This resource is

a guide to helping you support high quality student conversations in your classroom.

When and Why should I use this?

Use this guide to help you make the most out of your literacy block and push your students oral language development. If we are to truly close the achievement gap between low-income students and their peers from higher-income communities, our students must be able to communicate their ideas, thoughts, and opinions effectively. Our students often arrive to our classrooms behind their wealthier peers in their oral language and vocabulary development. These deficits hold them back from being able to articulate ideas coherently or compellingly. In high income schools, students engage in robust and vibrant conversations around all topics and content. These discussions help develop oral language and ultimately greatly impact their achievement. A student who is able to read a high level text but not able to talk about it or share authentic opinions is still not performing on the same playing field. In order to develop our students oral language skills, critical thinking skills, and ultimately affect their achievement, we must cultivate high quality and robust conversations in our classrooms.

How should I use this?

Build these strategies into your unit and lesson plans to cultivate robust conversations in your classroom that will lead to better comprehension and oral language development.

Developing High Quality Robust Conversations in Elementary Classrooms Classroom Discussions, Oral Language Development, and Student Achievement

If we are to truly close the achievement gap between low-income students and their peers from higher-income communities, our students must be able to communicate their ideas, thoughts, and opinions effectively. Our students often arrive to our classrooms behind their wealthier peers in their oral language and vocabulary development. These deficits hold them back from being able to articulate ideas coherently or compellingly. In high income schools, students engage in robust and vibrant conversations around all topics and content. These discussions help develop oral language and ultimately greatly impact their achievement. A student who is able to read a high level text but not able to talk about it or share authentic opinions is still not performing on the same playing field. In order to develop our students oral language skills, critical thinking skills, and ultimately affect their achievement, we must cultivate high quality and robust conversations in our classrooms.

How to Cultivate Robust Conversations: Common Best Practices and Strategies I. Strategies for the Teacher a. Framing the Conversation with an Opening and Closing: Before you
begin, set the purpose of the conversation. In order to have a productive conversation, it is important to really frame up what the content of the discussion will be about and then sum up what they accomplished (and how they did it by sharing their opinions, asking each other questions, sometimes disagreeing and sometimes changing their minds). Otherwise, it just feels like a lot of discussion, and the students will not be sure or clear of what you have accomplished at the end. For examples of productive conversations, see videos below. Choosing What to Discuss: It is very important to choose the discussion points carefully. Its okay for there to be a right answer, but there should be enough nuance that you could get a good discussion going. This is why it is important to push the discussion beyond the first few levels of Blooms. The more ambiguity in the discussion topic the better. It allows for students to truly think critically and engage. Example of low level question that will not lead to robust conversation: Who took the cookie from the cookie jar? Example of a high level question that could lead to debate and more conversation: Why do you think the author included this character in the story, especially if we dont like the person?

b.

c. Engage in the Discussion: Do not feel that you have to be the facilitator
and run the whole conversation. Students will get the most out of it when you model how to engage in the conversation by adding to it, and giving your own opinion. When we try to facilitate, the conversation can get too teacherheavy. It serves our students better when we engage and say things like, I disagree, and here is whyWhat do you think about that?, rather than stepping back into the role of facilitator and explaining whats right as the teacher. We want the students to become confident in their ability to communicate and take responsibility for the conversation and their learning.

d. Building Student Confidence and Ownership: We want our students to

feel that their opinions, no matter what, are valued. When students feel their thoughts are valued, they are more confident and will take more ownership and pride in their ability to address problems and communicate. When having discussions with our students, we need to ensure that we provide them with a safe and welcoming environment to support this. We want our students to speak out, own their learning, and confidently communicate their amazing genius ideas. Help the Students Prepare: Help students prepare for a conversation by giving them a preview. By giving them some of the questions in advance, you can scaffold their learning and ability to participate in a conversation. With their some of their thoughts and examples prepared prior to the conversation ensures, they will have something to share to help drive the conversation forward. For an example of what a pre-discussion questionnaire can look like, click here. (Note this is example is for 3rd grade.) Complete Sentences: In addition to using Accountable Talk (see below), it is important for students to discuss their ideas and opinions in complete sentences. When asked a question, students should be prompted to rephrase the question so that they are answering it in a complete thought. For example, if a teacher asks, Why is this story realistic fiction? the student should respond, The story is realistic fiction because the characters are like real people with feelings, relationships, and personalities. This is also a good skill to develop to support students writing. Conversation Hand Signals: Many teachers, as in the video examples below, have their students use agree and disagree hand signals to demonstrate how they are feeling about another students or teachers remarks. If a student agrees with the statement being said, they tap the top of there heads. If the student disagrees, they shake their head and wave their hand. These signals can help move the conversation forward by signaling to others who might want to add more thoughts whether in agreement or dissent.

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II.

Blooms Taxonomy

When we cultivate rigorous discussions in our classroom, especially when speaking about books, we want to push our students up the levels of Blooms beyond comprehension. For our students to be able to truly comprehend and understand an idea, they need to do more with it than explain or predict. They need to debate, question, and analyze. When planning for discussions in literacy or other content areas, use this as a guide. Are your questions rigorous enough? Are you supporting your students ability to think critically, apply the knowledge you have taught them, debate and support their stances?

Cognitive Level Knowledge

Useful Verbs Tell, list, describe, relate, locate, write, find, state, name

Sample Questions What is? How is? Where is? Can you select? Can you list three? Which one? How did X happen?

Sample Products or Activities Make a list of the main events.. Make a timeline of events. Make a facts chart. Write a list of any pieces of information you can remember. List all the .... in the story. Make a chart showing... Make an acrostic. Recite a poem. Cut out or draw pictures to show a particular event. Illustrate what you think the main idea was. Make a cartoon strip showing the sequence of events. Write and perform a play based on the story. Retell the story in your words. Paint a picture of some aspect you like. Write a summary report of an event. Prepare a flow chart to illustrate the sequence of events. Make a coloring book. Construct a model to demonstrate how it will work. Make a diorama to illustrate an important event. Make a scrapbook about the areas of study. Make a paper-mache map to include relevant information about an event. Take a collection of photographs to demonstrate a particular point. Make up a puzzle game using the ideas from the study area. Make a clay model of an item in the material. Design a market strategy for your product using a known strategy as a model. Dress a doll in national costume. Paint a mural using the same materials. Write a textbook about... for others. Design a questionnaire to gather information. Write a commercial to sell a new product. Conduct an investigation to produce information to support a view. Make a flow chart to show the critical stages. Construct a graph to illustrate selected information. Make a jigsaw puzzle. Make a family tree showing relationships. Put on a play about the study area. Write a biography of the study person. Prepare a report about the area of study. Arrange a party. Make all the arrangements and record the steps needed. Review a work of art in terms of form, color and texture. Invent a machine to do a specific task. Design a building to house your study.

Comprehe nsion

Explain, interpret, outline, discuss, distinguish, predict, restate, translate, compare

How would you classify? How would you compare? Contrast? Will you state or interpret in your own? how would you rephrase the meaning? What facts or ideas show? What is the main idea..? Which statements support? What can you say about..?

Applicatio n (use)

Solve, show, use, illustrate, calculate, construct, complete, examine, classify

How would you use? What examples can you find to..? How would you solve using what you have? How would you organize to show? How would you show your understanding of? How would you apply what you learned to develop? What other way would you plan to? What would result if? What facts would you select to show?

Analysisdissect info into componen ts to see relationshi p

Analyze, distinguish, examine, compare, contrast, investigate, categorize, identify, explain, separate

What are the parts/features of X? How is X related to Y? Why do you think? What is theme..? Can you list the parts? What inferences can you make? What conclusions can you draw..? How would you classify? How is the function of? What evidence can you find?

Synthesis(Compone

Create, invent,

What changes would you to make to solve? How would you

III.

Accountable Talk

Accountable talk is a method for students and teachers to communicate with one another. Generally this means that students are actively listening to one another, engaging in the conversation in a respectful manner, using positive I statements, and using a common language to push conversations forward. Accountable talk most notably gives students and teachers a common language and method to share their ideas and opinions. Accountable Talk is vital for creating robust conversations, especially in literacy. Like rules, the tenants of Accountable Talk must be taught, modeled, and reinforced before they become part of a students natural vernacular. When using Accountable Talk, students: are engaged in talk are listening attentively to one another elaborate and build upon ideas and each others contributions ask each other questions aimed at clarifying or expanding a proposition make use of specific and accurate knowledge provide evidence for claims and arguments recognize the kind of knowledge or framework required to address a topic Challenge the quality of each others arguments Below are the basic tenants of Accountable Talk that you would share with your students. These would be reviewed before discussions as a group and referred to frequently throughout conversations to reinforce. When speaking to each other We always look at the speaker. We wait for a pause before interrupting someone We speak always in a loud, clear voice. We speak to the group, not just one person or the teacher. With our body language, we show that we are listening by leaning in and turning our body to the speaker. We ask questions to clear up confusion, to understand each other better, and move the conversation forward.

Ways to engage in a conversation: When you agree with someone, say I understand, and I would like to I agree with ______ because . add That makes sense because Thats really smart because I want to say more about what Thats true because you said When you disagree with someone, say I dont think thats true because I understand what youre saying, but I have a different opinion . I disagree with _____ because I know thats your opinion, but Thats a good point, but did you Can you give evidence to support consider your opinion?

Other ways to push the conversation further:

It looks like youd like to say something. Can you say more about that? What do you think about what I said? So what youre saying is Is there evidence of that in the text? Why do you think that?

Below you will find a classroom display and bookmarks to help reinforce Accountable Talk with your students.

IV.

Vocabulary Instruction

We need to provide our students with the words to communicate. This cannot happen without explicit and systematic vocabulary instruction. The better a students vocabulary, the more rigorous and robust conversation they are able to have. To help you plan and execute strong Vocabulary Instruction, review this resource: http://www.tfanet.org/wps/myportal/teachinglearningcenter/resourceexchange/resourcep rofile?resource_id=c6fdebb1c867415a:-4d0f3864:124c57750a3:64d2 The following words are vital to strong conversations about stories and books: protagoni antagoni problem conflict solution st st Helpful words to teach to Hard-working, worried, cheerful, active, curious, secretive aggressive, tough, careless, practical, sensible, independent describe characters in conversations: boring, moody, trusting, imaginative, modest, ambitious, tolerant, friendly crafty, sensitive, energetic, gentle, naive confident, generous, loyal, selfish, shy, self stubborn, reliable, clumsy, intelligent

V.

Video Examples
Below are links to 2 examples of robust conversations in elementary classrooms. While they do not use all of the strategies mentioned in this document, they provide a good vision for where to begin starting to build your students ability to engage in high quality discussions. Use the following focus questions to guide your reflections when viewing the videos: 1. What strategies do you see the teacher using to support the students in developing oral language skills? 2. How do you think this teacher began teaching these skills to her students? 3. What skills and strategies would you like to start implementing in your classroom? Remember, it takes time to establish these kinds of conversations. Ms. Bitner 1st Grade: http://www.tfateams.org/ece-resources/Bitner-video.php To see how Ms. Bitner planned for this conversation, click here. Ms. Davis 3rd Grade: http://www.tfateams.org/ece-resources/Davis-video.php

VI.

How can I implement these strategies?

a. Unit Planning As you lay out your plan, be sure to include what questions you want your students to answer by the end of each week within the unit. By writing out your questions, you will have a better sense of where your students understanding should be at the end of the week. Then, go back to this guide to see which category your question(s) fall into. If you see that the questions are in the lower cognitive levels, then add some new questions from the higher level steps so that you can push your students thinking/understanding even further. If you notice that the questions posed are higher level, be sure to include when in the week you will want your students to master the lowerstep questions. Performing this careful planning of questions places you in a better position to take the best course of action in the event that your students dont master the desired questions within the week. b. Lesson Planning When creating lesson plans, you want to include the type of questions you will ask your students throughout the lesson to deepen their understanding and open up conversation. This is more than just a check for understanding, its an opportunity for students to take what they have learned and think about it at a higher level. Think of it as chunking by the end of each portion of your lesson (warm-up, intro to new materials, guided practice, and so on) make sure that you include at least one question that you want your students to answer/master by that time frame. When you write your question, be sure to check which category the question falls within. If you notice that its a comprehension question, then you should create two additional questions from higher levels. When we ask higher level questions, we are pushing our students to think more critically and support these ideas with thoughts they will have to share verbally. When you lead classroom discussions, be sure that the questions you ask your students follow the leveled order. It might be difficult for students to skip a Blooms level with some content, so it is best to scaffold and build up to thriving conversations. The best conversations come from higher levels in which the correct answer is not always apparent. Give your students the space and support to grapple with these higher level questions. c. When is a good time to have a classroom conversation? i. Discussing the larger theme or message of a read aloud text ii. Discussing what students learned from a text read in Book Clubs iii. Discussing how to solve a math word problem iv. Discussing the theory behind a math concept (e.g., why are even numbers even? Why are odd numbers odd?) v. Discussing why or how something happens in a science experiment vi. Discussing causes of historical events

Habits of Excellent Discussion

Directions: Use these sentence starters to be a positive, professional student in this class and all classes!

When speaking to each other

We always look at the speaker. We wait for a pause before interrupting someone We speak always in a loud, clear voice. We speak to the group, not just one person or the teacher. With our body language, we show that we are listening by leaning in and turning our body to the speaker. We ask questions to clear up confusion, to understand each other better, and move the conversation forward.

Ways to more in a conversation: When you agree with someone, say

I understand, and I would like to add That makes sense because I want to say more about what you said I dont think thats true because I disagree with _____ because Thats a good point, but did you consider

I agree with ______ because . Thats really smart because Thats true because

When you disagree with someone, say

I understand what youre saying, but I have a different opinion . I know thats your opinion, but Can you give evidence to support your opinion?
It looks like youd like to say something. Can you say more about that? What do you think about what I said? So what youre saying is Is there evidence of that in the text? Why do you think that?

Other ways to push the conversation further:

Accountable Talk Conversation Starters I noticed It bothered me when I wonder why This part reminded me of Connecting to What Others Say I agree with you I disagree with you What you said reminded me of When you said _____, I thought I see a connection between what _____ said and what _____ said Asking Questions to Build Understanding Can you give me an example of what you mean when you say? What did you think about?

Accountable Talk Conversation Starters I noticed It bothered me when I wonder why This part reminded me of Connecting to What Others Say I agree with you I disagree with you What you said reminded me of When you said _____, I thought I see a connection between what _____ said and what _____ said Asking Questions to Build Understanding Can you give me an example of what you mean when you say? What did you think about?

Accountable Talk Conversation Starters I noticed It bothered me when I wonder why This part reminded me of Connecting to What Others Say I agree with you I disagree with you What you said reminded me of When you said _____, I thought I see a connection between what _____ said and what _____ said Asking Questions to Build Understanding Can you give me an example of what you mean when you say? What did you think about?

Pre-Discussion Questionnaire
Class Clown Pre-Reading and Chapter 1 Discussion 1. What do you think the genre of the book is? (fiction, non-fiction, realistic fiction) ____________________________________________ Here are three reasons why: 1. __________________________________________________________

2. __________________________________________________________

3. __________________________________________________________ 2. The main character, or protagonist, of this book is Lucas Cott. How would you describe Lucas? What kind of kid is he? What are specific examples from the first chapter that make you think that? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 3. Who is Cricket Kaufman? How would you describe her? She is the antagonist, or the person that causes conflict (problems) with the protagonist. What is proof from the first chapter that supports this? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 4. Obstreperous. Huh? Thats the word that Mrs. Hockaday uses to describe Lucas. WITHOUT looking the word up in the dictionary figure out what it means. What does Mrs. Hockaday mean that Lucas is very obstreperous in class? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 5. Lucas and his mother have an interesting relationship. How would you describe the way that they interact, mean speak to each other? How does his mother feel about his behavior? What does she think about the note from Mrs. Hockaday? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 5. Cricket seems annoying. Why cant Johanna Hurwitz just get rid of her? She is a tattle-tale and a brat, so why is she included? Do you think she can be removed from the story? Why or why not? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________

BEDTIME FOR FRANCES Remind about Social Norms Since we just started some new guided reading groups, I want to remind you of what I expect to see in our discussions about the book we are reading. First, we always keep our eyes on whoever is talking. Second, we listen to what everyone says so we can talk about what we agree or disagree with. Last, we all participate in the discussion whenever possible. Now that we remember what we expect out of our discussions, lets get started. Opening Discussion Today, were going to discuss the book before we start reading it. We havent read anything yet, so we want to get our minds ready to read by making sure we know what kind of book it is and what it might be about. What kind of book it is is going to affect what will happen in the story. Pre-Reading Plan for Bedtime for Frances
1. Ask what book will be about. Point to clues.

2. Who is the main character? How do you know? 3. In this story, Frances has a hard time falling asleep. Have you ever had a hard time falling asleep before? What kept you awake? 4. Do you think this book is fiction or non-fiction? a. I think its realistic fiction because this could really happen. I have had trouble falling asleep before. What do you think? b. Do you think this book could be animal fiction? Why?

During Reading Discussion Now that weve got our minds ready to read and we know what kind of book we are going to read, we need to be prepared for what we are going to talk about today. While we read Bedtime for Frances, we are going to focus on the characters in the book. The character is one of the most important parts of the story. They will affect what happens. We need to understand them so we can understand the story. Today, we are going to talk about Frances, the main character in the story. Page 3
1. Frances has been making excuses to avoid going to bed. What does it mean to make an excuse? What kinds of excuses has she made so far? 2. Why do you think Frances cannot fall asleep? What would you do if you couldnt fall asleep?

Page 6
1. What is scaring Frances now? When she goes to tell her parents what she sees in her room, what do they say? 2. Why do you think her mom and dad say that the tiger is a friendly tiger? If you were her parents, what would you say? 3. Do you agree with what her mom and dad did? She is scared. Why are they making her go back to sleep?

Page 9

1. What is Frances afraid of now? What does she ask to do with her parents in the living room? 2. Why do you think her father tells her to go and ask the giant what he wants? Would you go back into your room like Frances did? Why or why not? 3. Would you have given Frances a piece of cake? Why or why not? 4. I think Frances is being a brat. Do you think that is true? Why or why not?

Concluding Discussion So far, scholars, we have gotten our minds ready to read and focused on learning about Frances, the main character. Tomorrow, when we come back, we will continue to see how Frances changes what happens in the story.

TEACH US, AMELIA BEDELIA (Ms.Bitners Plans) Remind about Social Norms Since we just started some new guided reading groups, I want to remind you of what I expect to see in our discussions about the book we are reading. First, we always keep our eyes on whoever is talking. Second, we listen to what everyone says so we can talk about what we agree or disagree with. Last, we all participate in the discussion whenever possible. Now that we remember what we expect out of our discussions, lets get started. Opening Discussion Yesterday, we finished discussing the book to get our minds ready to read. Now that we know what kind of book we are going to read and what it will be about, we need to be prepared for what we are going to talk about today. While we read Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia, we are going to focus on the characters in the book. The characters are one of the most important parts of the story. They will affect what happens. We need to understand them so we can understand the story. Today, we are going to talk about Amelia Bedelia, the main character in the story. Page 5
1. What do you notice Amelia Bedelia? What clues did you use?

Page 6-7
1. Sometimes in books, there are multiple problems. Some problems can be big and some problems can be small. What is the problem in the story now? 2. What does it mean that the telephone is out of order? Why cant Mrs. Rogers call the school herself? 3. Why does Amelia Bedelia listen to what Mrs. Rogers says?

Page 8-9
1. Why did Mr. Carter give Amelia Bedelia the list that the teacher left? 2. If you were Mr. Carter, would you let Amelia Bedelia teach the class? 3. How would you feel if you were Amelia Bedelia? Do you think maids should be allowed to teach school? Why or why not?

Page 10-11
1. What are the kids doing in the classroom? I think they are bad kids. Do you agree or disagree? 2. Would you act like the kids in the story if your teacher was absent? Why or why not? 3. What do you think their teacher is like? What do the childrens actions tell you about their teacher? 4. Do you think the teacher has rules in the classroom? Why or why not?

Page 12-13
1. What are the children doing now? Why do you think they are doing that? Do you think they are really going to listen to her? Why or why not? 2. What is Amelia Bedelia like? How does she treat the children? Would you describe her as really kind or really strict? Why?

3. How do you usually respond to really kind teachers? How do you respond to really strict teachers? What do you think the children will do?

Concluding Discussion So far, scholars, we have started reading the book Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia. We have been working on learning about Amelia Bedelia, the main character, and how she changes the story. Tomorrow, when we come back, we will continue to read to see what Amelia Bedelia says or does that affects what happens.