Five Core Skills of Academic Conversations

Academic Conversations: Classroom Talk That Fosters Critical Thinking and Content Understandings. Jeff Zwiers and Marie Crawford.

Standards: Depending on the nature of the conversation (a discussion of an issue, a print or media text, review materials, observations, etc.), this strategy has the potential to address the Reading Standards as well as SL1, SL2, SL3, SL4, and SL6.

Who owns the questions, ideas, and topics in schools? Zwiers and Crawford argue that it is seldom the students. Even when students are talking in class, “they seldom take turns to negotiate meaning or dig into a topic…seldom co-construct ideas, clarify thoughts for each other, or support their opinions” (3). Regardless of topic or content area, the authors of Academic Conversations identify five core skills of productive academic conversations and encourage their practice in paired conversations:

• Elaborate and Clarify
• Support Ideas with Examples
• Build On and/or Challenge Ideas
• Paraphrase
• Synthesize

 See the handout of Skills and Discussion Prompts adapted from Academic Conversations by RPS literacy coach Jennifer Connolly. Helpful guides also include the authors’ Academic Conversation Placement, and Figure 2.1, Core Academic Conversation Skills with Symbols, Hand Motions, Prompt Frames, and Response Frames.

 

Accountable Talk

Developed by Lauren Resnick (2000) and a team of researchers at the Institute for Learning/University of Pittsburgh. See the Institute for Learning website www.instituteforlearning.org See also Checking for Understanding 23-24.

Standards: SL1, SL2, SL3, SL4, SL6

The guidelines developed for this strategy describe the agreements students and their teachers commit to as they engage in partner conversations:

• Stay on topic.
• Use information that is accurate and appropriate for the topic.
• Think deeply about what the partner has to say.
• Press for clarification and explanation. For example, “Could you describe what you mean?”
• Require justification of proposals and challenges: “Where did you find that information?”
• Recognize and challenge misconceptions: “I don’t agree because…”
• Demand evidence for claims and arguments: “Can you give me an example?”
• Interpret and use each other’s statements: “David suggested…”

 

Retellings

Adapted from Checking for Understanding, Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey, and Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Retelling, Emily Kissner

Standards: RL1, RL2, RL3, RL5, RL6, RIT1, RIT2, RIT3, RIT5, RIT6, RIT8, SL1, SL4, SL6

This strategy, the oral equivalent of paraphrasing, is best used during reading if an extended text has been chunked into smaller sections (common in textbooks) or as a post-reading routine. Repeated practice with retellings (students usually need four practice sessions) has been shown to have a significant positive impact on reading comprehension (Fisher, Frey 27). Retellings work with both informational and narrative texts. With informational and rhetorical texts, students retell the information and propositions; with narrative texts, students retell the elements of the story.

1. Explain that the purpose of a retelling is to re-create the text in your own words.
2. Ask students to discuss the ways in which they talk about their favorite movie or CD. Make the connection between talking about the movie or CD and talking about a piece of text.
3. Model a retelling from a short piece of familiar text for students. If students know the piece of text well, they can compare the original with the retelling.
4. After the modeled retelling, ask students to discuss the similarities and differences between the original and the retelling.
5. Select a new piece of text, read it aloud, and create a retelling as a group. Again, ask students to discuss the similarities and differences between the original and the retelling (27). 

A Retelling Rubric for Fiction and for Informational Text is available at this site.

 

Think, Pair, Share

Standards: SL1, SL2

The teacher generates a question about a new topic or concept and distributes index cards. Students write down as many answers as they can in a short time, then partner with another student to share and compare their ideas. Teachers collect the answers and post them without student names. Throughout the unit, teachers and students make reference to the answers, noting their degrees of accuracy.

 

Written Conversations

From Comprehension and Collaboration: Inquiry Circles in Action by Harvey Daniels, Stephanie Harvey

Standards: W1, W4, W9, SL1

WHEN and WHY: Kids need to be discussing ideas all the time. But out-loud talk is not the only alternative. In this variation, kids hold a sustained silent discussion by exchanging a series of one-minute notes that are passed around a small group. This form of discussion equalizes air time, invites deeper thinking, and leaves tangible evidence of kids’ thinking.

INITIATE: Identify a debatable topic for discussion – maybe specific questions that have come up in inquiry groups, or a whole-class subject relevant to all. The best topics for written conversations are open-ended, with no right answer, have a value or interpretive or judgment dimension, and are subjects that reasonable people can disagree about.

TEACH / MODEL: Kids sit in their small groups and each writes his or her name in the upper-left-hand margin of a large piece of paper. Explain two rules:

“First be sure to use all the time for writing. I will tell you when to stop and pass your paper.”

“Second, don’t talk, even when passing notes. We want to keep all the energy in the writing. OK? Write for just a minute or so. Write your thoughts, reactions, questions, or feelings about today’s topic.”

Keep time by walking and watching. When most students have filled a quarter of a page, it is time to pass. This may be more like two or three minutes.

“Pass your papers to the next person in the circle. Now read the entry on the page, and just beneath it, answer for one minute. Tell your reaction, make a comment, ask questions, share a connection you’ve made, agree or disagree, or raise a whole new aspect. Use all the time for writing and keep the conversation going!”

 Walk the room, looking over shoulders to get the timing right.

COLLABORATIVE PRACTICE: “Pass again, please.”

Repeat this process three or four times total. Kids read all entries each time and may respond to one or all. Since there will be more text on the page, allow more time for each successive pass.

“Now pass one last time, so that you get back the paper that you began with. Now read the whole conversation you started.”

As soon as kids are done reading and start talking, invite them to continue the conversation out loud. You can keep it open or announce a more focused prompt. To launch a whole group debrief, say:

“Will each group please share one highlight, one thread of their discussion? Something you spent time on, something that sparked lively discussion, maybe something you argued about or laughed about.”

 

Take a Stand: Value Lineups

Checking for Understanding 25-26

Standards: SL1, SL2, SL3

The value lineup is a structure for fostering peer discourse on the core concepts in a content area, a unit of study, or an anchor text.

Display a statement about a content area topic that requires students to consider their values and beliefs. (For example, “Scientists should be allowed to pursue research in cloning.”)

Mark an impromptu continuum in the classroom.

Read / speak the statement aloud; quickly decode difficult words but do not comment on the meaning of the quotation.

Students independently evaluate the statement then line up according to their degree of agreement with the statement. If a student isn’t sure, he/she stands in the middle.

Students discuss the stands they have taken. This can be done in whole group fashion, or the single line can fold in half so that students who most strongly agreed the statement are partnered with students who most strongly disagreed with the statement.

After several minutes of conversation, students return to their seats. This can be followed by a whole group debate or a journal entry.

 

Gallery Walks

From Academic Conversations 123-24

Standards: SL1, SL2, SL5, RL1, RL7, RIT1, RIT7

In a typical gallery walk, the teacher displays images (posters, photographs, charts, etc.) related to a topic under study and students walk around the room to comment on them.

Depending on the purpose of the gallery walk, teachers can provide students in advance with a conversation guide.

For example, if students have been practicing the 5 core skills of academic conversation (see page 1), students can walk in pairs, sharing a Gallery WalkSynthesis Activity that prompts them to practice specific academic conversation skills at each station and to take notes.

If students have been learning viewing strategies (see the Viewing and Media Literacy link at this site) for media images, graphic novels, art, or specialized technical graphics, their conversation can be guided by one of the viewing “bookmarks” at this site.

Tellingboards

Adapted from “Writing Commonsense Matters” by Linda Rief p. 189-208, Adolescent Literacy: Turning Promise into Practice

Standards: W1, W2, W3, W4, W5, W6, SL1, SL3, SL4, SL6

Just as writing is thinking, so too are drawing, speaking, and listening. In this pre-writing activity, students use visuals and spoken language to tell a story, explain a complex event / process, or craft an argument. In supportive groups, students listen and offer constructive ideas for revision.

Distribute paper and sticky notes.

First draft: Students begin to draw a story, essay, report, or speech using stick figures and key words sketched onto sticky notes. This is called the tellingboard. Student-composers arrange their notes onto the paper and tell their compositions orally to a small group of student-listeners, guided by the content and arrangement of their sticky notes. Group members comment and ask questions.

Second draft: Based on the feedback they received from their group, student composers rearrange their sticky notes, add new notes, and/or delete or clarify first draft sticky notes into a second draft. Student-composers tell their composition again, guided by their revised tellingboards, to the same group of listeners.

Third Draft: Once the tellingboard is as complete as possible, student-composers begin to write their story, essay, report, or speech guided by their tellingboards.

Click here for the Tellingboard Directions handout.

 

Audio Compositions

Adapted from English Language Arts Units for 9-12 by Christopher Shamburg with contributions from Paul Amato

Standards: This strategy has the potential to address all the Standards for Speaking and Listening and for Writing.

The stories we tell take on new meaning when we tell them in our own voices. As a culminating project in a unit of study devoted to reading, writing, rhetoric, or inquiry, or as part of a unit on speaking and listening, challenge students to produce an audio composition.

Step 1: Listen

Before students begin, acclimate them to the world of old radio by listening to the opening minutes of Orson Welles’ 1938 radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl_J4J2mQpQ

From old radio to new, students can then listen to audio essays and reports published at This I Believe: http://thisibelieve.org

and NPR’s Youth Radio site: http://www.npr.org/series/4692815/youth-radio

 Students decide with a partner which audio essays to focus on, keeping careful notes with a Listening Guide.

Step 2: Script

Whether students are composing a script specifically for this project or transmediating a written essay or report into an audio composition, their drafts should not exceed 500 words. See the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks for Speaking and Listening for guidance on the content, reasoning, point of view and tone.

Step 3: Record

Before and during the recording process, students need to practice speaking their composition with attention to articulation and expression through a thoughtful and practiced combination of volume, pitch, pace, tone, and style. Students can record their compositions using an iPhone, iPad, or a camera microphone.

Step 4: Edit

As students record their audio compositions, encourage them to use the tools of human expression (vocal, environmental, music, silence) to enhance their audio essay, using an audio-video editing program such as Adobe Premiere, Adobe Sound Booth, GarageBand, or Audacity. An audio tutorial written by Paul Amato and Mary Ellen Dakin for Adobe Premiere is published at this site.

Socratic Seminars

Excerpted from Checking for Understanding 54-55.

Standards: This strategy has the potential to address all the Standards for Reading Literature and Informational Text, as well as SL1, SL3, SL4, and SL6.

Greek philosopher Socrates believed that the best way to gain and test knowledge was through the dialectic method of “disciplined conversation.” There are four essential components:

The text. Socratic seminar texts can be informational or literary, but they must be rich enough to engender readers’ questions. The text must capture the imagination of the group. The text should challenge readers’ attitudes and beliefs.

 

The question. A Socratic seminar begins with a question posed by the leader. The question should have no right answer but must have the capacity to send readers back to the text to think, search, evaluate, wonder, or infer. As students gain expertise in Socratic seminars, they will begin asking their own questions.

 

The leader. In Socratic seminars, the leader is both a participant and a facilitator. The leader must know the text well enough to anticipate issues that may invoke strong reactions, various interpretations, and possible misunderstandings. At the same time, the leader must allow the group to come to its own understanding of the text and the ideas it inspires.

 

The participants. In a Socratic seminar, the participants are responsible for the quality of the seminar. Good seminars result when participants study the text in advance, listen actively, share ideas, opinions, and questions, and search for evidence in the text.

Guidelines for Participants in a Socratic Seminar  From C. Adams, 2004, Vestavia Hills High School, Birmingham, Alabama

1. Refer to the text when needed during the discussion. A seminar is not a test of memory. You are not “learning a subject”; your goal is to understand the ideas, issues, and values reflected in the text. 2. It’s okay to “pass” when asked to contribute. 3. Do not participate if you are not prepared. A seminar should not be a bull session. 4. Do not stay confused; ask for clarification. 5. Stick to the point currently under discussion; make notes about ideas you want to come back to. 6. Don’t raise hands; take turns speaking. 7. Listen carefully. 8. Speak up so that all can hear you. 9. Talk to each other, not just to the leader or teacher. 10. Discuss ideas rather than each other’s opinions. 11. You are responsible for the seminar, even if you don’t know it or admit it.

To get started, model the process with a challenging but familiar text. After students in Grade 11 English engaged in an abridged reading of Chapter 1 of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, RHS teachers Dakin and Casper organized students into small groups and each group selected a group leader to both guide and participate in the discussion. The Seminar Questions for Walden were composed by the teachers, who circulated and observed the first seminar.

Fishbowl Discussions

From 50 Content Area Strategies for Adolescent Literacy. Fisher, Brozo, Frey, Ivey. Pearson, 2007.

Standards: If students are discussing print or media text, this strategy has the potential to address the Standards for Reading Literature and Reading Informational Text as well as SL1, SL3, SL4, and SL6.

This strategy is well labeled because it involves one group of students looking in on a smaller group of students in a manner not unlike watching fish through the clear glass of an aquarium. The small group carries on a conversation about the issue or topic while the outside group listens and prepares questions and comments for the discussants. These roles are rotated to ensure that all students play an active part in speaking, listening, and questioning.

In advance, demonstrate the format and expectations of a fishbowl discussion. This is best accomplished in a “dry run” of the activity. Ask for four or five volunteers to sit around a table or cluster of desks in the middle of the room. Have the other students gather in an outer circle.

1. Identify a focus for class discussion. The more controversial and charged the issue, the greater the level of engagement on the part of students. Thus, a topic in science such as the water cycle for students living in arid and semiarid parts of the country might be considered from an environmental perspective resulting in the following issue: The region needs to increase the volume of potable water in order to develop and expand. How can this be done without upsetting the current ecological balance?

2. Before the fishbowl discussion begins, ask students to turn to a neighbor and talk about their ideas and opinions related to the issue. Tell students to take notes on their discussion. Allow enough time for a reasonable exchange of ideas and viewpoints, which can be determined by moving around the room to monitor and facilitate.

3. Form the inner and outer circles and tell students in the inner circle to talk among themselves about the ideas and opinions raised when conversing with a partner.

4. The other students listen carefully and take notes or jot down questions to share afterward.

5. Allow a reasonable amount of time, getting involved only if the discussion dies or to ensure everyone is contributing and taking turns.

6. Ask the students in the outer circle to comment on the discussion they observed and to ask questions of the discussants.

7. Gather another small group of volunteer discussants, and continue the fishbowl process until all students have had the opportunity to be inside the fishbowl.

Visit this website for helpful classroom strategies about the fishbowl method:

http://www.facing.org/resources/strategies/fishbowl

View this helpful video on fishbowl discussions produced by teacher Paul Bogush at the Moran Middle School, Grade 8, in Wallingford, CT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwxnBv-dNBI

Fishbowl Discussions Aligned to Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy

Developed by RHS History teacher Mark Fellowes

Standards: This strategy has the potential to address the Standards for Reading Literature and Reading Informational Text as well as W1, W2, W4, W7, W9, SL1, SL2, SL3, SL4, and SL6.

Prior to the Fishbowl Discussion:

1.     Read, view, and/or listen to a series of texts on a content-area topic.

2.     Write and answer three questions on the texts. Only one of these questions can be on the thinking actions in the Remember / Understand section of Bloom’s taxonomy. The other two questions need to be from different sections and address other types of thinking (sometimes referred to as “higher order thinking”): Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, or Create. In all cases, do not write questions that can be answered in only a few words.

During the Discussion:

3.     Be prepared to contribute relevant facts, observations, connections, analysis, evaluations, etc. to the conversation. You must add new information and understanding to the discussion, not just repeat a text or rephrase someone else’s answers and ideas.

4.     Ask at least one relevant question of the other participants.

5.     Use appropriate communication skills and be respectful of other participants. DO raise your hand and wait to be recognized by the facilitator, look at other students when talking, and use complete sentences. DO NOT interrupt others, monopolize the conversation, engage in personal attacks, chew gum or engage in distracting behaviors.

6.     Make a summative closing statement.

During Note-Taking:

7.     Listen closely to the speakers. Pay attention to the discussion.

8.     Write down each participant’s question, at least two relevant or insightful comments made during the discussion, and one positive comment about the discussion process.

Fishbowl Assessment Checklist Your score will be based on the following criteria:

When class begins… ☐ Three questions prepared – 1 point ☐ Two questions extend thinking beyond “Remember / Understand” – 1 point ☐ Each question is answered – 1 point

During the fishbowl discussion… ☐ Ask one question – 1 point ☐ Make one comment about another’s question or statement – 1 point ☐ Use appropriate communication skills such as respectful tone, eye contact, etc. – 1 point ☐ Make closing statement that addresses the focus question – 1 point

During note-taking… ☐ List each question asked – 1 point ☐ List key points from at least two discussion participants – 1 point ☐ Write one positive comment about the discussion – 1 point

TOTAL points out of 10 = Comments:

Click here for the Fishbowl Assessment Checklist handout developed by Mark Fellowes.

The Harkness Table Discussion Method

Prepared from materials provided by Lawrence Smith, Phillips Exeter Academy

Standards: SL1, SL2, SL3, SL4, and SL6 as well as the Standards for Reading Literature and Reading Informational Text.

Developed at Phillips Exeter Academy and named after oil magnate Edward Harkness, who in the 1930s endowed several private schools with a large grant to develop student-centered approaches to learning, this method can be used in every content-area classroom and with literary, informational, and/or technical texts. Students sit at large circular or oval tables; the teacher assigns the readings but merely observes the discussion, recording student participation and engagement on a chart.

Visit the Phillips Exeter website for more information about the Harkness table method:

http://www.exeter.edu/admissions/109_1220.aspx

Visit this website for one teacher’s helpful outline of the Harkness table method in her classroom:

https://sites.google.com/site/jodisschooldocs/harkness/implementing-harkness

View this YouTube video for a brief overview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3bD8KYGLEw&feature=related

Tracking student comments can feel overwhelming at first because it requires intensive listening on the teacher's part, so at first you may simply wish to draw lines across the "table" to the names of students who speak. With practice, you will begin to add symbols to mark the nature and quality of individual students' contributions to the classroom conversation.

This Harkness table notes chart was adapted by RHS teachers Althea Terenzi, Allison Casper, and Mary Ellen Dakin. 

Harkness Table Notes

 Discussion Topic: _________________________________ Date: ______