Activate prior knowledge
Explore new topics,
Learn from others, and
Demonstrate their learning
Chances are, you may have already embraced classroom discussion as a strategy to use in your classroom. The main benefit of classroom discussion is that YOU, as the teacher, can use class discussion as a source of data to adapt instruction.
Virtually all text-based learning should be punctuated with—and then culminate in—focused talk, sometimes in pairs and at other times in extended full-class discussions or debates. All teachers should be able to instruct students in how to speak clearly, audibly, logically, and with civility.
When I do demonstration lessons, it is often apparent to me that students aren't learning these essential communication skills, which rank at the top of what employers want (Gewertz, 2018 as cited by Mike Schmoker (2019)). (Read more)
Robust discussion with each other
Critical thinking conversations about academic topics
Voicing their opinions and thoughts for improved communication skills
Increased awareness of whether they understand a topic or not
Learning in an environment where everyone learns from each other
(Adapted from Source: High-Impact Classroom Discussion)
"Class discussions can also be sources of rich, qualitative data—data that allow teachers to understand the thinking of their students more closely and determine if there are information processing errors that need instructional intervention, the more immediate the better.
When students are instructed to discuss what they are learning, teachers can listen to gauge the depth of what they know and, if that understanding proves too shallow, expand or challenge their thinking before moving forward" (Source: Lessons from John Hattie)
Create a Wakelet that has your Check-In Conversation strategy. This strategy enables “students to share their thoughts, questions, annotations about the text.” Wakelet’s ability to handle a wide variety of media makes this a a nice canvas where students can do that in response to your list of pre-made questions. See my example link.
Contributor link: You will need to go to the Contributors area to get the link. See this video tutorial for getting Contributors’ link . See my example link.
In her blog on Sparking Student Curiosity, Michelle Lucas outlines several approaches she uses as a science educator. One of the approaches that she mentioned intrigued me. That strategy is Think-Puzzle-Explore. Elements of the approach include:
What do you think you know about this topic?
What questions or puzzles do you have?
How can you explore this topic? (Source: Visible Thinking)
This serves as a tangible way to capture data needed to successfully use classroom discussion. Now, due to Wakelet’s two-by-two grid limits, you are unable to create a Think-Puzzle-Explore that flows landscape on a page. Instead, students can group their ideas one under the other.
Students read the assigned reading at home with annotations (watch video)
Small Group Discussions as students entered the room
Share question stems (shown right) for students as needed
Students start with stems on the left but progress to more difficult ones after teacher modeling
Students post their top two of each TQE by the end of 15 minutes:
Thoughts
Lingering Questions
Epiphanies
Class Discussion of TQEs