Get Your Students Using Accountable Talk From Day 1

  Because I know that my students will learn more deeply if they have to negotiate meaning and listen thoughtfully to the ideas of others, academic discussion plays an enormous role in the everyday procedures of my classroom. And because tweens are so eager to talk, this is an easy way to keep the class on task and engaged.

        Yeah, right.

      Academic discussion is the center around which my classroom turns. But if I want the endless hours we spend in small-group, partner, and whole-class discussions to be valuable and worthwhile, academic discussion is a skill that must be taught with the same rigor as any other English skill. That includes both speaking and listening skills. Without rigorous instruction and daily practice in how to speak about academic topics, students will waste plenty of time discussing how great Alicia looks in her new Gap skirt. But the time invested is worth it--every testing year for the last four years, my students have had some of the highest literacy growth scores in the school. 

2016-2017 students engaging in a student-led Socratic discussion on texts about the implication of increasing technology.

        Here are three easy ways to begin teaching your students how to engage in academic discussion:

1. Teach sentence stems explicitly. 

Every year, I begin the year with these academic discussion cards hot glued to each desk (I haven't found a way to make them stick to the desks all year, but by the time they come off, my students are proficient enough with academic discussion that they no longer need them). 

   I use these cards as a jumping-off point for continuing discussions; they provide a safe way for shy students to enter the conversation and immediately show students some examples of high-level vocabulary that they can and will use throughout the year. I do not teach all the stems at once. Typically, I teach one or two at once, and then provide a task to allow for practice (one example can be found here). We may practice two sentence stems for a week, before adding a new one to our repertoire.

2. Give students numerous low-pressure opportunities to practice. 

Creating a concept map about a partner is a great critical thinking activity where students can practice asking others to elaborate on their ideas or to clarify a statement. Holding a whole-class discussion to come up with logical consequences for various types of misbehavior is an ideal time to practice asking for examples or contradicting respectfully. Every ice breaker and community builder that you do is an opportunity for students to use their newfound discussion skills. Make sure to remind, encourage, and model these skills before each activity.

3. Study the nonverbal aspects of communication. 

Oftentimes, middle school students believe that as long as they are not yelling, "Shut up," they are being respectful. How often has a student rolled their eyes at you, only to go, "What? I'm not saying anything!"

       But just as important as the words we use are the ways in which we make others feel valued with our bodies. A student who feels listened to and valued is more likely to remain a part of the conversation and venture forth risky ideas than one who feels as though his or her audience is bored.

  After introducing students to the term "nonverbal communication," we read this text from the Aurora Employee Assistance Program, and students work in groups (using the sentence stems "Can you justify your ideas with evidence?" and "Can you elaborate on that?") to create skits showing both positive and negative nonverbal communication. This has benefits all year, as every time I start to see my students slump, I remind the class that, "I need to see your best nonverbal communication!" Works like a charm, every time J

       Every year, I hear teachers say that they would like to have more collaboration and group work in their classroom, but they fear the time that will be lost in off-task chatter and students who freeload off the ideas and work of others (I'll be describing a solution for this in my next post). Though there will be days when it feels as though students are wasting more time than learning, the greater your dedication to modeling and giving practice time for discussion, the more your students will rise to the challenge of articulating their ideas and helping their peers to understand complex concepts. I promise it's worth it!

Cheers,