Robust Conversations at Every Level

July 4, 2007Lucy West

Overview

• Making the case for talk

• Talk tools

• Analyzing talk in video clips

• Questions

• Children grow into the intellectual life around them.

Vygotsky

• What is the quality of the intellectual life at your school?

• What’s your evidence?

• What do the adults at your school spend the majority of their time talking to each other about?

• What do students hear adults discussing?• How often do students see teachers

engaged in learning?

•Are the adult conversations and practices at your school designed to develop student academic proficiencies well beyond high scores on achievement tests?

Hypotheses• If adults are visibly, actively, and

passionately learning together students will too.

• If adults are publicly willing to try on new skills, analyze their erroneous thinking aloud, experiment, tinker, and laugh at themselves when they mess up, students will too.

• What is accountable talk?

• What role does talk play in developing professional expertise?

• What is the nature of talk that results in dramatic improvement in student achievement?

Accountable to the Learning Community

Accountable talk seriously responds to and further develops what others in the group have said.

Accountable to the Learning Community

What is the nature of the talk at meetings of adults at your school?

Are people questioning each other’s ideas,weighing suggestions, considering alternatives, providing evidence?

Accountable to the Learning Community

What is the nature of the talk in your classrooms?

Are students questioning each other’s ideas,weighing suggestions, considering alternatives, providing evidence?

Accountable to Knowledge

Accountable talk puts forth and demands knowledge that is accurate and relevant to the issue under discussion.

Accountable talk uses evidence appropriate to the discipline (e.g., proofs in mathematics, textual details in literature)

Accountable to Knowledge

• What knowledge is put forth and demanded of adults at your school in relation to instructional strategies and evidence of their impact?

• A plethora of instructional strategies is key

Accountable to Knowledge

• What evidence can you site that worksheets develop understanding or skill?

• What evidence can you site that all students should be engaging in the same activities at the same time?

Accountable to Reasoning

Accountable talk follows established norms of good reasoning

Accountable to Reasoning

• Are the teachers at your school focused on student reasoning or right answers?

Research

•Exemplary teachers foster much more student talk--teacher/student and student/student

•Purposeful talk-problem-posing and problem-solving--teachers and students

•Richard Allington

Nature of Talk• Interrogational--teachers pose

problems, children respond, teacher verifies or corrects

• Conversational--discuss ideas, concepts, hypotheses, strategies and responses

Research

•In successful high poverty schools the environment talk is more conversational than interrogational.

•Interactions invited conversations.

•Teachers worked to get kids to think aloud and modeled thinking aloud.

•Richard Allington

Research

•When classes are conversational the achievement gains are twice as large as when there is a focus on phonics.

•Richard Allington

Nature of Talk• Teacher questions more “open”

inviting multiple and varied correct responses

• Teacher curious about thinking and making thinking visible

One activity that assists struggling readers is engaging in literate conversations.Richard Allington

Could engaging in robust mathematics conversations assist struggling learners?

Talk Develops Language

•If you want to develop language and the capacity to write, have students answer questions and write in full sentences.Douglas Reeves

•How often are students answering in one word or number in the math class?

Research

•Students at all levels benefited from exemplary teaching, but it was the lowest achievers who benefited most.

•Expertise matters

Dialogue

•Dialogue is the central aspect of co-intelligence. We can only generate higher levels of intelligence among us if we are doing some high quality talking with one another.

•Tom Alec, The Tao Of Democracy

Dialogue

•Please turn to a partner and discuss the ideas I have presented so far

•Write down any questions you would like to ask

Professional Dialogue• Discussing Practice

• Nicole--2nd Year Teacher--5th Grade

• Jessica--3rd Year Teacher--Coach

• People in the Background--Coaches

• Cultivating a Learning Culture

Questioning Practice

• Chef Leo bought 1-1/2 pints of strawberries. Altogether he used 3/4 of the strawberries to make tarts. How many pints of strawberries does he have left?

• Please solve the problem.

Questioning Practice

• Chef Leo bought 1-1/2 pints of strawberries. Altogether he used 3/4 of the strawberries to make tarts. How many pints of strawberries does he have left?

• What about key words like “of” “left” “altogether”?

Video Clip 1

Questioning Practice• What is your thinking about teaching “key

words” in mathematics problems?• Do you teach “key words” in other content

areas? If so why? If not, why not?• What might be the drawbacks of a “key

words” approach?• What additional strategies might you

suggest?

Questions for Practice

• I used 2/3 of a can of paint to cover 1/2 the floor of the porch. How much paint will be needed for the whole floor?

• Please solve this problem.

Questions for Practice• I used 2/3 of a can of paint to cover 1/2 of the

floor of the porch. How much paint will be needed for the whole floor?

• Does “of” indicate multiplication in this problem?

• If so, what are you multiplying?• If not, what did you do to solve the problem?• What confusions, difficulties, might students

display?

Questions for Practice

• Many students in the first class wanted to multiply

• It was difficult to get them to think beyond key words

• Coach and teacher become aware of this unintended impact

Video Clip 2

Considering Alternatives

• Responding to a question from the observing coaches and teachers

• Acknowledging mistakes

• Now what?

Video Clip 3

Class 2-Painting the Porch• Replanned the lesson based on our learning• Students were asked to read the problem to

themselves and discuss with neighbor--asked questions of teacher

• Students worked alone and with partners--many had difficulty

• Summary meeting to share some ideas and student work

Talk Tools• 22 Verbal Events• Classroom Discussion Moves• Questioning the Author Moves• Please read these three documents• Choose the one that resonates for you• Use it as a lens to view the discussion

Class 2--Painting the Porch• First time working with this class-

consultant/coach• 20 observers• Focus on developing meaning/use of

language• Not exemplar--just an example--

problematic moments in teaching/learning• View it through inquiry stance

Classroom Clip• Use your transcript• Identify talk moves made by the teacher• Look for evidence of development of

language• Look for evidence of reasoning• Look for evidence of accountability to the

community

Video Clip

Classroom ClipAt your tables please do the following:• Read an example from the transcript • State what move you think it is• Or state what evidence it represents regarding

language development, reasoning, or community accountability

• Do this one at a time going around the table until each person has shared

• Then discuss or respond in any way you like

Classroom Clip-Border ProblemHow do teachers handle mistakes?How might errors become pathways to

learning?

Classroom Clip 2• The Border Problem• Please solve the following problem.• Consider what errors students might make?

Bordering a Pool

• How many red tiles will it take to border a five-by-five pool with a width of one square unit?

Why Does It Take 24 Tiles?

Classroom Clip 2• Perimeter can be confused with border.• The solution is:

– Perimeter + 4 (corner tiles) = Border• What is the area of the pool with the border?

Classroom Clip 2• What is the area of the pool with the

border? • Why might someone think the pool with the

border would have an area of 36 square units?

• How did a 5 x 5 pool become 7 x 7 if you only added one square unit of border? In other words, why is the pool with the border not a 6 x 6?

Classroom Clip 2• View the tape with an ear toward how mistakes

are handled in this classroom• Consider what results from examining a student’s

error• 8th Grade students• Several entered class 2 years below grade level• All graduated having met standard on the 8th

grade state mathematics test

Video Clip-Border Problem

Classroom-Border Problem• Use transcript to find evidence of talk

moves• Focus on the teacher’s moves with Christen• Focus on the comments of Tiffany and Lulu

Analyzing the Talk• Right or wrong ask, “How did you get that?”

• What does this accomplish?

• It establishes the norm that we are interested in each other’s thinking

• It establishes a mathematical habit of mind to think about your thinking.

Analyzing the Talk• What does this accomplish?

• It develops the skills to meet one of mathematical performance standards—the ability to communicate your thinking.

• It allows us to informally assess what our students do and do not understand in order to guide instructional decisions.

Classroom Clip--Alexis

• How might we entice reluctant learners to participate in the conversation?

• Refer to data on handout • Transcript of Bridge Problem

Paper Bridges Data8th Grade Class, Baltimore, MD.

Group Number

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 7 6 9 7 9 5 9 9 9 2 16 13 15 19 20 16 11 12 21 3 30 32 22 25 33 23 18 28 27 4 44 41 28 52 46 37 23 46 46

Thickness of Bridge

5 80 41 40 40 49 47 31 50 48

Bridge Problem

•7th Grade Class--not yet engaging in discourse

•28 students present--100% African American

•Classroom Arrangement Altered

•Partial Purpose, demonstrate how to get reluctant

learners to engage in dialogue

•15 Coaches, Teacher Leaders observing

Bridge Problem

•What moves does the teacher make to scaffold Alexis’ participation?

•What are your thoughts about this segment?

Teacher Talk Moves

•Call on a student whose hand is not raised-Alexis

•Asks her to focus on the specific subset of data under discussion

•Reads the data to her

•Offers turn-and-talk time

•Tells the student she will be coming back to her

Teacher Talk Moves

•Has a second student give the answer

•Paraphrases the student’s answer

•Asks Alexis to give the answer

•Acknowledges that she got it correct

Teacher Talk Moves

•High expectations

•Support to meet those expectations

•Culture of respect and encouragement

•Attitude: “I believe in you”

•Belief: “You can do this”

•Commitment: “I’m here for you”

Questions

Reference

• What I’ve Learned About Effective Reading Instruction: From a Decade of Studying Exemplary Elementary Classroom TeachersRichard Allington

Phi Delta Kappan, June, 2002