I have recently finished one great book and one great article on Accountable Talk and Classroom Discussions.
Stein, M. K., Engle, R., Smith, M. &
Hughes, E, Orchestrating productive mathematical
discussion: Five practices for helping teachers move beyond show and
tell. Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 10, 313-340.
Chapin,
Suzanne, O'Connor, Catherine, & Anderson, Nancy. Classroom Discussions: Using math
talk to help students learn. California: Scholastics. 2009.
Accountable talk is one of my passions as I have spent the last four year studying the impact it has on my classroom. I highly reccomend these two readings for anyone interested in learning more about accountable talk. However, I also know that in teaching we really don't have time to sit down and read. For this reason I thought I would summarize them for you and include them in my blog (I appologize in advance as this will create a rather long post). These ideas come from the two resources above and my own thesis work. I hope they are practical advice for anyone in their teaching practice.
Implementing
Classroom Discussions
Establishing
and Maintaining a Respectful, Supportive Environment:
·
LAY DOWN THE LAW (in a collaborative
manner):
o
that every student is listening to what
others say
o
that every student can hear what others
say
o
that every student may participate by
speaking out at some point
o
all have an obligation to listen
·
neither student or teacher will
participate in bad environment. Everyone
needs to feel comfortable.
·
Emphasize the positive and forestall the
negative
·
Establish classroom norms around talk,
partner work, and discussions (what does it look like, sound like and what
should we be doing)
·
everyone has the right to participate
and an obligation to listen
Focusing
Talk on the Mathematics:
·
During the discussion time you need to focus
the talk on math:
o
plan
your questions carefully
o
Have
good formative assessment happening at all times
o
Make
a plan as to what big ideas you want to cover
o
Anticipate
problems and possible solutions
Providing
for Equitable Participation in the Classroom Talk:
·
Here are some strategies that will
assist you in making it all equitable:
o
Think-pair-share
o
Wait time
o
Group Talk
o
Partner Talk
o
Debates
o
Random
Choice on who Talks
Types
of Talk Moves:
Talk
Moves That Help Students Clarify and Share Their Own Thoughts
·
Say More:
o
Here you literally ask the student to
explain more. "Can you tell me
more?", "Tell us more about your thinking. Can you expand on that?"; or "Can
you give us an example?"
o
This sends the message that the teacher
wants to understand the students' thinking.
·
Revoicing:
o
It is sometimes hard for students to
clearly articulate what they are trying to say by revoicing or having a student
do this it allows the original student to check and make sure what they said is
true or to hear it in a new way
o
It is not just repeating but more of
paraphrasing the students ideas
·
Model students thinking:
o
This is not so much a talk move as it is
a way to help talk
o
As students talk record what they are
saying without comment. When they are
done ask them , is this what you meant?
o
This allows students to reflect and
think about what they said in comparison to what was written
·
Wait Time:
o
Wait time is so important. I cannot stress this enough. The longer you wait the better responses you
will get. It allows students to process
what you or another student asked and be able to formulate their thinking
Talk
Moves That Help Students Orient to Others' Thinking
·
Who can Repeat?
o
I would classify this under the first
category but it also helps students with understanding what their peers are
saying
Talk
Moves that Help Students Deepen Their Reasoning
·
Press for reasoning
o
Here you are basically asking students
to think about why they did this. This
can be done by asking:
§ Why
do you think that?
§ What
convinced you that was the answer?
§ Why
did you think that strategy would work?
§ Where
in the text is their support for that claim?
§ What
is your evidence?
§ What
makes you think that?
§ How
did you get that answer?
§ Can
you prove that to us?
o
Not only are these excellent talk moves
but excellent questions that push students beyond their thinking and make
excellent mathematical connections.
Talk Moves That Help Students Engage with Others'
Thinking
·
These are excellent questions that help
students build upon their own thinking and the thinking of the community
·
Do you agree or disagree...and why?
o
This really brings students into direct
contact with the reasoning of their peers
o
You can do this by:
§ Thumbs
up or thumbs down
§ Why
do you agree or disagree?
·
Who can add on?
o
When you ask this question make sure
that you wait for answers as this may need time to develop connections.
1: Anticipation (P.322)
The first thing is for the teacher to look and see how
students might mathematically solve these types of problems. In addition, teachers should also solve them
for themselves. Anticipating students’
work involves not only what students may do, but what they may not do. Teachers must be prepared for incorrect
responses as well.
2: Monitoring students' work (P. 326)
While the students are working, it is the responsibility
of the teacher to pay close attention to the mathematical thinking that is
happening in the classroom. The goal of
monitoring is to identify the mathematical potential of particular strategies
and figure out what big ideas are happening in the classroom. As the teacher is monitoring the students
work, they are also selecting who is to present based on the observations that
are unfolding in the classroom.
3: Selecting student work (P.327-328)
Having monitored the students, it is
now the role of the teacher to pick strategies that will benefit the class as a
whole. This process is not any different
than what most teachers do; however, the emphasis is not on the sharing, but on
what the mathematics is that is happening in the strategies that were chosen.
4: Purposefully sequencing them in
discussion (P. 329)
With the
students chosen, it is now up to the teacher to pick the sequence in which the
students will present. What big ideas
are unfolding, and how can you sequence them for all to understand? This sequencing can happen in a couple of
ways: 1) most common strategy, 2) stage 1 of a big idea towards a more complex
version or 3) contrasting ideas and strategies.
5: Helping students make mathematical
sense (P.330-331)
As the students share their strategies, it is the role
of the teacher to question and help them
draw connections between the mathematical processes and ideas that are
reflected in those strategies. Stein et.
al. suggest that teachers can help students make judgments about the consequences
of different approaches. They can also help students see how the strategies are
the same even if they are represented differently. Overall, it is the role of the teacher to
bridge the gap between presentations so that students do not see them as separate
strategies, but rather as working towards a common understanding or goal of the
teacher.
Trouble
Shooting Talk in the Classroom
My Students won’t Talk:
v First ask yourself: our my students silent because they have not understood a particular
question? --> sometimes they need to hear the question a few times and have
time to think
§ if this is the case then give students time to think (wait
time is very important)
§ also revoice it or have another student revoice the question
v Second they may be shy or unsure of their abilities:
§ If this is the case you may need to revisit strategies for talking
§ Think-pair-share is an excellent way to get kids comfortable to talk
§ it will also take time to get kids comfortable. Wait time again is important as it holds students accountable. Also making them feel comfortable and that
mistakes are okay will assist with this difficulties
The same few students do all
the talking:
v Wait-Time:
§ I know that I say this a lot but it allows the other students to think
and then participate while making the ones who always participate (it will feel awkward at first but wait as
long as you can)
v Have students Revoice:
§ This is good strategy to bring validity to students answers and
encourage others to talk
v Conferencing with the ones who talk a lot:
§ You also don't want to ignore the ones who talk all the time.
You can talk to them and let them know that you are not ignoring them
but are just trying to allow others to participate.
v Turn-Taking/ Random presenters/ group discussions:
§ These are all roughly the same strategy.
It allows you to have certain presenters share their thinking without
offending or allowing others to take over the conversation
Should I call on students who
do not raise their hands?
v there is research to suggest that
students will learn by listening but you will also hinder the class progress in
discussion. To help try creating a
positive space that allows all students to feel comfortable and willing to
participate.
v "right to pass":
§ allow students at the beginning of the year the right to pass. You'll notice that they may do this at first
but as you build the community they do this less and less
v Call on reluctant to students after partner talk:
§ Often when you give them a chance to share first they are more willing
to share or at least have a response from their partner
My students will talk, but
they won’t listen
v Set the classroom Norms:
§ remind each students that they have the right to be heard but that this
also means an obligation to listen
v Students Revoice:
§ When students need to revoice then they have to listen
Huh?” How do I respond to
incomprehensible contributions?
v The temptation is to simply say,
"Oh, I see. How
interesting...." and quickly move on to another student.
v Try Revoicing or repeating what they have said. After you have done this ask them is this
what you meant?
v Record their strategy on the board and ask them is this what you meant?
Brilliant, but did anyone
understand?
v Repeat what they said, then have
another student repeat what they have said (if really important have many
students repeat)
v Break the explanation up into small
chunks and revoice or have the students
I have students at very
different levels
v Pair students in ability groups:
§ Similar
abilities with similar abilities. This
allows students to contribute at their level and to also struggle at their
level. In addition, it allows you as the
teacher to differentiate as needed. When
you scaffold you can do so by group not by individuals
v Parallel Tasks:
§ Give students similar tasks but with varying degrees of difficulty
(still around the same big idea)
What should I do when students
are wrong?
v First ask yourself is there anything
wrong with having the wrong answer?
Sometimes wrong answers provide rich and meaningful discussions
v Need to establish Norms around
respectful discourse and discussion with wrong answers
v Mistakes are always an opportunity
for learning to happen
This discussion is not going
anywhere or Students’ answers are so superficial!
v This may be happening because you
are asking to many students to share or revoice the ideas that are happening in
the classroom or in the case of superficial classroom norms have not been established or the types
of questions have been simple and direct
v Use the working on phase as an opportunity to direct your bigger
discussion:
§ As you are walking around and looking at work, look for the progression
your students are taking. This will lead
you to a group discussions. What
questions are the students asking themselves?
What problems are occurring? What
big ideas are they trying to work out, have worked out or are struggling with?
v Look at the type of questions that you are asking:
§ As teachers we are comfortable asking questions but do our questions
already have responses? Are we leading
the kids to OUR thinking or our we
allowing the students talk to LEAD
the thinking. Yes you are very much in
control of the discuss and have to lead but it is not YOUR thinking but THEIRS that
should be articulated.
§ Higher order questions build-upon or go beyond the thinking that is
being presented. As a teacher we need to
help with the connections in mathematics.
Compare student work? Compare
strategies, Pros and Cons, naming and identifying. We need to go beyond just show and tell
