Creating Accountable Talk in the Classroom

Accountable Talk is a big passion of mine.  Seeing the results of the students talking is truly amazing.  Here are just some small tid-bits that I compiled to help create accountable talk in the classroom.
Accountable talk just doesn’t happen, no matter what age group you are teaching, you have to create conditions for it.       

1) Students have to feel like they are welcomed (which I know we all do as educators)

2) All voices are heard à this is the hardest part.  We sometimes only chose certain kids to talk

3) At the beginning of the year like many teachers I spend a lot of time on training my students to work in partners, what talk looks like, and sounds like.  We go over rules for partner talking and what my expectations are.  This is rough at the beginning of the year.  I often do this through games, not only is this great in primary but it works well in junior.  As you are playing games you are also teaching many of the math concepts and having small conferencing moments with the students. You get great diagnostic assessment and provide formative assessment right on the spot.  For junior I tend not to spend as much time and introduce games every Friday because of how short on time I am and how dense the curriculum is in junior (spend a week if not two though).

There are also talk moves that you can be constantly do:

1)      Wait time: à when students have enough wait time they will participate (this takes time)

§  At the beginning of the year this wait time feels like hours but if you don’t give it then they won’t talk later

§  When you wait the accountability is on them

§  Kids need time to process

§  Add in think pair share here: à great teaching tool to promote talk

2)      Revoice: 

-          When you revoice what the students have said then they feel accountable to the work.  It validates their opinion but at the same time makes them think about what they are talking about

-          You can also have the other students revoice: à this holds other students accountable to contribute to the community and that they have to listen

3)      Just don’t talk:

-          I think that sometimes as teachers (me included) we talk too much

-          I sometimes don’t say anything and then a student jumps in (let it)

Finally talk will not happen if you don’t plan for it to happen.  You must think about what big ideas you are going to be discussing.  They sometimes don’t happen but if you have things planned out you can create questions to lead students back to these ideas or be prepared to discuss what the students are talking about or ready for.