Classroom Conversations 8 18 14 - Piedmont, CA

CLASSROOMCONVERSATIONS

FACILITATING PRODUCTIVE STUDENT TALKin our classrooms

Welcome, everyone, to the 2014-15 school year! Introduce myself. Who is in the room: All of the K-5 staff--teachers, para-educators, and administrators; teachers and classified staff from Piedmont Middle School that are not in 1:1 Connected Learning--7th & 8th grade staff--and welcome to the Piedmont High School staff not in 1:1 Connected Learning--10th & 12th grade teachers and classified staff and administrators. You may be wondering why we went to such great lengths to assign you to a table seat. It is such a rare opportunity where we have the chance to talk with colleagues from different grade levels and school sites. We’ll be together for the first hour and a half and then you’ll be joining your teams for the remainder of the day.

Today we are going to focus on a critical element of student learning, classroom conversations. We know that authentic conversations take place in an environment where people feel respected and opinions are valued. So before we talk about creating that kind of culture with your students in your classrooms, we want to create that type of environment for all of us as we work together today and in the future, at our school sites and across the district. A powerful strategy for accomplishing that goal is to develop norms or what we might call community agreements.

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Collaborative DiscussionsNorms

Community Agreements

Ideally we would generate these norms together, but given the size of our group, we’re going to work from a set of community agreements that a small cohort of us were given when we attended SVMI training this summer. You’ll be working together for the next hour and a half so we’re going to use this as a way to start to get to know everyone at our table.

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Norms forCollaboration & Learning

TABLE GROUP ACTIVITYIntroduce yourself: name, school, roleAs a group, read aloud the Community AgreementsDiscuss the following with your group:1. Norms that are easy for you to follow2. Norms that are hard for you to follow3. As a group, identify one of each, write on post-it,

and post on the chart paper

1. Introduction-name, school site, your role--para-educator, teacher, administrator2. Read norms aloud3. Identify norms that are easy and norms that are hard for you to follow4. As a group, identify one of each--easy and hard--write the bolded phrase on the post-it. For example: if you find it difficult not to talk right away, then you would write the bolded phrase: Honor individual think time. Participants place each of the two post-its on the chart paper

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Norms forClassroom Discussions

Establish rules for respectful talkcreate rules together as a groupvisibly display rules for referenceconsistency is essentialhold students (and ourselves) accountable

While people are finishing putting up their post-its... move to the next slide.

In order for student talk to be successful, it is important to establish rules for respectful interactions.

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Discussion NormsEstablish rules for equitable participation

All students listen to what others sayAll students can hear what is saidAll students participate by speaking to the group at some pointHold all students accountable at all times

It also is necessary to discuss your expectations for all participants--the student speaking as well all the students expected to be listening.

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Our Community AgreementsEngage collaboratively.

Show respect.

Honor individual think time.

Participate fully.

Be a supportive team member.

Take responsibility.

Use technology responsibly.

Challenge your belief systems.

Any additions to the norms? Anything we cannot live with?

Here is an overview of our community agreements. Review the chart papers and summarize what is easy and hard for the group.Ask everyone to be accountable for helping one another follow the agreements.Ask the group: Are there any additions to the norms? Is there anything we cannot live with for the purposed of our work today?

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Challenge Your Belief Systems!

Approach conversations with a growth mindset by remaining open to different or opposing views.

Adopt an attitude that there is something to learn from every person and every situation.

Model lifelong learning for your students by being one yourself!

Highlight the last agreement: Challenge your belief systems!Makes connection to today’s topic: Student Talk. We all come with a wealth of knowledge on this topic, and yet there is always more to learn. I invite you to remain open and challenge yourself to consider what you know on the topic as a beginning and to dig even deeper.

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Student __ is critical to

teaching & learning

Introduce topic: student talk. 8

And this quote captures the reason why student talk is so critical.

Today all of you will be doing a lot of talking in your table groups... and to support you with a structure for talking, take a look at your table group place mat...

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A

1

B

2

C

4

D

6

A

1 E

3

F

5

D

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Explain the “table group place mat.” Everyone has a letter, a number, and a color. Sometimes you’ll talk as a whole table. Sometimes you’ll talk in trios--these are the face partners and the table ends. And sometimes you’lI talk with your elbow or face partners. Four of you have both elbow partners and face partners. If you are at the ends of the table and I give the direction to talk with your face or elbow partner, you have the choice of either getting up and talking to the person opposite you or talking to someone nearby at another table.

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Why is student talk critical to teaching and learning?

Ways you promote student talk in your classroom

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4

D

6F

5

D

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A

1

B

2

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DISCUSS WITH YOUR TRIO...

First turn and talk: Talk with your trio--face partners + the person at the table end. Discuss with your trio: Why is student talk critical to teaching and learning?And what are some ways you promote student talk in your classroom?

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Student Talk is Critical to Teaching and Learning

1. reveals understanding and misunderstanding2. increases retention 3. supports deeper reasoning4. promotes language development5. develops social skills

Researchers have identified reasons that student talk is critical to teaching and learning. Ask: How many of you identified one or more of these in your table discussion?Ask: Did any of you discuss a reason that isn’t on the list?

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Student Talk is Critical to Teaching and Learning

1. reveals understanding and misunderstanding2. increases retention 3. supports deeper reasoning4. promotes language development5. develops social skills

Turn & Talk: Agree? Disagree? Which do you believe is most critical for promoting student talk in the classroom? Why?

Again, talk with your trio... Do you agree? Do you disagree? Which of these do you believe is the most critical reason for promoting student talk in the classroom and why?

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The Typical Classroom“Researchers have found that few

American classrooms display consistent or even occasional use of student talk.

Instead, most classroom talk consists of teacher lecturing, asking students to recite, or posing simple questions with

known answers.” Classroom Discussion in Math: A Teacher’s Guide for Using Talk Moves to Support the

Common Core and More, Chapin, O’Connor, and Anderson, 2013.

Read aloud the quote14

Where can wegrow in our capacity to support

quality student talk?

And so today is the first step into an inquiry of our own practice and ask ourselves: Where can we grow in our capacity to support quality student talk?

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What makes a Classroom “Common Core”?

What will my classroom environment look, sound, and feel like?

How will I learn and grow as the facilitator of my classroom discourse?

You are invited to participate in a district-wide professional inquiry on this topic: What does a Common Core classroom look like? Sound like? Feel like? In what ways does it resemble what I;ve already been doing? In what ways is it different?

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One way to begin thinking about theCommon Core Classroom...

reviewing the Anchor StandardsSpeaking and Listening

K-12

There are many ways to approach this. We are going to begin by reviewing the K-12 Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening.

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TABLE GROUP ACTIVITY Reviewing the Anchor Standards

Speaking and ListeningK-12

Review directions for the Activity: Speaking and Listening Anchor Standards--K-12

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Energy Break!

Laura Richey, Heidi Sawicki, and Sandy Martin will lead the group in an energizer/brain break--a practice we’d like teachers to consider integrating into their Common Core Classroom environment. With the high cognitive demand we are asking of our students and that we engage in ourselves, we need to take care of ourselves and remember to take breaks. We need them and our students really need them!

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Amount of Student TalkHow does conversation flow in this classroom?

Teacher

The traditional flow of verbal communication often looks like this--where the teacher initiates a question, calls on a student to respond, then evaluates whether the student’s answer is right or wrong. If the student is correct, another question might be raised and the cycle repeats. Or if the student’s answer is incorrect, a different student might be called on to respond. This cycle is referred to as IRE-Initiate, respond, evaluate.

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Teacherteacher-centered

The traditional flow of verbal communication often looks like this--where the teacher initiates a question, calls on a student to respond, then evaluates whether the student’s answer is right or wrong. If the student is correct, another question might be raised and the cycle repeats. Or if the student’s answer is incorrect, a different student might be called on to respond. This cycle is referred to as IRE-Initiate, respond, evaluate.

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Teacher

Let’s contrast the IRE or the traditional flow to the verbal flow in a classroom that is more student-centered and has more student-to-student interaction. The teacher might begin with a question but students first are asked to talk with one another. Or the teacher may ask a student to initiate a question and several students may respond without the teacher saying anything.

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Teacher

student-centered

Let’s contrast the IRE or the traditional flow to the verbal flow in a classroom that is more student-centered and has more student-to-student interaction. The teacher might begin with a question but students first are asked to talk with one another. Or the teacher may ask a student to initiate a question and several students may respond without the teacher saying anything.

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Productive Student TalkWHAT TO CONSIDER...

✴Goal is not only to increase the amount of student talk but to increase the amount of productive student talk

✴Using teacher talk moves that will initiate student talk and reasoning

Point out that the goal is not just to increase the amount of student talk but also to ensure it is high-quality/productive talk.

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Five Productive Teacher Talk Moves

1. Revoicing - “So you’re saying that...”

2. Repeating - “Can you repeat what was just said in your own words?”

3. Reasoning - “Do you agree or disagree and why?”

4. Adding On - “Would someone like to add something more to this?”

5. Waiting - “Take your time... we’ll wait...”

Being deliberate in what we say to students serves two purposes...

1. Talk moves such as revoicing, repeating... invite students to say more so it increases the amount of student talk2. The more you use phrases such as “So you’re saying that...” or “Would someone like to add to this?” the more likely students are to use these when they are having conversations in small groups.

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Expect Active Listening

Expect students to listen attentivelyModel good listening Use “talk moves” that guide students’ listening

ROLE OF THE TEACHER

We’ve been thinking a lot about student talk, but what’s the point if the rest of the class is not listening. We need to expect every student to engage in active listening.

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Talk Moves that Promote Active Student Listening

ACTIVITY: Identifying teacher talk moves With your trio, read aloud “Open Strategy Sharing: The Case of Mental Math”Highlight teacher talk movesDiscuss examples of how you would apply this to the subject and grade level you teachWrite one talk move on a sentence stripShare your talk move with your table group

We’re going to read a vignette of a conversation in a math classroom. Give directions for the activity.Check in after you have discussed your examples with a partner. May not have time to do the sentence strip activity.Call on a number to share some of the teacher talk moves.

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Formats for Productive Student Talk

1. Whole-class discussion2. Small-group discussion3. Partner talk

There are three basic formats for productive student talk.28

Whole Class DiscussionTEACHER’s ROLE

facilitate and actively guide discussionrefrain from providing the correct answerhelp focus the conversation on students’ ideasprovide time for students to make sense of their ideasallow students to struggle to make meaning together--one student talking to another

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Small-Group DiscussionTEACHER’s ROLE

group students thoughtfullyconsider limiting to 3-6 students per groupprovide groups with a discussion topic/questionsupport students in following group normscirculate but don’t control the conversationsobserve and interject strategically

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Partner TalkTEACHER’s ROLE

ask a question of the entire groupallow a short time to talk with partner provide many opportunities and in different configurations so students benefit by:

practicing speaking skillsasking ?s and clarifying misunderstandingspreparing to talk in the whole group

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Partner Talk ActivityTurn and talk to your elbow partner...

the format(s) you use most often and whythe format you’d like to try more often

Together generate ideas for what to do differently for this format to be more productive in your classroom

Be prepared to share one of your partner’s ideas

Read directions for partner talk.Go to next slide with sentence frames.

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SHARING Partner Talk

The talk format I’d like to try more often is __________________________ .The reason I (never use, rarely use, sometimes avoid using) this format is because ____________________________ .My partner and I generated the idea that I could __________________________ .

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Teaching Effective Conversation:

BehaviorsAttitudesCore Skills

The next set of slides provides an overview of the behaviors, attitudes, and core skills that need to be taught explicitly to students. Go through slides to introduce the general ideas. These will be read more closely in the breakout session for content areas (see slides after that outline the breakout session activity).

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Behaviors of EffectiveConversation

appropriate eye contactattentive posturenodding to show understandingappropriate gesturingshowing interest & using “keep talking” tacticsappropriate silence and appropriate interruptionprosody--tone of voice, volume, and emphasis

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Attitudes for EffectiveConversation

Humility- being open to new ideasThoroughness- looking at all perspectives and possible solutionsRespect- listening to another’s ideas, including opposing viewpoints, without judgment Positivity- an attitude that learning can happen through meaningful conversationInterest- wanting to hear what another says

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Core Skills for Effective Academic Conversation

1. Elaborate and clarify2. Support ideas with examples3. Build on and/or challenge a partner’s idea4. Paraphrase5. Synthesize conversation points

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Teaching Effective Conversation:

Behaviors, Attitudes,Core Skills

K - 12All Content Areas!

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Getting Started: The first days of school

1. Establish shared norms for conversation2. Discuss the PURPOSE of classroom conversations3. Discuss what classroom conversation is and is not4. Model bad conversation behaviors5. Emphasize the ongoing habit of staying on topic

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1. Establish shared norms for conversationDiscuss: What do students need to feel safe?Create a set of norms with studentsPost the norms and review them regularlyProvide time for students to self-assessDebrief as a group: How successful were we at keeping our agreements? How can we improve?

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2. Discuss the PURPOSE of classroom conversationsTalk about students’ types of conversationsBrainstorm ways that talking helps us learnDiscuss the value of partner conversationsEmphasize that the goal is about learning

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3. Discuss what classroom conversation is and is notIt is the process of bringing ideas forward It is listening to the new ideas of another personIt is the goal of learning ; it is not about winningIt is not an argument; it is about learning from healthy debate

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4. Model bad conversation behaviors in a drama or fishbowl settingDramatize the behaviors that ruin or stop a conversation

tangents, gossip, criticizing your partner’s ideas, answering with one word, looking bored

Model good conversations where students are using appropriate skills and attitude

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5. Emphasize the ongoing habit of staying on topicDemonstrate how to stay on topicAcknowledge that everyone veers off the path at some point, but good conversationalists recognize when they are off topic and return to the pointRepeatedly reinforce that the conversation is a journey and there is a destination

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION!HAVE A GREAT SCHOOL YEAR!

BREAKSESSION 2 BEGINS AT 11:15

Thank participants and let them know where they are going after their break!

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Session 2: APPLYING what we LEARNED to our first UNIT OF STUDY

11:15 - 12:15

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Applying Student Talk to the Content Areas

Discuss the “Getting Started” slides 1-5 with your content area colleaguesHow does this apply to your content area?How will you “get started” with your students?Is there a way to get started that is unique to your content area?

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Planning your first UNIT of STUDY

When and how will you develop norms/community agreements in your classroom?Which talk formats will you teach and when?What talk moves will you use to promote active listening?What behaviors, attitudes, and core skills do your students need to learn?Which of these will you teach first and how?

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1. Establish shared norms for conversationDiscuss: What do students need to feel safe?Create a set of norms with studentsPost the norms and review them regularlyProvide time for students to self-assessDebrief as a group: How successful were we at keeping our agreements? How can we improve?

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2. Discuss the PURPOSE of classroom conversationsTalk about students’ types of conversationsBrainstorm ways that talking helps us learnDiscuss the value of partner conversationsEmphasize that the goal is about learning

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3. Discuss what classroom conversation is and is notIt is the process of bringing ideas forward It is listening to the new ideas of another personIt is the goal of learning ; it is not about winningIt is not an argument; it is about learning from healthy debate

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4. Model bad conversation behaviors in a drama or fishbowl settingDramatize the behaviors that ruin or stop a conversation

tangents, gossip, criticizing your partner’s ideas, answering with one word, looking bored

Model good conversations where students are using appropriate skills and attitude

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5. Emphasize the ongoing habit of staying on topicDemonstrate how to stay on topicAcknowledge that everyone veers off the path at some point, but good conversationalists recognize when they are off topic and return to the pointRepeatedly reinforce that the conversation is a journey and there is a destination

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Classroom Conversations 8 18 14 - Piedmont, CA

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