills that allow ideas to bounce from one person to the next. – Discuss the following three approaches: • Bounce: Students take what their peers say and bound an idea off of it (or extend the idea) • Sum it up: Students rephrase what their peers say and comment on certain parts • Inquire: Students ask a question regarding what their peers say – Model a conversation using the Bounce Card sentence starters. – Allow the students to practice, using prepared topics or prompts. • How to Ensure Higher-Order Thinking: – Getting students to feel more comfortable in the art of conversation with each other will have the potential of building community within the classroom and allow for deeper extended conversations regarding the content that we teach.
Group AnswersTwo commonly used discussion techniques can be put together to allow a discussion that involves everybody the same time. One is to form small groups of about three students. When the teacher asks a discussion question, every group has a small discussion of its own to come up with an answer. Questions of complexity work best with this method. Add to that the use of small cards with each having a method of group identification. After allowing enough time for each group to develop its answer, randomly pick a card and let that group give their answer. You can pick more than one card for each question. When the answer has been completed, put the used card back in the deck, so that no group can relax and think that their turn is over.
Think–Pair–Share or Turn and Talk
This type of activity first asks students to consider a question on their own, and then provides an opportunity for students to discuss it in pairs, and finally together with the whole class. The success of these activities depends on the nature of the questions posed. This activity works ideally with questions to encourage deeper thinking, problem-solving, and/or critical analysis. The group discussions are critical as they allow students to articulate their thought processes. The procedure is as follows:
Video- http://www.theteachertoolkit.com/index.php/tool/turn-and-talk Networking Sessions
• How it works: – Prepare 1-4 prompts or questions. Ask students to reflect on or quick-write responses to the prompts. – Ask students to find someone with whom they have not yet spoken that day and discuss their responses to a teacher-selected prompt. – After a predetermined amount of time, ring a bell or signal the class to find someone else to whom they haven’t spoken that day. – With their new partner, ask students to respond to a different teacherselected prompt. Repeat the process until all prompts have been discussed. Processing Cards
How it works: – Give students Processing Cards (index cards folded into “tents”) that say on one side “Still Thinking” with a yellow highlight or yellow circle/square and “Ready to Share” with a green highlight or green circle/square. – Ask students to place the card on the edge of their desk, with the “Still Thinking” side facing up (or out). – As soon as students have completed their task, they should flip the card over so that the side that says “Ready to Share” is facing up (or out). – Decide on an in-between activity that gives students who finish early an opportunity to apply or extend their learning. -- Classroom Mingle
This discussion technique allows learners to actively engage with new content by moving around the classroom, asking and answering questions with multiple members of the class. Afterwards, there is an opportunity for group review and reflection. Video: http://www.theteachertoolkit.com/index.php/tool/classroom-mingle |
Inside/Outside CirclesThis discussion technique gives students the opportunity to respond to questions and/or discuss information with a variety of peers in a structured manner. Students form two concentric circles and exchange information with a partner until the teacher signals the outer circle to move in one direction, giving each student a new peer to talk to.
Video: http://www.theteachertoolkit.com/index.php/tool/inside-outside-circles Numbered Heads Together– Before asking the group to begin their activity, ask them to count off, so that each member is assigned a number (like 1 – 4). – Confirm student numbers by asking all 1s to stand, then all 2s, and so on to prevent numbers not being assigned or being assigned twice within a group. Also this will help avoid possibility of swapping numbers. – Inform students that all group members will need to be able to present their group’s information. Wait until after all group work is completed before informing students of the student number that will be presenting. – During the debriefing portion of the activity, call out the number for the team member who will be presenting for the group. Because they don’t know in advance which person in their group will be presenting the information, all group members are equally responsible for knowing the information discussed, as well as making sure that their peers know it equally well.
Classroom MingleThis discussion technique allows learners to actively engage with new content by moving around the classroom, asking and answering questions with multiple members of the class. Afterwards, there is an opportunity for group review and reflection.
http://www.theteachertoolkit.com/index.php/tool/classroom-mingle Agree or Disagree?
Keep each question going longer by engaging more students in the discussion. When the first student answers a question, ask another student if he or she agrees or disagrees with that answer. Then ask another student, and keep going until at least five students have participated in each question. Debate
Engaging in collaborative discourse and argumentation enhances student’s conceptual understandings and refines their reasoning abilities. Stage a debate exploiting an arguable divide in the day’s materials. Give teams time to prepare, and then put them into argument with a team focused on representing an opposing viewpoint. Advantages include practice in using the language of the discipline and crafting evidence-based reasoning in their arguments. Hold-Ups: Whiteboard Hold-Ups
• Ask the students to think about and discuss their responses to a set of prepared questions. • Before students hold up their cards or responses on white boards, have them pair-share or confer in small groups. They should not hold up their cards until told to do so. • Say “Hold it up” or a phrase of your own choosing. • Students hold up their cards. Select students to share their group’s rationale for their choice. Walk, Talk, Decide
This partner strategy allows students to work together to solve a problem or respond to a question. Students walk around the room while having a structured talk with a partner, providing an opportunity to move and process their learning. Video: http://www.theteachertoolkit.com/index.php/tool/walk-talk-decide Accountable Discussions
Accountable discussion empowers students to draw up arguments based on evidence. Students learn how to respect the views of their peers while strengthening their communication skills. They get practice in being good conversationalists, participating in conversations in a polite manner. http://www.theteachertoolkit.com/index.php/tool/accountable-discussions |
|
|
|
|