Supporting Rigorous English Language Arts Teaching and Learning

LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh

Supporting Rigorous English Language Arts Teaching and Learning

Tennessee Department of EducationEnglish Language ArtsGrades 4-5

Module 3 Academically Productive Talk in ELA

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Module 3: Goals

Deepen understanding of ways to improve academic rigor of discussions and support students to meet the CCSS by

• discussing research on talk in ELA.

• examining the CCSS Speaking & Listening Standards.

• expanding knowledge of Accountable Talk® practices in ELA.

• analyzing the videos of instruction for Accountable Talk practices.

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Module 3 Goals (white book, white, p. 61)


Rigorous ELA Teaching and Learning

Text

TalkTask3


Review of Key Shifts in ELA/Literacy CCSS

1. Complexity: Regular practice with complex text and its academic language.

2. Evidence: Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence from text, both literary and informational.

3. Knowledge: Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction.

*Excerpted from A Strong State Role in Common Core State Standards Implementation: Rubric and Self-Assessment Tool, p. 6, Table 1, Key Instructional Shifts of the Common Core State Standards, by the Partnership of Readiness for College and Careers Transition & Implementation Institute, 2012, Washington, DC: Achieve.

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Key Shifts in ELA & Literacy (blue book, tab 1, purple)


CCSS Speaking & Listening Standards

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CCSS Speaking and Listening

“To become college and career ready, students must have ample opportunities to take part in a variety of rich, structured conversations—as part of a whole class, in small groups, and with a partner—built around important content in various domains. They must be able to contribute appropriately to these conversations, to make comparisons and contrasts, and to analyze and synthesize a multitude of ideas in accordance with the standards of evidence appropriate to a particular discipline. Whatever their intended major or profession, high school graduates will depend heavily on their ability to listen attentively to others so that they are able to build on others’ meritorious ideas while expressing their own clearly and persuasively.”

p. 48 of the CCSS for ELA & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects

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Task Sheet: CCSS Speaking and Listening (white book, pink, p. 63)


Whole Group Discussion CCSS Speaking & Listening

‒ According to the CCSS, what do students need to know and be able to do as participants in “structured conversations”?

‒ Why are those habits and skills important for college and career readiness?

‒ From your experience, how much practice and expertise do students have with being part of structured conversations?

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CCSS Speaking & Listening Standards

Take a moment to review the CCSS Speaking & Listening anchor standards:

– What do you notice about the skills and habits that CCSS values in terms of speaking and listening?

Then study and trace Standard 1:– What do you notice about the progression of

Standard 1 from Kindergarten to grades 11/12?• What changes?• What remains the same?

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CCSS – ELA K-5 & 6-12 Standards (blue book, tabs 3 and 5, salmon and white)


Academically Productive Talk: What Is It and What Does it Take to Get There?

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What We Know From Research about Talk in ELA• Students who have opportunities to engage in text-based

discussions:– Learn to use knowledge in “creative and critical” ways to

solve open-ended problems, develop and defend interpretations, and write their own texts.

– Have higher levels of achievement on standardized tests. – Find their experiences more fun and engaging.

• It is extremely rare for students to engage in text-based discussions.– Questions most typically asked of students by teachers

and textbooks are recitation questions.– Predominate pattern is Initiation-Response-Evaluation (I-R-E).

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References: Research about Talk and Questions (white book, yellow, p. 65)


Academically Productive Talk in Action

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Norms for Viewing Videos of Practice

Goal of all conversations is to advance our own learning, not to “fix” the practice of others.

– Cite specific examples from text or video.

– Build on others’ ideas.

– Use language that is respectful of those in the video and in the group.

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Norms for Viewing Videos of Practice (white book, white, p. 69)


Child Labor Unit Outline

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Task Sheet: Academically Productive Talk in Action (white book, pink, p. 71)


Child Labor Unit Segment

Text 5:“Child Labor” Human Right Watch

Comprehension: What main ideas does the author want us to understand about child labor? What key details support the author’s main ideas?. Vocabulary: What are some ways we can figure out unfamiliar words so we gain as much meaning as possible from a text? Comparing Texts: What are the similarities and differences between the two texts in the facts that they provide about the reasons child labor exists? What are the similarities and differences between these two texts in the facts that they provide about the types of child labor that exist?

Task Sheet: Academically Productive Talk in Action (white book, pink, p. 71)

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Video: Comprehension (QtA): “Child Labor”

• Insert Comprehension (QtA) video

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• In trios or partners, – Discuss examples of Accountable Talk moves, from the

video. Use the Accountable Talk Moves and Functions sheet as a reference for your discussion.

Resource: Accountable Talk Features and Indicators (white book, blue, p. 75)

Academically Productive Talk in Action: Task 1

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Transcript: Comprehension Via QtA: Child Labor (red book, white, pp. 47-56)


Summary Points: Evidence of Accountability to the Community• Many, many students participate.• Students listen to one another and are able to

paraphrase and translate what other students say. • Students do not wait for the teacher to call on them.

They ask to respond to other students’ comments and ideas.

• Students build directly on what someone else has said or offer a counter opinion.

• Students repeat what they said so everyone can hear. • Students look at each other and refer to one another’s

comments.• Students help each other find the words to express

ideas.

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Summary Points: Evidence of Accountability to Rigorous Knowledge

• Students grapple with vocabulary as they encounter it and define terms that may be unfamiliar.

• Students discuss the meaning of concepts central to this text: e.g., “child labor,” “opportunities to learn,” “children’s rights,” “rights to health care,” “employers responsibilities,” “strains on families,” “broken promises by employers.”

• Students use paragraphs, not one-word answers, to talk about these ideas. They struggle to find the right words to express their ideas.

• Students frequently back up their answers by citing the text. They do this on their own many times, without prompting from the teacher.

• Students use specific academic language to refer to text content or concepts: “exploiting (exploding) them,” “violates (violence),” “employer (people who hire them),” “education,” “better life,” “broken promises,” “hauling.”

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Summary Points: Evidence of Accountability to Rigorous Thinking• Students volunteer topics for discussion.• Students summarize what they understand at various points, not just

once, but several times, using different words to name the same thing, in an effort to establish understanding before moving on.

• Students relate ideas to one another when prompted by the coach, but they also take responsibility for weaving ideas together without prompting.

• Students link the information in this article about agricultural child labor to their own experience and to another text they read as a class about child labor in the manufacturing industry.

• Students propose ways to get involved (by boycotting certain products) and consider the probable effectiveness of governments taking action in one country on the lives of children around the world.

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Module 3: Takeaways

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• Academically productive talk is not an event; it’s the culture of the classroom.

• Academically productive talk is built from related, planned discussions that allow for sequenced, text-based questions about multiple readings of complex texts.

• Different kinds of questions ask for different kinds of mental work and invite particular kinds of writing and talk and degrees of teacher facilitation.

• Academically productive talk apprentices students to the discourse of the discipline, both in talk and writing.

• Discussions are structured to build on each other so that the ideas across discussions matter as much as the ideas in any one individual discussion.

• All students are capable of engaging in academically productive talk.


Module 3: Reflection

Take a few moments to respond to the following questions as a way to reflect on your learning during this module.

• What was your biggest insight or learning in this module? Why was that significant?

• What one thing will you do differently in the classroom based on your understanding of this module’s content and the demands of the CCSS?

• What do you want to learn more about in order to implement the learning in your practice?

• What questions do you still have?

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Bridge to Practice

• Before our next study session, you are to transcribe/tape one lesson focused on using Accountable Talk Moves in your classroom.

Supporting Rigorous English Language Arts Teaching and Learning

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