TALKING TO LEARN IN
CLASSROOMS AND
COMMUNITIES
Spencer Salas
Question to Consider
Which of these challenges do you
face when facilitating a classroom
discussion?
•
Student readiness/language proficiency
•Uneven participation
•
Student reliance on teacher
•Class size
Welcome!
Goals of session
1. To explore how discussion might be used to
promote language learning, perspective taking, and critical thinking.
2. To think about five principles for promoting
discussion.
3. To examine three discussion formats that you
Challenges
•
Student readiness
•
Distribution of talk
•
Spontaneity vs. thoughtfulness
•
Teacher reluctance
Opportunities
5 Principles for Discussion
1. Engage participants in focused discussions
based on their lived experiences.
2. Create multiple opportunities for participants to
prepare.
3. Keep the conversation horizontal.
4. Focus on meaning and value active listening. 5. Honor difference, reflect on content and
PRINCIPLE 1
Horizontal vs. Vertical Conversations
Funds of Knowledge/ Background Knowledge
•
Learners may lack the background knowledge
for discussions about contemporary/historical
events.
•
Give students access to multiple information
sources and ample content preparation—e.g.,
articles, lectures, videos, and specialized
websites on the Internet or other sources.
•
Construct discussions around the students
PRINCIPLE 2
Writing, Talking, and Wondering
•
Preparing widens the circle of participation.
•Decide with students on the
theme/questions.
•
Together, develop open-ended questions
with no obvious answers.
•
“Try them out” - First individually on paper
and then with a partner or in small groups.
•
After, have them write additional questions
Open Ended?
Which of these questions are open-ended?
1. Who is a person you admire and why?
2. Do you have a hero?
3. What are three qualities you consider
heroic?
Preparing for Interactions
Preparing for a discussion is not
limited to helping students gather
and organize what they are going
to say, but also how they will
interact with each other.
Example Outline of Expectations
We’ll encourage each other to
participate.
We’ll ask questions.
We’ll build off each other’s responses.
We’ll listen carefully to what our
PRINCIPLE 3
Moving the Discussion away from Teachers
• Teachers might express their point of view or hold
off (“I’m not completely sure of what I think. I’d like to hear what everybody else thinks first”).
• Teachers can position themselves as a
participant—e.g., in a circle.
• Give specific feedback about individuals’
frequency of participation at the close of a
PRINCIPLE 4
Listening to Students
•
What students are trying to say should be
valued over form.
•
Identify individual participants to “help out”
with students struggling to express their
ideas.
•
Consider students’ use of L1 as an
indicator of their motivation.
•
Assign certain students the role of
PRINCIPLE 5
Honor difference, reflect on
content and interaction,
Synthesizing Points of View
•
Synthesize/review the various points
of view that were expressed, the
questions generated, and the
behaviors that forwarded the process.
•
Bringing a discussion to a close does
3 FLEXIBLE FORMATS FOR
CLASSROOM DISCUSSION
1.
Gallery Walks
2.
Surveys/Rating Activities
Format 1: Gallery Walk
• Participants move from one “image” to the next—
responding at an immediate level to the images displayed.
• Images might be visual (a picture or graphic) or
textual (a word, phrase, or short reading).
• Develop a set of writing or visual images around a
theme and post the images or texts on tables or on the wall (chart paper).
• Direct teams/groups to stations with a colored
“It takes a great deal of
courage to stand up to
your enemies, but even
more to stand up to
your friends.”
Probing
•
Debrief class on responses and
encourage individual or collaborative
elaboration of responses.
•
Who wrote this? Which team wrote this?
•What were you thinking?/Tell me more.
•Does anybody else want to add
Format 2: Survey
• Choose a theme that allows for a variety of
opinions—some potentially controversial.
• Do a survey/rating activity that asks for
opinions about gendered roles in family/society, friendship, honesty, etc.
• Ask students to rank their level of agreement or
Rate Individually, Discuss in Small Groups, Feedback
1. Strongly Disagree 2. Disagree 3. Neutral/Unsure 4. Agree 5. Strongly Agree
___ 1. To be brave is to love someone unconditionally, without expecting anything in return.
___ 2. You can't be brave if you've only had wonderful things happen to you. ___ 3. A hero is a man who is afraid to run away.
___ 4. No man is a hero to his woman. ___ 5. Many heroes appear after the war.
Survey Follow-up
•
Afterwards, a representative from
each group reports out on 2-3
highlights of the small group’s
discussion.
•
Place scale around classroom (Station
1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
•
Have students physically locate
Format 3: Rankings
•
Ranking activities ask participants to
order
a series of examples of a value
and then
create definitions
that
might be used as a rule to measure
the degree to which an activity or
What is a heroic act?
a. A lifeguard rescues a six-year old boy from drowning in a public pool
by dragging him out with a hook.
b. A scientist works for more than ten years and finally makes a
discovery that will help cure thousands of people with heart disease.
c. A woman is swimming in the ocean. Sharks are spotted near her, so
her husband runs into the water to save her. Part of his leg is severed by sharks, but he manages to pull his wife and himself to safety.
d. A man runs into a burning building that is about to collapse to rescue
a child trapped inside. As he is running out with the child, a portion of the building falls, killing them both.
e. A man finds that the company he works for has been cheating
customers. He reports his finding on a television news program. Shortly thereafter, he is fired from his job.
Example definition with characteristics or “rules”
•
A hero is an individual who sacrifices
his/her own welfare/well-being for
someone else or for the greater good.
•
A hero spontaneously acts to help or
defend the weak.
Question to consider
•
How do you define “hero”?
5 Principles for Discussion
1. Engage participants in focused discussions
based on their lived experiences.
2. Create multiple opportunities for participants to
prepare.
3. Keep the conversation horizontal.
4. Focus on meaning and value active listening. 5. Honor difference, reflect on content and
CONCLUSION
Resources
• Southern Poverty Law Center
http://www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources
• International Reading Association/National Council of
Teachers of English
http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/
• McCann, T. M., Johannessen, L. R., Kahn, E., &
Flanagan, J. M. (2006). Talking in class: Using discussion to enhance teaching and learning. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
• National Writing Project
