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Below are specific strategies/resources that could be used in a variety of disciplines.

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While these strategies are targeted for and ELA classroom, many would be helpful in other classrooms.

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Verbal Discourse in High School Resources

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Verbal Discourse in High School Resources

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Using 'Accountable Talk' To Express Your Opinion

Rules

Here are the two rules:

1. Every student must follow the structured phrasings of questions or statements.

2. If a student doesn't know another student's name, he or she must politely ask the name (never referring to a student as "him" or "her").

Structured Phrasings

To help students use the "accountable talk" format, teachers can make a chart of the phrasings or list them on the board or show them on an overhead projector. The phrasings should be displayed so that students can refer to them as they express their opinions:

"I believe _________ because..."
"I would like to agree with ________ because..."
"I would like to build on what ________ said..."
"I would like to disagree with what _________ said..."
"I need clarification on..."
"In other words, what you said was..."
"Can you give an example of that?"
"Yes, I can give an example..."

By using this format, students are required to listen to each other's words. In high school, I have found that it is increasingly difficult for students to move past stereotypes. But by insisting on a respectful conversation, you will ensure that it's what's in the mind of the students that matters.

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Here are the two rules: Every student must follow the structured phrasings of questions or statements. If a student doesn't know another student's name, he or she must politely ask the name (never referring to a student as "him" or "her").

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by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey and Carol Rothenberg

The best way to get a good idea is to get lots of ideas.

-Linus Pauling

It's a safe bet that the Nobel Prize-winning chemist and peace activist Linus Pauling didn't arrive at all of his good ideas by remaining silent. Chances are very good that there was a lot of talk going on at his Caltech lab as he and his colleagues worked out the problem of electronegativity and its relationship to ionic bonds between atoms. (Talk about academic discourse!) Of course, this didn't occur in an unruly or chaotic environment; the learning goals and social rules of conversations were just as important there as in any classroom.

As educators, we know that learning is social and that peer interactions help extend understanding. The idea that peers can scaffold new learning effectively for one another was one of Lev Vygotsky's great contributions to our field. Yet many teachers are reluctant to turn the class over to collaborative learning, for fear that they will lose control and thus lose valuable instructional time. We don't base this claim on observation alone. A study of the experiences of 1,000 elementary students across the United States found that they spent 91 percent of their days in either whole-group or independent seatwork, with only 4.8 percent engaged with peers in a learning activity (Pianta, Belsky, Houts, & Morrison, 2007). It isn't for lack of teacher knowledge, either, as 90 percent of the teachers held a credential, and 44 percent possessed a master's degree.

Moving into English with Peers

As we have stated throughout this book, English language learners need lots of opportunities to apply their growing knowledge in order to learn English and learn in English. Their acquisition of academic language is certainly initiated through the modeling of teachers and reinforced and extended through classroom discourse. In addition, teachers provide more specific supports during small-group guided instruction. This approach does have its limits, however. For example, Zwiers's (2007) study of the practices of middle school teachers found that in too many cases the questions they posed to English language learners differed in complexity (concrete versus abstract) and the teachers accepted more superficial answers from these students than they did from native speakers in the same class.

Zwiers posited that students who speak English as a first language arrive in school with a higher "academic capital" that allows them to speak a school type of language that is valued (2007, p. 94). Therefore, they are more adept at using the discourse of comparing and contrasting, interpretation, evaluation, and description. But many English language learners, especially those at the secondary level, report that they have limited opportunities to interact with native speakers in their classes and that this is a factor in the separateness between the two student groups (Daoud & Quiocho, 2005).

Even in the very best of classrooms, the ones in which teachers ask sophisticated questions of English language learners and provide prompts to guide their students' thinking, learning is stunted without peer interactions. Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock's (2001) analysis of effective instructional strategies identifies cooperative learning with peers as one of nine research-based strategies with a large effect size (.78). In particular, small-group interactions with peers offer several benefits for English language learners:

Repetition of key words and phrases;

Functional, context-relevant speech;

Rich feedback; and

Reduced student anxiety. (Hill & Flynn, 2006, p. 56)

Although we believe a strong research base exists for creating opportunities for students to work together, we also recognize the reluctance many teachers have about using such an approach. Some have concerns about management-a fear of the proverbial cocktail party breaking out and an exhausting attempt to restore order-and some labor under the misconception that real learning can occur only under a teacher's direct instruction. In the following section, we will describe a set of principles for managing academic discourse among peers and specific strategies that foster learning English while learning in English.

Managing Classroom Talk to Enhance Learning

The talk of the classroom is necessarily academic in nature and includes a variety of cognitive functions that help students explain their thinking and learn from others. For instance, students need to be able to compare and contrast ideas, ask questions, and describe phenomena. We find it useful to provide sentence starters related to the different types of thinking necessary in any learning environment. We post these sentence starters around the room and refer to them during guided instruction. In addition, we remind students of the language objectives for the types of language they will use in their collaborative learning activity. A copy of the poster we use in our classes appears in Figure 5.1.

When students are learning a new language, their receptive skills typically develop in advance of their productive skills. English language learners may indeed understand the discussion in a classroom, but they may have difficulty finding the language they need to express the depth and complexity of their thinking. Using sentence frames can relieve the linguistic load, allowing students to focus on the content while they practice academic language. Some educators may argue that this framing of language results in shallow and contrived discourse, stifling critical thinking. And indeed, when students first begin to use these frames, their language will likely sound stilted and rehearsed. But then, isn't that the natural progression of learning any new skill? First we watch, then we mimic, and then we begin to appropriate, adjusting our use of the skill to suit our own style. Linguistic frames serve as a way to scaffold and differentiate both oral and written tasks for students at different levels of language proficiency. In this way we make the register, the style, and the word choice explicit, identifying the rhetorical moves that are appropriate to the purpose and the context and helping students make their meaning clear.

Linguistic frames can be used at any level-from beginning language learners to native speakers, from kindergartners to adolescents. Harvard University education professor and author Howard Gardner even asks postdoctoral fellowship applicants to use them to guide their responses: "Most scholars in the field believe _______" and "As a result of my study, ________" (Graff & Birkenstein, 2006). Examples of linguistic frames related to cause and effect can be found in Figure 5.2.

Figure 5.2. Cause and Effect Linguistic Frames

Not available for electronic dissemination.

Source: A Focused Approach to Constructing Meaning: Explicit Language for Content Instruction

The academic language of the speaker is only one side of the equation-the listener also has responsibilities. Beyond basic social expectations regarding polite behavior, true discussion needs the active participation of others if there is to be an exchange of ideas. Lauren Resnick (1995) introduced the concept of accountable talk as a means of raising the level of academic discourse among students. Accountable talk governs the norms of academic discourse and requires that students ask for and furnish evidence to support their statements (Michaels, O'Conner, Hall, & Resnick, 2002). This ensures rigor and moves the conversation from task-oriented to concept-oriented learning.

In a classroom filled with accountable talk, students ask one another about their thinking and build on the responses of others. They cite evidence, ask for elaborations and clarifications, and extend understandings by using the statements they have heard from their classmates to form new ideas. We place a table card on each group's desk at the start of each collaborative learning activity to reinforce the need for holding oneself (and each other) accountable for rigorous discussion (see Figure 5.3).

Students take quickly to accountable talk, and many appreciate the guidelines because they prevent conversations from going astray. For example, consider the following conversation in Ms. Hirano's 2nd grade class as four students discuss an ant diagram during science. They have been asked to talk about the ways that insects communicate and to decide what body parts are used by the ant:

Kristina: Well, I know they touch.

Roberto: But how do you know? You can't just say "you know." [requesting evidence]

Kristina: 'Cause I seen them wave their-their-what are those pointers on their heads?

Ting: Right here [points to diagram]. Antennae. [offering evidence]

Kristina: Yeah, antennae. They use their antennae to touch each other.

Alejandra: We're s'posed to use that word. Ms. Hirano wrote it on the board-antennae. They touch their antennae to see each other. [using ideas from others]

Ting: Do they have eyes on their antennae? Show me? [requesting evidence]

Alejandra: [examines diagram closely] I don't see eyes. [giving evidence]

Roberto: The eyes is here [points to label that reads "eyes"].

Kristina: Oh, yeah, that's right! They can see! They use their eyes to see. [using ideas from others]

Ting: Look how teeny they are. They must not see a lot of stuff.

This is a typical accountable talk interaction among young children and is all the more remarkable because it doesn't sound contrived. They still think and speak as 7-year-olds, but the difference is that they are listening to one another instead of speaking in parallel. In addition, the conversation hasn't wandered from the topic, because the students are accustomed to working together like this. Taken together, the language goals and accountable talk guide the academic discourse of the group, without imposing an artificial structure that limits students' thinking.

Of course, these four students didn't end up together through happenstance. Ms. Hirano created a heterogeneous group of students with varied content knowledge, language proficiency, and social styles. In the next section, we will discuss grouping considerations for managing talk in the classroom.

Managing Talk Through Grouping

Although there may be a certain surface logic to grouping students homogeneously, the preponderance of the evidence shows that students of all abilities perform better in heterogeneous groups (Lou et al., 1996). It comes as no surprise that low-achieving students do worse in homogeneous groups because they collectively have fewer resources to draw from ( r = -.60). There is a very small positive effect for high-achieving students when grouped homogeneously (.09), but average-achieving students benefit significantly (.51) from mixed-ability grouping (Lou et al., 1996).

The composition of the members plays a role in the relative success of a group. Bennett and Cass (1988) looked at the performance of groups where either the high-achieving students outnumbered the low-achieving ones or vice versa. They concluded that groups that were dominated by high-achieving students performed worse because the low-achieving student was left out of the process. This did not occur when high-achieving students were the minority in the group. A formula of two low-achieving students for every one high-achiever or two English language learners for every one proficient speaker may not be feasible for every classroom, but it is worth noting so as not to inadvertently set up groups that leave learners behind.

Achievement should not be the only factor taken into consideration when grouping students. Flexible grouping patterns that allow students to work with many classmates over time build relationships and broaden students' learning experiences. After all, the workplace is rarely a homogeneous environment-we are called upon daily to interact and work with people who possess a range of strengths and areas of need. Flexible grouping patterns are based on variables such as these:

Language proficiency level: Students may be grouped together for a language lesson or heterogeneously to provide language models and facilitate sustained conversation.

Primary language: Students work with others who speak the same language, allowing them to discuss new and complex topics in a familiar language.

Skills development: Students are grouped together because they are working on the same skill.

Interest: Students study a shared topic of interest or are spread among groups to serve as motivators.

Work habits: Students are spread among groups to model work habits.

Prior knowledge of content: Students are grouped to share topical knowledge.

Prior knowledge of strategies: Students are organized to share strategic knowledge.

Task or activity: Students are grouped together because the task or activity has been designed to meet their needs.

Social: Students are spread among groups to serve as leaders or in other specialized roles.

Random: Random grouping ensures that students come into contact with all members of the class and build community.

Student choice: This pattern gives friends an opportunity to work together (Flood, Lapp, Flood, & Nagel, 1992).

To form effective groups, you must know your students well. When your classroom includes English language learners, you must be keenly aware of their proficiency levels in English as well as their understanding of the content of the task. Placing one student who is new to English in a group of proficient students may seem like a good idea, but in actuality, that student is likely to participate more with students whose level of proficiency in English is closer to his or her own: the English language learner will not feel as intimidated, and the other students may have more empathy and understanding of how the student feels. And, although it can be helpful to assign a buddy to a student who has just arrived with no English, be careful that the buddy does not do all the work and become a caretaker. Rotating buddies periodically relieves the burden of being the "teacher" and helps the new student get to know more members of the class.

Obviously, the ability to group and regroup students depending on the purpose of the task requires a physical arrangement of the room that facilitates movement. In Chapter 4, we saw how two different teachers organized their classrooms to allow for this flexibility. In some classrooms, the only solution to flexible grouping is to ask students to physically move their desks or chairs. At first glance, this activity may seem like an invitation to bedlam that takes valuable time away from instruction, but with a bit of guidance, students can learn to do this quickly and efficiently.

Students, especially those in elementary school, express a preference for working in mixed-ability groups (Elbaum, Schumm, & Vaughn, 1997). Students identified as gifted and talented in grades 5-11 acknowledged the social development benefits of working in heterogeneous groups (Adams-Byers, Whitseel, & Moon, 2004). When collaboration with peers becomes routine rather than anomalous, students settle into a pattern of work that is productive without being disruptive. Of course, managing noise and time also contributes to the smooth operation of the class.

Managing the Noise and Time of Talk

We believe that mismanagement of noise and time poses the biggest barrier to teachers' use of collaborative learning and goes a long way toward explaining the dearth of partner and small-group work in classrooms. Although school administrators understand that a quiet classroom does not necessarily equate to a learning classroom, most of us worry that the hum of activity could devolve into the clamor of chaos and that our teaching reputations will be sullied in the process. This concern may be especially true for new teachers, who know they are under scrutiny and don't want anyone to think they have classroom management problems. Even the best-designed collaborative task can be diminished by poor procedures that fail to take noise and time into account.

Managing Noise

Many children find it difficult to concentrate on the learning at hand when the din grows too loud. Much of the problem, we have discovered, is that students haven't had much experience at individually and jointly modulating noise levels, leaving it to the teacher. When working with young children, we sing the following verse from the campfire song "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt," repeating it in a progressively softer voice until we are down to a whisper:
John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt
His name is my name, too.
Whenever we go out,
The people always shout,
There goes John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt
Tra la la la la la la
This activity is a great way to teach about volume and musical dynamics. We pair it with a visual representation of the volume using a noise meter (see Figure 5.4). There's nothing fancy about this aid-it is made using a large piece of corrugated cardboard, and the arrow is attached using a brad. We introduce the vocabulary terms silent, quiet, moderate, elevated, and outdoor voice and simulate those levels using the song. Older elementary students don't need the song, so instead we use a lamp with a dimmer switch-the lower the light, the quieter the class is expected to be. We practice being silent for 56 seconds, or working quietly for 24 seconds, or speaking moderately for 38 seconds, so that students gain tangible experience with understanding the relative levels of sound.

Figure 5.4. Noise Meter

Source: The Effective Teacher's Guide: 50 Ways for Engaging Students in Learning

We then tell our students that we will use these noise levels through our school year: silent when we are taking tests, quiet when working or reading independently, moderate-defined as loud enough to be heard by your partner but quiet enough not to interfere with another pair's conversation-when engaged in partner talk, and elevated only during small-group work. Of course, we never use an outdoor voice inside the classroom!

The noise meter is introduced on the first day of school and is revisited each time we move into independent work, collaborative learning, and guided instruction. Before long, the visual cue is no longer needed, and the verbal direction alone suffices. When the noise level does get too loud, we stop the class and redirect attention to the noise meter. We have seen other colleagues use variations of the noise meter, like a traffic light or a large "noise thermometer" with a red ribbon representing the mercury inside the tube. One of our secondary science colleagues begins the year by teaching students about the science of acoustics and the effects of noise on learning. The common denominator in all of these examples is drawing students' attention to sound levels in the classroom and giving them an active role in monitoring it.

Managing Time

As we discussed in Chapter 3, releasing responsibility to students to talk with each other and construct their own meaning takes more time than simply telling them what we want them to know and asking a few questions of a few students to assess their understanding. It becomes particularly important, therefore, that we manage time effectively. By the time children are 8 years old, they show time-monitoring patterns that are similar to those of adults (Mäntylä, Carelli, & Forman, 2007). The rate at which they check clocks increases as time elapses, with fewer checks early on in a task. However, students aren't always as good at figuring out how much time is left. Setting a bell to ring at the end of an activity gets their attention, but it doesn't allow them to adjust their rate to meet the time requirements. A simple solution is to provide students with a means to monitor the time remaining. Countdown timers can be displayed using an overhead or a projector. In the absence of this kind of device, you can post descending numbers of variable intervals on the board and cross each off as the time elapses. For example, in a 15-minute assignment, post the numbers 13, 10, 7, 5, 3, 2, and 1 to reflect the increased clock checking that students will do. An added benefit of an overhead timer or chalkboard countdown is that it helps the teacher monitor time as well.

Managing Linguistic and Cultural Diversity

Noise and time management aside, another challenge in using effective collaborative tasks is how to ensure that all students are actively engaged in learning. One common fear is that students will spend their time talking about topics that have nothing to do with the task at hand. There are also the issues of certain students dominating and doing all the work and of students who prefer to work independently. When we add in the elements of linguistic and cultural diversity, we add another dimension to the complexities of managing oral discourse in the classroom. Here again, purposeful and structured planning, along with teacher guidance and support, can maximize participation and learning for all students.

Managing Linguistic Diversity

For obvious reasons, it can be particularly uncomfortable for teachers when students are talking together in a language that the teacher does not speak. Using the primary language in the classroom, whether it is the teacher speaking or students, is a somewhat controversial practice. On one side of the argument are those who believe that students must use English to learn English and that time not spent in English is valuable learning time lost. They argue that, for many students, class time is the only time they are speaking English, because they may go home to communities where there is no need to do so. We wholeheartedly agree that one of the primary goals for our students is proficiency in English, but one of our other primary goals is understanding of grade-level content, which includes progressively more and more difficult concepts as students move up the grade levels.

Consider for a moment this scenario. You are in a class as a learner, studying a subject you are unfamiliar with-perhaps stoichiometry, tessellations, or corpus linguistics. Would you prefer to discuss these new ideas in your native language or in a new language that you are learning-say, Russian, Portuguese, or Amharic? Language choice, like grouping, depends on the purpose. There may be times when students will learn more if they can talk about new and difficult concepts in familiar language. Of course, we want to be sure they are talking about the new concept and that they are on the right track. So how do we do this?

First, when we have created the type of environment we described in Chapter 4, where students understand the purpose of talk, are used to talking, and know that their ideas are important, we can trust that students will value the time to discuss and clarify their understanding. Will they do so 100 percent of the time? Perhaps not, though we would argue that the percent of time on task is not proportional to which language students are using.

Second, we can monitor student talk in a language other than English in the same way we monitor students speaking in English, by sitting with the group and asking questions, in English, to gauge their understanding. They must respond in English, which gives them the opportunity to use the language and vocabulary we expect them to use, with the added support of having first had an opportunity to clarify their thinking in a familiar language.

Finally, accountability is built into all collaborative tasks. Teachers may require students to complete a graphic organizer, write a summary, create a skit, or present their conclusions to the class.

Even when we require students to complete and turn in a written product as part of their collaborative work, this task does not necessarily translate into engagement for all students. Without careful organization, one or two students can end up doing all the work. In the last chapter, we talked about how to teach students to share responsibility, contributing to the discussion and encouraging others to participate as well. In addition to teaching them about the importance of participation in group work, it can be helpful to set up systems and structures that require all students to participate.

We often see group work organized such that each student has a role. One student might be assigned to be the recorder; another, the facilitator; another, the questioner; and the fourth, the timekeeper. Unfortunately, all too often, it is the English language learner, the student who may be most in need of language practice, who is assigned the role of timekeeper-a role that requires little or no language and certainly no interaction with the content. Moreover, it is not even a necessary role; as we've already noted, there are other ways to help students manage their time. This is not to say that students should never be assigned roles. In Chapter 3, we saw Mr. Barber assign roles quite effectively when his students were first learning to do reciprocal teaching. The difference is that in that case, each role is equally important in making meaning. Mr. Barber's expectation is also that students will practice all roles and eventually, as they become more comfortable with the process, will no longer need to be assigned roles.

One way of assuring that all students participate and learn is a collaborative structure called "numbered heads together" (Kagan, 1992). Each group is assigned a number, and each student within the group is assigned a number from 1 to 4 (or 5 when the numbers don't work out evenly to 4). The teacher asks a question and tells students to make sure every student in the group can answer the question. After a predetermined amount of time, usually a minute or two or more, the teacher spins the overhead spinner and announces the number of the student who must answer, perhaps number 3. Groups then have one more minute to make sure that student number 3 in their group can answer the question. The teacher spins again and announces the number of the group that must respond. In this way, students support each other to make sure they all can answer because they never know who will be called on. This strategy is most effective when groups earn points for correct responses.

The other major problem with assigning roles is that only one student is the writer. We prefer to see that all students are required to write their own copies, whether of notes, a skit, or a graphic organizer. Obviously, when the task is to create a poster, this is not so simple. Later in this chapter, you will see how Ms. Chang builds in accountability as her students create a collaborative poster. Each student in the group selects a different colored pen, and all colors must appear on the poster in relatively equal amounts. (She uses this meaning of equality as an opportunity to reinforce understanding of percentage in her math class.) Ms. Chang also insists that, regardless of who is the best artist or who has the best handwriting in the group, all must do both writing and drawing on the poster.

Once we've resolved the issue of all students contributing to the creation of the product, we are left with the question of how to ensure that all students contribute to its presentation. Even when students have written a dialogue-say, to represent the main ideas and events of the westward movement-it may not have a part for all four students. Because we want all our students to practice speaking in more formal situations, we ask that all students present the dialogue even if it means that two students will recite one part chorally. If they are presenting a poster, we give them time to determine how they will organize their presentation so that all group members play an equally important role.

Managing Cultural Diversity

Another challenge to managing effective group work can be norms of behavior, whether they are individual differences in personality or more general differences in cultural practices. In some cultures it is considered inappropriate for boys and girls to work together. Students from other cultures may be used to working independently and may be uncomfortable working in a group. Because we live in a society where people work together at some point in virtually all careers and walks of life, it is important for students to be able to step outside this comfort zone and engage in whatever configuration they may find themselves. Teaching students to participate effectively while still recognizing, valuing, and allowing for these differences can be a delicate balance. As we create an environment that fosters teamwork, we can hold frank discussions about cultural and personal differences and the reasons for learning to work both independently and collaboratively. We can also vary the structures for learning, sometimes grouping girls with girls and boys with boys, for example. And for those students who prefer to work independently, we can negotiate with them, allowing them to work independently for part of a project or for certain projects and progressively moving them into more collaborative situations.

Setting Clear Expectations and Outcomes

In Chapter 3, we discussed the importance of making the purpose of each lesson clear to students in order to focus their attention and help to build schemas and understanding. Setting clear expectations and outcomes is also an important factor in managing group work effectively. Many of us have had the unfortunate experience of designing what we thought was an exciting and interesting collaborative task for our students, only to watch it go over like the proverbial lead balloon. Upon reflection, we may realize that the reason for the failure was not so much the lesson design but that students did not understand what we expected them to do. Asking students to work together is far more complicated than simply assigning the odd-numbered questions at the end of the chapter. It requires making the procedures of the task as well as the expectations for quality and substance of the outcome crystal clear for all students. This may mean showing models of completed work, writing the directions in addition to telling the students what to do, or modeling how to do the task (as we saw with the fishbowl). Posters of the steps involved in each collaborative task are one way of helping students learn what they are supposed to do.

Mr. Lopez, a 2nd grade teacher, and Ms. King, a 10th grade world history teacher, both use the same procedures to make sure students know what the assignment is. They write the steps of the task on an overhead or chart, tell the students what they will be doing, and then ask a student to tell the class what the first step is. They then ask another student to tell the class what the first student said. This repetition encourages all students to listen and has the added benefit for English language learners, who may have difficulty in comprehending multistep directions, of giving them multiple opportunities to hear the directions.

Managing Talk in Pairs

Partner talk is the bread and butter of a classroom filled with the talk of learning. Teachers most commonly invite students to "turn to a partner" to discuss the topic of the moment. As noted in Chapter 4, this simple partner-talk method should be used frequently to allow students lots of opportunities to apply new learning. But work accomplished in pairs is also done during collaborative learning activities designed to move students to an increased level of independence.

Busy Bees

In Chapter 3, kindergarten teacher Mr. Velez used the "busy bees" strategy to foster partner talk with his students as they shared their opinions about a recent visit to the zoo. This activity is suitable for children in kindergarten through 2nd grade. The teacher introduces the activity by explaining how bumblebees fly. The children, who are on their feet, mimic the buzzing sound and slow movement of bumblebees as they buzz around the room. With an announcement from the teacher of "Busy bees, fly!" the students shuffle their feet and buzz until they hear, "Busy bees, land!" The "bee" they are standing next to becomes their partner for a brief learning activity. For example, 1st grade teacher Ms. Tyler gives each of her students a few math cubes to hold in one hand, along with a sheet of paper and pencil attached to a clipboard. With each "landing," the partners add the total number of cubes and write an addition problem on their papers. Ms. Tyler uses this activity in place of math drill worksheets to provide practice for her students.

Walking Review

Busy bees is not developmentally appropriate for older students, but a walking review accomplishes similar goals. Like the "Find Someone Who ..." handout used for students to get to know one another, this activity is an excellent replacement for completing independent worksheets and for reviewing material. Each student in the class has a worksheet to be completed and is given a limited period of time to find someone else in the class who can answer each question. Students sign their names next to each answer they log onto someone else's worksheet, and no one can provide more than one answer on any given paper. The goal of this activity is to encourage students to speak to as many classmates as possible about the concepts under review.

Mr. Clark uses walking reviews every Friday in his 8th grade science class to review the week's lessons on chemical reactions. "This is a great way for me to use some of the worksheet materials that come with the textbook program," he explains. He sets the timer for 10 minutes and moves among the students as they roam the room looking for peers who can answer each question. To provide his English language learners with the support they need to approach fellow classmates, he meets briefly with those who need it to give them questions to ask (e.g., "Do you know the answer to number 3?"). When he has students who are very new to English, he partners them with another student to walk the room. "I get a really good sense of who knows something and who doesn't," he says. Mr. Clark asks students to complete the last question on the paper independently back at their desks. "As they all drift back to their seats, the room gets quieter, and I can gauge how much more time might be needed. And don't forget, it gets everyone back in their seats!"

Explorers and Settlers

As with busy bees and walking review, this instructional routine also requires students to move about the room. However, this approach offers a bit more crowd control because only half of the students are in motion. The teacher begins by reminding students about the differences between explorers, who sought out new lands, and settlers, who cultivated the land and built permanent communities. Assign half of the students to the role of explorers (a good way is to divide the alphabet by last name), and explain that they will seek out settlers to discuss a question.

Ms. Lee does this activity in a rotation of three or four discussion prompts in her 5th grade social studies class. After assigning the roles, she posts the following prompts on the board:

Discuss the ways of life of the Pueblo Indians of the Southwest.

Discuss the ways of life of the woodland peoples of the East.

What did these two groups have in common?

How did geography influence their different ways of life?

Ms. Lee used a countdown timer for each question so that the partners could monitor their discussion. As the timer approached zero, she invited the explorers to find a new settler and directed them to the next question.

There are variations of the explorers/settlers theme, including couch potatoes/aerobics instructors (physical education), electrons/protons (science), and carriers/borrowers (mathematics). Purposefully planning when using this strategy can scaffold language for students who are learning English. You can, for instance, assign students at early levels of proficiency to be explorers and then assign the settlers to be the first ones to speak. This approach provides an opportunity for English language learners to hear the language of other more proficient students and rehearse what they might say before they have to speak. When you ask them to repeat the process, it provides multiple opportunities for them to hear and use language related to the same question.

Inside/Outside Circles

In Chapter 3, Ms. Schmidt used inside/outside circles during her lesson in her 5th grade social studies class. This strategy also requires student movement and is intended to extend thinking through multiple conversations. Two concentric circles of students stand and face one another. The teacher poses a question to the class, and the partners talk for a brief time (usually 30-60 seconds). At the signal, the outer circle rotates one position to the left to face a new partner. The conversation continues for several rotations.

Mr. Garland uses inside/outside circles in his 10th grade English class to get discussion going about a thought-provoking question. "You've got to ask a good, meaty question," he cautions, "or they'll run out of things to say pretty quickly." His class will be reading a variety of titles to explore the essential question "When does the desire to obtain something or someone become destructive?" For several minutes, students explore this idea with a series of partners, while Mr. Garland listens in on the conversations. "It helps me to make connections to books I am going to discuss with them, and reminds me of what's in the heads of 15-year-olds."

Barrier Games

Much of what students are required to do in school is performance driven-solving math problems, completing science labs, and the like. A tremendous amount of academic discourse is needed to do such tasks, but English language learners sometimes rely on other methods of communication, such as gestures, to substitute for technical vocabulary. Barrier games are joint tasks completed by partners who have an obstruction blocking their field of view. For them to succeed, they must rely on clear communication and precise vocabulary. Here are some examples of barrier games:

Sequencing a set of pictures in the correct order to illustrate the steps to making and glazing a ceramic pot

Giving a partner directions to draw the life cycle of a butterfly

Describing the difference between two similar illustrations of molecules

Solving a crossword puzzle where each partner has half of the clues

Mr. Dare requires the students in his woodshop class to be able to correctly name each type of equipment used in the class. He assigns partners and places a low cardboard shield on the desk so that they cannot see the cards the other holds. One partner has an unlabeled photograph of a piece of shop equipment, while the other has written descriptions of each. The partners work together to describe and match each photo with its correct name and purpose. Only after students have completed this task are they allowed to operate any of the equipment.

Managing Talk in Groups

Some instructional tasks require the give-and-take of a slightly larger group of students. Collaborative learning among four students is a bit more active than partner activities, so the noise meter is useful when setting up these tasks. In addition, group tasks tend to be a bit longer than those accomplished in pairs, so a display of elapsed time gives students a way of monitoring their progress and adjusting their rate of work.

Collaborative Posters

A jointly produced final product is useful for group tasks because it gives all the members a shared focus. However, a common problem is that these tasks often fall to one member who does all the writing (and, therefore, much of the thinking). An easy solution is the collaborative poster discussed earlier in this chapter, where each member of the group is given a pen of a different color and all sign their names accordingly.

Ms. Chang uses collaborative posters in her geometry class to get academic discourse and technical vocabulary going. Each group uses theorems to analyze an equation and produce a proof. As Ms. Chang circulates among the groups, she can immediately evaluate the level of participation within the groups and offer extra support to those who do not seem to be sharing their ideas as effectively.

Jigsaw

This instructional routine was developed by Eliot Aronson in the 1970s to support the efforts of a recently desegregated elementary school in Texas. The original intent was to foster cooperation among students who did not associate much with one another, but Aronson (2000) and his graduate students quickly learned of the academic benefits to this approach. Each student in the class has two memberships: a home group and an expert group. Each home group of four members meets to discuss the task and divide the work according to the teacher's directions. For example, a long reading might be divided into sections. After each home group member has his or her task, the groups move to expert groups composed of members with the same task. The expert groups meet to read and discuss their portion of the assignment and practice how they will teach it when they return to their home groups. Once together again, each student teaches his or her portion of the task to fellow home group members and learns about the other sections of the reading.

Jigsaws are also useful for creating discussions. Ms. Armstrong has been reading aloud the book Holes (Sachar, 1998) to her 4th grade students for the last two weeks. After creating home groups of four students, she tells them to decide who will become an expert on each of the following questions:

In what ways does Stanley Yelnats change throughout the story? Is he a better person?

Is Stanley a hero, or is he just a person who makes good choices? What's the difference?

Why do you think the author entitled this book Holes?

Do you think that the Yelnats family's bad luck was due to a curse or something else?

Ms. Armstrong's students joined expert groups to discuss their assigned question at length and debate various ideas raised during the conversations. After 15 minutes, they rejoined their home groups to discuss all four of the questions as each member took a turn facilitating the dialogue.

Managing Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing, and Thinking

Although the focus of this book is oral discourse in the classroom, we are reminded that oracy and literacy are inextricably intertwined. We use talk to prepare students before they read or write, to enhance comprehension and improve writing, and to encourage reflection and self-monitoring after reading or writing. Perhaps most important, we use talk as a means of engaging students in high levels of critical thinking. As we saw in Chapter 3, opportunities for talk are continuously and seamlessly integrated into opportunities to read, write, and think. Let's take a look inside Ms. Zamorano's 1st grade classroom to see how her students engage in listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking.

Language Experience Approach

It's October, and hurricane season is just ending. Ms. Zamorano's students have been learning about weather and how it affects the way people live. While part of the class is working in pairs to write a description of what happens during a hurricane, Ms. Zamorano pulls a small group of English language learners aside for a language experience activity. These are students at fairly early levels of proficiency who mostly speak in short phrases or sentences.

The students begin by looking at a picture of a tree-lined street along the beach. The wind is blowing, the waves are large, one tree lies across the street, and a man and a boy hold hands as they cross the street. Ms. Zamorano asks the students to think for a minute about what they see in the picture, what has just happened, what is happening now, and what they think will happen next. She sets up her questions to elicit vocabulary as well as to teach and practice present, past, and future verb tenses. Together, partners tell each other what they see in the picture. Some students are speaking in isolated words ("Man," "Boy," "Tree"); others string their words together in short phrases ("Tree fall down," "Two people run"). Each student is able to participate at his or her own level of language. Ms. Zamorano draws a circle in the middle of a piece of chart paper and writes the word hurricane in the circle. Then, as the children share what they see in the picture, she writes their words around the circle, grouping the words in categories of things, actions, and feelings. The students practice the pronunciation of the words with Ms. Zamorano, and then they work with their partners to make sentences using the words.

As students share aloud their sentences, Ms. Zamorano writes them on the chart. Although she uses their language, she does model correct grammar, asking students' permission before she writes the revised sentence and then asking students to say each sentence with her. She helps them expand their sentences by asking questions to elicit more detail. Because she wants them to write a narrative, she guides them to group the sentences that fit together and then to sequence them chronologically. On another chart, she rewrites the sentences into the sequence the students have chosen. They read the paragraph aloud and then copy it into their journals. Later, during learning center time, they will reread the paragraphs, cut the paragraphs into sentences and the sentences into words, and then put them back together. The sentences are also used for practice in changing verb tense or adding different sensory words. The paragraphs are collected into a book for students to read during independent reading.

The beauty of the language experience approach is that it uses the students' own language and thinking to expand their language and thinking. Students learn to read and write what they can say and understand. They add to the language they already know. It can be used at any grade level, with students of any proficiency level, as a way to model and guide writing about any topic in any genre or discipline.

Summary

Although the management associated with promoting talk in the classroom can be significant, it is well worth the investment. If students are to benefit from the academic discourse, they must become practiced in engaging in it outside the direct supervision of the teacher. This means that the tasks must be organized and have a clearly stated purpose. In addition, the tasks themselves must be sufficiently interesting so that students will want to invest their time. The collaborative learning that occurs in classrooms rich in talk most closely mirrors the kinds of conversations that will dominate students' postsecondary lives. It seems that it is never too early, or too late, to foster language among learners.

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by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey and Carol Rothenberg The best way to get a good idea is to get lots of ideas. -Linus Pauling It's a safe bet that the Nobel Prize-winning chemist and peace activist Linus Pauling didn't arrive at all of his good ideas by remaining silent.

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RHS Literacies: Speaking and Listening Strategies 

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RHS Literacies: Speaking and Listening Strategies 

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Speaking and Listening Strategies - RPS Content Literacies

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Douglas Fisher is a Professor of Language and Literacy Education in the Department of Teacher Education at San Diego State University (SDSU) and a classroom teacher at Health Sciences High and Middle College. He is the recipient of an International Reading Association Celebrate Literacy Award and the Farmer Award for excellence in writing from the National Council of Teachers of English, as well as a Christa McAuliffe Award for excellence in teacher education. He has published numerous articles on reading and literacy, differentiated instruction, and curriculum design as well as books, such as Creating Literacy-Rich Schools for Adolescents (with Gay Ivey), Improving Adolescent Literacy: Strategies at Work (with Nancy Frey), and Teaching English Language Learners: A Differentiated Approach (with Carol Rothenberg). He has taught a variety of courses in SDSU's teacher-credentialing program as well as graduate-level courses on English language development and literacy. An early intervention specialist and language development specialist, he has taught high school English, writing, and literacy development to public school students. He can be reached at dfisher@mail.sdsu.edu.

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Content-Area Conversations: How to Plan Discussion-Based Lessons for Diverse Language Learners

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Douglas Fisher is a Professor of Language and Literacy Education in the Department of Teacher Education at San Diego State University (SDSU) and a classroom teacher at Health Sciences High and Middle College.

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Collaborative Conversations: Speaking and Listening in Secondary Classrooms

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Collaborative Conversations: Speaking and Listening in Secondary Classrooms

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Speaking and listening are keys to developing disciplinary knowledge and skills. This webinar reviews the two major clusters in the Common Core Speaking and Listening Standards: collaborative conversations and presentations of knowledge and ideas.

Webinar presenters discuss methods to facilitate more focused, purposeful, collaborative conversations between students and for fostering discourse; and how students can present their knowledge more formally in face-to-face and digital environments.

Specifically, webinar participants will:

Acquire a working knowledge of the Speaking and

Listening Standards and their value

Examine research-based methods for promoting speaking and listening for learning in the disciplines

Learn how to use technology to support speaking and listening for secondary students

Webinar Presenter(s):

Nancy Frey

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Collaborative Conversations: Speaking and Listening in Secondary Classrooms

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Speaking and listening are keys to developing disciplinary knowledge and skills. This webinar reviews the two major clusters in the Common Core Speaking and Listening Standards: collaborative conversations and presentations of knowledge and ideas. Webinar presenters discuss methods to facilitate more focused, purposeful, collaborative conversations between students and for fostering discourse; and how students can present their knowledge more formally in face-to-face and digital environments.

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CCSS original standards

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A wide collection of videos from Teaching Channel

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Inspirational Teaching Videos: Covering Common Core, Math, Science, English And More

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Discussion and Supporting Materials

Thought starters

1. Why is it important to spend time modeling how to participate in debrief circles?

2. What do students learn from reflecting with their peers?

3. How does Ms. Ekmalian structure the questions she asks students?

School Details

The Springfield Renaissance School
1170 Carew Street
Springfield MA 01104

Data Provided By:

Teachers

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Students in Maria Ekmalian's class reflect on their learning by participating in debrief circles. Maria divides students into an inside and outside circle, then asks specific questions. The students on the inside of the circle talk while the students on the outside of the circle listen, then they switch.

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General Strategies for Student Centered Discussion - High School English Lesson

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General Strategies for Student Centered Discussion - High School English Lesson

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ELA.RL.11-12.1

Common core State Standards

ELA: English Language Arts

RL: Reading Standards for Literature 6-12

11-12: 11th & 12th Grades

1:
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

Download Common Core State Standards (PDF 1.2 MB)

|

ELA.SL.11-12.1a

Common core State Standards

ELA: English Language Arts

SL: Speaking and Listening Standards 6-\x80\x9312

11-12: 11th & 12th Grades

1a:
Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one on
one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11-\x80\x9312 topics,
texts, and issues, building on others'\x80\x99 ideas and expressing their own clearly and
persuasively.

a. Come to discussions prepared, having read and researched material under
study; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence from texts
and other research on the topic or issue to stimulate a thoughtful, well reasoned
exchange of ideas.

b. Work with peers to promote civil, democratic discussions and decision making,
set clear goals and deadlines, and establish individual roles as
needed.

c. Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that probe
reasoning and evidence; ensure a hearing for a full range of positions on a
topic or issue; clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions; and promote
divergent and creative perspectives.

d. Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives; synthesize comments, claims,
and evidence made on all sides of an issue; resolve contradictions when
possible; and determine what additional information or research is required
to deepen the investigation or complete the task.

Download Common Core State Standards (PDF 1.2 MB)

|

ELA.SL.11-12.1c

Common core State Standards

ELA: English Language Arts

SL: Speaking and Listening Standards 6-12

11-12: 11th & 12th Grades

1c:
Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one on
one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11-12 topics,
texts, and issues, building on others'\x80\x99 ideas and expressing their own clearly and
persuasively.

a. Come to discussions prepared, having read and researched material under
study; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence from texts
and other research on the topic or issue to stimulate a thoughtful, well reasoned
exchange of ideas.

b. Work with peers to promote civil, democratic discussions and decision making,
set clear goals and deadlines, and establish individual roles as
needed.

c. Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that probe
reasoning and evidence; ensure a hearing for a full range of positions on a
topic or issue; clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions; and promote
divergent and creative perspectives.

d. Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives; synthesize comments, claims,
and evidence made on all sides of an issue; resolve contradictions when
possible; and determine what additional information or research is required
to deepen the investigation or complete the task.

Download Common Core State Standards (PDF 1.2 MB)

Thought starters

1. How does beginning the lesson with student reflection and a guiding question equip students for the discussion?

2. In what ways did Sarah ensure this to be student-centered, student-led?

3. What does it mean for a teacher to prepare for a discussion?

School Details

Johnston Senior High School
6501 Nw 62nd Ave
Johnston IA 50131

Data Provided By:

Teachers

English Language Arts / 10 11 12 / Teacher

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High School ELA teacher and 2010 Teacher of the Year, Sarah Brown Wessling takes on the challenge of engaging students in whole class discussion as they make sense of Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man is Hard to Find. The lesson begins with establishing the learning goals by having students engage in brief reflection and share their thinking.

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Strategies For Student Centered Discussion - High School English Lesson (Two Cents)

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Strategies For Student Centered Discussion - High School English Lesson (Two Cents)

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Where Are Uncut Teaching Channel Videos?

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Info on the uncut versions of Teaching Channel videos. Let Tch be your resource for improving your teaching practice.

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Facilitating Pinwheel Discussions In High School English Class

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Facilitating Pinwheel Discussions In High School English Class

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Pinwheel Discussions: Texts in Conversation

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What a fun way to get high school students to discuss literature. The Pinwheel Discussions lesson plan puts students in roles that will force them to be engaged and effectively discuss the readings.

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9 Big Ideas within the Speaking and Listening Anchor Standards | Teaching the Core

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9 Big Ideas within the Speaking and Listening Anchor Standards | Teaching the Core

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Every day or so, someone finds this website through searching some variation of "big ideas in the Common Core Speaking and Listening standards."

The problem is, an answer to that question isn't currently easy to find on Teaching the Core!

In order to try providing a better resource for that search, as well as for the sake of increasing my own understanding, here are 9 big ideas that I draw from the CCSS Speaking and Listening anchor standards.

First of all, I'd like to share my insanely complex methods for creating this post.

Intense, right?

Now to the big ideas.

I love that we're talking about the Speaking and Listening standards rather than just the speaking standards.
It is absolutely freaking certain that if you don't know how to listen, you don't really know how to speak, and you are not optimally prepared for college or career. (Click to Tweet a shorter version of this impressively emphatic statement.)
To you, this might be unforgivably obvious; but, alas, I have spent too many years enabling my shy students to remain in their shells and not insisting that they let me draw them way out.

This last year, I didn't coddle my shy freshmen, and rather than shrivel up and die, they actually flourished, and by the end of the year many of them expressed sincere appreciation.

If you've been doing think-pair-share in your classes, you've got this covered. Pair shares are so old school but so darn money. Having students talk in pairs is a great way to let your students process and to let you walk around and check for understanding.

The key for success here is "structured" - groups should know how effective group talking looks, and they should be given regular feedback on how they're doing.

Hold debates. Assign speeches. Use the index card trick. Whatever you do, just make sure that every kid is getting regular chances to talk to the whole class. The safer you make the classroom and the more regular you make these opportunities, the more efficacious shy kids tend to become.

A mega idea in the Speaking and Listening anchor standards is that college and career ready (CCR) people are productive members of conversations.
Keyword: productive.
Show them how to add accurate and relevant info when they converse. The last thing you want is for them to become like Judy Grimes:

Okay, that video might be irrelevant. I couldn't help it.

One major flaw of most class discussions I've led is this: students are all talking to me and ignoring each other. What the CCSS (and real life) call for is students actually talking with and responding to their peers.

Basically, the vision of the CCSS is that students can talk about ideas - at home, in school, in math, in science, in history, or wherever.

I'm not sure what, exactly, the CCSS are getting at here. Using Skype or some other kind of video chatting? Listening to people talk on YouTube and creating videos in response?
What do you think? Are these big ideas worth pursuing? Do the Speaking and Listening anchor standards make "sense" to you? Are they called for? Get into the conversation below.

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9 Big Ideas within the Speaking and Listening Standards - Dave Stuart Jr.

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Every day or so, someone finds this website through searching some variation of "big ideas in the Common Core Speaking and Listening standards." The problem is, an answer to that question isn't currently easy to find on Teaching the Core! In order to try providing a better resource for that search, as well as for ...

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For any class plus math-specific

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Data Set

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CER Slides (Template)

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Surviving the Dust Bowl Group Members: *Also, please make this look more interesting than this, I just used the basic layout for YOU to edit.

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Task Introduction

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Insights from Our Office

Aaron Weyenberg is the master of slide decks. Our UX Lead creates Keynote presentations that are both slick and charming-the kind that pull you in and keep you captivated, but in an understated way that helps you focus on what's actually being said. He does this for his own presentations and for lots of other folks in the office. Yes, his coworkers ask him to design their slides, because he's just that good.

We asked Aaron to bottle his Keynote mojo so that others could benefit from it. Here, 10 tips for making an effective slide deck, split into two parts: the big, overarching goals, and the little tips and tricks that make your presentation sing.

The big picture...

1. Think about your slides last. Building your slides should be the tail end of developing your presentation. Think about your main message, structure its supporting points, practice it and time it-and then start thinking about your slides. The presentation needs to stand on its own; the slides are just something you layer over it to enhance the listener experience. Too often, I see slide decks that feel more like presenter notes, but I think it's far more effective when the slides are for the audience to give them a visual experience that adds to the words.
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2. Create a consistent look and feel. In a good slide deck, each slide feels like part of the same story. That means using the same or related typography, colors and imagery across all your slides. Using pre-built master slides can be a good way to do that, but it can feel restrictive and lead to me-too decks. I like to create a few slides to hold sample graphic elements and type, then copy what I need from those slides as I go.
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3. Think about topic transitions. It can be easy to go too far in the direction of consistency, though. You don't want each slide to look exactly the same. I like to create one style for the slides that are the meat of what I'm saying, and then another style for the transitions between topics. For example, if my general slides have a dark background with light text, I'll try transition slides that have a light background with dark text. That way they feel like part of the same family, but the presentation has texture-and the audience gets a visual cue that we're moving onto a new topic.
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4. With text, less is almost always more. One thing to avoid-slides with a lot of text, especially if it's a repeat of what you're saying out loud. It's like if you give a paper handout in a meeting-everyone's head goes down and they read, rather than staying heads-up and listening. If there are a lot of words on your slide, you're asking your audience to split their attention between what they're reading and what they're hearing. That's really hard for a brain to do, and it compromises the effectiveness of both your slide text and your spoken words. If you can't avoid having text-y slides, try to progressively reveal text (like unveiling bullet points one by one) as you need it.
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5. Use photos that enhance meaning. I love using simple, punchy photos in presentations, because they help what you're saying resonate in your audience's mind without pulling their attention from your spoken words. Look for photos that (1) speak strongly to the concept you're talking about and (2) aren't compositionally complex. Your photo could be a metaphor or something more literal, but it should be clear why the audience is looking at it, and why it's paired with what you're saying. For example, I recently used the image above-a photo of a container ship about to tip over (it eventually sank)-to lead off a co-worker's deck about failure preparation. And below is another example of a photo I used in a deck to talk about the launch of the new TED.com. The point I was making was that a launch isn't the end of a project-it's the beginning of something new. We'll learn, adapt, change and grow.

And now some tactical tips...

1. Go easy on the effects and transitions. Keynote and Powerpoint come with a lot of effects and transitions. In my opinion, most of these don't do much to enhance the audience experience. At worst, they subtly suggest that the content of your slides is so uninteresting that a page flip or droplet transition will snap the audience out of their lethargy. If you must use them, use the most subtle ones, and keep it consistent.
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2. Use masking to direct attention in images. If you want to point something out in a photo, you could use a big arrow. Or you could do what I call a dupe-and-mask. I do this a lot when showing new page designs, particularly when I don't want the audience to see the whole design until I'm finished talking about individual components of it. Here's the original image. Here's the process for masking it. (1) Set the image transparency to something less than 100. (2) Duplicate that image so there is one directly over the top of the other. (3) Set the dup'd image transparency back to 100. and (4) Follow the technique here to mask the dup'd image. You'll end up with something that looks like this. You can use this technique to call out anything you want in a screenshot. A single word, a photo, a section of content-whatever you want your audience to focus on.
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3. Try panning large images. Often, I want to show screen shot of an entire web page in my presentations. There's a great Chrome extension to capture these-but these images are oftentimes much longer than the canvas size of the presentation. Rather than scaling the image to an illegible size, or cropping it, you can pan it vertically as you talk about it. In Keynote, this is done with a Move effect, which you can apply from an object's action panel.
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4. For video, don't use autoplay. It's super easy to insert video in Keynote and Powerpoint-you just drag a Quicktime file onto the slide. And when you advance the deck to the slide with the video that autoplays, sometimes it can take a moment for the machine to actually start playing it. So often I've seen presenters click again in an attempt to start the video during this delay, causing the deck to go to the next slide. Instead, set the video to click to play. That way you have more predictable control over the video start time, and even select a poster frame to show before starting.
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5. Reproduce simple charts and graphs. Dropping an image of a chart into a presentation is fine, but it almost always disrupts the feel of a deck in unsightly fashion. If the graph data is simple enough (and you have some extra time) there's a way to make it much more easy on the eyes. You could redraw it in the native presentation application. That sounds like needless work, and it might be for your purposes, but it can really make your presentation feel consistent and thought-through, of one flavor from soup to nuts. You'll have control over colors, typography, and more. Here are some examples.
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Lastly, I'd love to leave you with a couple book recommendations. The first is Resonate, by Nancy Duarte. It's not so much about slides, but about public speaking in general - which is the foundation for any presentation, regardless of how great your slides are. In it, she breaks down the anatomy of what makes a great presentation, how to establish a central message and structure your talk, and more. (One of her case studies comes from Benjamin Zander's charming TED Talk about classical music, a talk that captivated the audience from start to finish.) Think of this as prerequisite reading for my second recommendation, also by Duarte: Slide:ology. This is more focused on presentation visuals and slides.

Happy slide-making.

By Kari Mulholland The techniques that video editors use to shape their content reveal a lot about how people create meaning in the world. Editors have a deep understanding of how people think, feel, remember and learn, and we use this knowledge to build powerful, moving stories and experiences. The best editing decisions come from [...]

When you watch a TED Talk, you see a speaker on a stage sharing a big idea. But for us in TED's post-production department, we see each talk as the final product of a complex recipe. The speaker and their words are the most important ingredient, of course. But there are other, less-obvious ingredients in [...]

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10 tips on how to make slides that communicate your idea, from TED's in-house expert

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Insights from Our Office Aaron Weyenberg is the master of slide decks. Our UX Lead creates Keynote presentations that are both slick and charming-the kind that pull you in and keep you captivated, but in an understated way that helps you focus on what's actually being said.

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Unlike a brainstorming meeting, where the goal is to come up with new ideas, a critique meeting is focused on evaluating a set of existing ideas, and possibly identify future directions or changes. Instead of hoping informal discussions will resolve hard issues, its worth setting up a specific critique to drive a design forward.

Goals of a design critique

A design critique involves a small group of 3-7 to discuss a set of sketches or prototypes. You could focus purely on branding elements, ease of use concepts, or even engineering feasibility, it's up to whoever leads. The important thing is someone does lead the discussion, define what questions should be discussed and facilitate the conversation.

If there are 3 or 4 specific questions you want answered, define them. Without goals everyone will work from different assumptions, and it will be more of a brainstorm meeting than a critique.

If you are early in a project, critiques should emphasize the higher level user, customer and business goals, and minimize the focus on specific engineering constraints or aesthetic choices. Its worth flagging ideas that engineers or business managers have large concerns about, but hold off on completely eliminating them from the discussion. There may be opportunities to ask for more resources or make other adjustments to a project, if a stellar design concept or idea is championed successfully (e.g. perhaps a design idea exposes a new business plan that has more opportunities than the current one, and would justify a change in the project goals).

But as the project timeline progresses the tone of critique discussions should change. There should be pressure to have solutions to issues, and the bar for considering new ideas should get higher. If managed well the scope of critique discussions should peak during planning and continually decrease.

Shepherding the creative phase of a project is a significant challenge, and it's rare to find someone than can manage it as well as the more production oriented implementation and release phases. Often there is a key leadership role for designers to play to fill this gap. Overall, the tone, content and quality of critique meetings is one indicator to how well the creative process is being managed.
Typical goals for critique meetings might include:

1. Obtain specific kinds of feedback from those in the room about a set of different design approaches for one feature or area of a website.

2. Compare how several different components of the same product are designed. (Are there elements that should be reused more? Do things that look similar behavior similarly? Etc.)

3. Discuss the user flow through a design, by examining each screen in the sequence that users would go through to complete a task. (Similar to a cognitive walkthrough).

4. Explore the designs of competing products, or designs of other products that have elements or qualities that you want to achieve.

5. Allow teammates with different job functions to provide feedback from their expertise. (QA might raising testing issues, development might ask feasibility questions, marketing might ask questions about advertising or partnerships, etc.)

These goals listed are mostly mutually exclusive. You might be able to manage two of these at the same time, if you're a great meeting facilitator, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Secondary goals often include:

1. Provide some structure to the creative process of a project.

2. Improve your team's ability to think about and discuss design ideas.

3. Teach non-designers about the design critique technique, so they can apply it to other kinds of problem solving situations.

Independent of the specific critique goals: If there are questions from your teammates about your design that don't fit your intent for the meeting, make sure you come up with some way to address them outside of the meeting. During the meeting, write them down on a whiteboard or notepad, and take them with you when you leave. The more inclusive your design thinking is, the more influence and authority you'll have over how project decisions are made. Even if the issues you are confronted with arise from decisions out of your control (a demand from the marketing team, or a new constraint from engineering) you want your designs, and your design process, to work with these issues, not around them. (Unless you feel confident that your superior design and skills of persuasion will convince someone with authority to change their mind.)

Who is in the room

A critique should allow a small group of people to review and discuss many ideas quickly and informally. You can't be informal and intimate about ideas with more than 5 or 6 people in the room. Instead, you must narrow down your invite list to the people most critical to the design process. Try to forget about job titles or hierarchy, and instead, focus on the people who are most likely to understand the creative process, and give useful and meaningful feedback, both positive and negative.

Depending on the personalities of your teammates, make adjustments as necessary. For anyone on your team that isn't invited to the meeting, allow them to look at any handouts or pictures, and give you their feedback. Or even better, make sure to forward them any of the notes you send out following the meeting. In most cases, they'll see the quality of the dialog and kinds of discussions points that were raised, and ease up on their complaints about not being in the room. And even in the absolute worst case, make yourself available to listen to their feedback independent of the critique session. You can diffuse difficult teammates, appeasing them without derailing the critique meeting, and the creative momentum of the team.

One alternative for designers in larger organizations: you might be able to do design critiques with the other designers in your organization, even if each of you works on different projects. This can be a great way to build a sense of design community in your organization, and give you the benefit of other well trained design eyes, that are fresh to the problems your trying to solve. The downside to this is that you miss on the opportunity to build better design relationships with the non-designers on your team. In the best possible world, you might have time to do both kinds of critiques, at different times in your project.

Materials and rooms

Depending on the kinds of designs your working with, and the goals you have, you might arrange the room differently, and bring different kinds of materials.

In the simplest kind of critique, where you have several alternatives to the same design problem, make it easy for everyone to see each design approach. There are several ways to do this:

1. Print a stapled handout of the 5 or 6 pictures and give each person a copy. This works fine, unless you have prototypes for each design approach - the printouts won't capture that :) It might be fine to have rough hand drawn sketches, if the folks in the room are capable of working with rough representations, or you might need to have more complete visual presentations of the design ideas. (I once made the mistake of showing some high powered marketing folks some hand drawn sketches: it was a disaster. Unfamiliar with design work, or design process, they naturally confused the low fidelity of the sketch, with the quality of the ideas. Learn from this :)

2. Use wall space in the room to display each of the designs. This is by far the best way to examine branding or compare/contrast different areas of the same website. If you're new to a project, and want to illustrate how inconsistent certain design elements are, there is nothing better than putting them all up on the wall together, and asking everyone in the critique to walk the room and examine them. If you've never done this before, I guarantee you'll hear a few people gasp.

3. If the room has a television, use your laptop to show designs. If you've made prototypes, demo them. Personally, I find this is the most convenient way to work. It usually requires little preparation beyond the prototypes themselves, and if I'm facilitating the meeting, it gives me additional control over what we discuss and how the discussion goes. Typically, what's on the monitor is what we're going to talk about.

4. Pick the right kind of room. I recommend small conference rooms that would accommodate 4-8 people. You want a room with lots of whiteboard space for new ideas, or for taping up printouts. Ideal is to also have a television or monitor so that everyone can easily look at the same designs from a laptop or computer.

If you are working on a long project, there is value in reusing the same room for critiques. You may be able to leave certain screenshots up on the walls ,or in the hallway outside. Plus you have the psychological advantage of identifying a single physical place with the kind of thinking and dialog you want for a critique.

The Rules of order for good critiques

Without some basics set of rules or guidelines, discussions about ideas can go in any direction. Many creative people (writers, filmmakers, artists, etc.) recognize this, and have certain shared guidelines or assumptions for how critiques should be run. Instead of starting with opinions and points of view, participants in the critique work to clarify the creators intent with the work, and only then, respond to how well the work achieves or does not achieve that intention. (e.g. - If the film director wanted you to feel angry when watching the opening scene, and you don't feel angry when you look at it, this is useful. But telling the filmmaker you don't like movies that make you feel angry, might not be as useful.) So when it comes to software or web design, it's important to clarify assumptions before offering a criticism or challenging an assumption.

The general rules of order are:

1. Start with clarifying questions. Clarify any assumptions about what the presented design is intended to do, or what kind of experience it is intended to create. Hopefully, this intent is derived from the overall project goals, which is already agreed upon.

2. Listen before speaking. Many times in work environments, we confuse conversations, which should be exchanges of ideas, with opportunities to inflict our opinions on others. If you take a moment to listen and understand before voicing an opinion, you're open to hear something new that might challenge your old thinking. So don't just wait for other people to finish, actively try to understand what's being said, and reflect it back to the speaker.

3. Lead into explorations of alternatives. Ask questions that surface other choices the designer might not have recognized. Postpone judgments, unless there are obvious gaps between the designers intent, and the designs you are critiquing.

4. If it fits with the goals of the critique, point out situations, sequences, or elements within the design that may be problematic given what you know about your customers, the scenarios involved, or the project goals.

5. Avoid statements that refer to absolutes. Instead, make points referent to the goals of the design. Bad example: This sucks and it's ugly". Good: "Well, if the goal is to make this feel friendly, black and flaming red doesn't convey that to me." Bad: "How could anyone figure that out?" Good: "I think there's something missing between step 3 and 4. It's not clear to me what the sequence of operations is. How do you expect people to know where to click?"

6. Speak in context of your point of view. It's fine to have a personal opinion, expressing your own preferences. But don't confuse this with your perception of what your customers need or want. So make sure to specify which kind of opinion you're offering. Hopefully there is data and research to help everyone agree on the likely customer perspective on different ideas.

Running the meeting

Someone should be responsible for leading and driving the meeting. This is more about facilitation than dictation. For a critique to work, everyone has to feel open about voicing their opinions and discussing ideas. It requires a different style of leadership than a status or accounting type meeting. The meeting leader, or facilitator, has to be comfortable asking quiet people to speak up, or loud or obnoxious people to quiet down.

I recommend that the creator of the designs lead the meeting. They should be confident and mature enough with the creative process to lead other people through it.

The biggest challenge to this is their ego. If the designer is leading the meeting, and controlling the discussion, there is every opportunity to push for feedback that makes their pet ideas shine, and exclude everything else. It requires maturity on the part of the designer to walk in the room with the attitude that the value of the meeting is to hear new thoughts and opinions, rather than simply to defend the ideas they already have. On a healthy team, the designer should be rewarded for the quality of their output, regardless of who may have made what suggestion, or gave birth to what initial idea, so there is little real conflict of interest. However, in the end, who runs the meeting is less important than the quality of discussion, and the overall progress of the design effort.

When a critique meeting is going well, it's fun. It should feel like an informal conversation between people with the same goals, all trying to explore and surface good thinking. The person running the meeting has the responsibility of setting the right tone for this, preferably by example, and doing everything in their power to maintain that attitude and spirit in the room throughout the meeting. On a good team, this responsibility should come easily.

Pre and post meeting work

You may want to do some up front work to ensure that the critique goes smoothly. If you can define the goals when you call the meeting, include them in the meeting announcement. Also attach any pictures of the designs or sketches, so interested folks can get a head start in thinking about the designs.

After the critique, there is some additional work you can do to close the loop, and set yourself up for your next critique, or follow up meeting. Make sure to take notes during the meeting of key questions that were raised, or new issues and ideas that came up that you hadn't thought about before. Send out a mail after the meeting with these details, and what the next steps in the design process will be. How long will it take before you have new designs to show? Is there a usability study that is the next milestone? How will this effort integrate with the project managers plans? If you don't provide answers to these questions, someone else will, and you'll default to yielding some control over the design process to them.

There are some organizations or project teams create critique forms, listing the standard questions or criteria that should be considered in a critique discussion. These are handed out during the meeting, used by participants to take notes, and then might be collected at the end. This might be more process than your team might want - so it's up to you to figure out how formal or informal the critique discussions should be. I might recommend something like this for the first time you do it to help define this kind of meeting, but probably not as a general practice.

How often to run critiques

It depends heavily on the project and the team. If you have easy access to the people you are working with on the project, you might not need to have defined meetings for critiques. If the team is healthy, critique like conversations are probably happening in the hallway all the time. As long as you are in most of them, and people see you, the designer, as the driving force for the design effort, things might be fine. On the other hand, If you as the designer feel that most of the design conversations happen without you, intentionally or not, creating a weekly critique discussion can help put you back in the middle of the creative process.

(Note: A separate type of design meeting is a brainstorming discussion, where the dominant goal is to generate new ideas and explore as many different ideas as possible. This should not be confused with a design critique.)

Possible discussion points / questions to use

Here's a sample list of design questions that might be of us to help guide the discussion. Again, depending on your goals for the critique, you might focus on, or avoid, some of these.

What are the user scenarios the site is designed for? Walkthrough how each design would enable those scenarios.

What known usability / design / business issues are these sketches trying to solve?

What is the intended style of the design, and is it appropriate for the target audience?

What is the intention of the style, and does it achieve the desired effect?

Are there standard brand elements that should be used, and are they used appropriately?

Are there similar software products or features that these designs should relate to?

What usability heuristics does each design support well? (or not?)

Where in the design are the most likely places for users to have trouble? and why?

Are there reasonable design changes that might avoid these problem points?

Does each design idea take advantage of things the user might already have learned?

What are the pros and cons of each design idea, relative to each other?

Are there any hybrid design ideas that are worth exploring, based on the designs in the room?

What open issues might best be resolved by a usability study or other research?

Other references for design critiques

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Unlike a brainstorming meeting, where the goal is to come up with new ideas, a critique meeting is focused on evaluating a set of existing ideas, and possibly identify future directions or changes. Instead of hoping informal discussions will resolve hard issues, its worth setting up a specific critique to drive a design forward.

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Talk to Check for Understanding vs. Talk to Create Understanding

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Talk to Check for Understanding vs. Talk to Create Understanding

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Receive, Appreciate, Summarize, Ask

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Julian Treasure: 5 ways to listen better

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In our louder and louder world, says sound expert Julian Treasure, "We are losing our listening." In this short, fascinating talk, Treasure shares five ways to re-tune your ears for conscious listening -- to other people and the world around you.

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Putting ego and emotional reactions aside in order to listen and respond effectively to constructive criticism...

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I've always envied people who can graciously accept constructive criticism. It seems I was not born with that trait, and throughout my career I've struggled with receiving feedback, even when it was entirely accurate. At the moment I hear the words of critique, my heartbeat quickens and my mind begins to race-first in search of an explanation for this assault on my person and then for a retort to rationalize whatever actions are in question.

And I'm not alone. Unfortunately, in the heat of the moment, many of us react with defensiveness and anger or-even worse-attack the person giving us feedback. But the truth is, we need to get over it. We know there's value in constructive criticism-how else would we identify weaknesses and areas of improvement?-and being able to handle it calmly and professionally will only help us maintain relationships and be more successful in everything we do.

So how do you learn to back off the defensive? The next time you receive constructive criticism from your manager or a peer, use this six-step process to handle the encounter with tact and grace.

1. Stop Your First Reaction

At the first sign of criticism, before you do anything-stop. Really. Try not to react at all! You will have at least one second to stop your reaction. While one second seems insignificant in real life, it's ample time for your brain to process a situation. And in that moment, you can halt a dismissive facial expression or reactive quip and remind yourself to stay calm.

2. Remember the Benefit of Getting Feedback

Now, you have a few seconds to quickly remind yourself of the benefits of receiving constructive criticism-namely, to improve your skills, work product, and relationships, and to help you meet the expectations that your manager and others have of you.

You should also try to curtail any reaction you're having to the person who is delivering the feedback. It can be challenging to receive criticism from a co-worker, a peer, or someone that you don't fully respect, but remember, accurate and constructive feedback comes even from flawed sources.

3. Listen for Understanding

You've avoided your typical reaction, your brain is working, and you've recalled all the benefits of feedback-high-five! Now, you're ready to engage in a productive dialogue as your competent, thoughtful self (as opposed to your combative, Mean Girls self).

As the person shares feedback with you, listen closely. Allow the person to share his or her complete thoughts, without interruption. When he or she is done, repeat back what you heard. For example, "I hear you saying that you want me to provide more detailed weekly reports, is that right?" At this point, avoid analyzing or questioning the person's assessment; instead, just focus on understanding his or her comments and perspective. And give the benefit of the doubt here-hey, it's difficult to give feedback to another person. Recognize that the person giving you feedback may be nervous or may not express his or her ideas perfectly.

Next (and this is a hard part, I know), look the person in the eyes and thank him or her for sharing feedback with you. Don't gloss over this-be deliberate, and say, "I really appreciate you taking the time to talk about this with me." Expressing appreciation doesn't have to mean you're agreeing with the assessment, but it does show that you're acknowledging the effort your colleague took to evaluate you and share his or her thoughts.

5. Ask Questions to Deconstruct the Feedback

Now it's time to process the feedback-you'll probably want to get more clarity at this point and share your perspective. Avoid engaging in a debate; instead, ask questions to get to the root of the actual issues being raised and possible solutions for addressing them. For example, if a colleague tells you that you got a little heated in a meeting, here are a few ways to deconstruct the feedback:

Seek specific examples to help you understand the issue: "I was a little frustrated, but can you share when in the meeting you thought I got heated?"

Acknowledge the feedback that is not in dispute: "You're right that I did cut him off while he was talking, and I later apologized for that."

Try to understand whether this is an isolated issue (e.g., a mistake you made once): "Have you noticed me getting heated in other meetings?"

Seek specific solutions to address the feedback: "I'd love to hear your ideas on how I might handle this differently in the future."

6. Request Time to Follow Up

Hopefully, by this point in the conversation, you can agree on the issues that were raised. Once you articulate what you will do going forward, and thank the person again for the feedback, you can close the conversation and move on.

That said, if it's a larger issue, or something presented by your boss, you may want to ask for a follow-up meeting to ask more questions and get agreement on next steps. And that's OK-it'll give you time to process the feedback, seek advice from others, and think about solutions.

Constructive criticism is often the only way we learn about our weaknesses-without it we can't improve. When we're defensive, instead of accepting and gracious, we run the risk of missing out on this important insight. Remember, feedback is not easy to give and it's certainly not easy to receive, but it will help us now and in the long run.
This article was originally published on The Daily Muse. For more on dealing with criticism in the office, check out: Nicole Lindsay is a career development expert and working on her first book about women and business school. Connect with her at www.DiversityMBAPrep.com or @MBAMinority.

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Taking Constructive Criticism Like a Champ

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Getting less-than-positive feedback isn't ever going to be easy--but it's always going to be important. The next time you receive constructive criticism from your manager or a peer, use this six-step process to handle the encounter with tact and grace.

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A great way to get kids to converse/debate/listen using one central idea.

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April 2015 Faculty Meeting Emaze Presentation

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April 2015 Faculty Meeting Emaze Presentation

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Effective Content Area Instruction for ELLs

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Effective Content Area Instruction for ELLs

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Challenges and suggested solution to learning English in the content area

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This article provides an overview of how to use language objectives in content-area instruction for English learners and offers classroom-based examples from different grade and subject levels.

In this article written for Colorín Colorado, Jennifer Himmel of the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) provides an overview of how to use language objectives in content-area instruction for English learners. Her overview includes:

what a language objective is

steps that teachers can take to create language objectives

how to implement language objectives in a general education classroom

how to align objectives to content and language standards

ideas and resources on how to support teachers as they become familiar with this practice.

Language Objectives: An Overview
Mrs. Shell has been teaching eighth grade math for twelve years. She has deep content area knowledge and wants to provide all of her students with authentic activities and tasks to relate the significance of the mathematical concepts that she teaches to their lives. Mrs. Shell has always felt successful at teaching her classes but this year has been different. Her sections include students with more diverse backgrounds than previous years, particularly more English learners. As Mrs. Shell was beginning to feel frustrated with her inability to reach all her students because of their needs, she learned about one way to make her content more comprehensible to all her students - creating and posting objectives that tell the students not just what content concepts they will learn in each lesson, but also the academic language they will need to learn and use to meet the state's math standards. With this knowledge, Mrs. Shell is now confident that she not only knows what to teach, but also how to teach it so that all her students can be successful.

Generally speaking, academic English is the language of schooling and the language that helps students acquire and use the content area knowledge taught in schools (Anstrom, DiCerbo, Butler, Katz, Millet, & Rivera, 2010).

Teaching content to ELs: The challenge

In my work supporting general education and ESL/bilingual teachers who provide sheltered instruction for English learners (ELs), I have met many teachers like Mrs. Shell. While these teachers want to provide effective instruction for their ELs, often they don't see themselves as language teachers and so they aren't sure where to begin with their students.

These teachers aren't alone, however, and they are facing a challenge shared by teachers across the country. We know that for school-age students, academic language is crucial for school success (Francis, Rivera, Lesaux, Kieffer, & Rivera, 2006). In addition, research allows us to state with a fair degree of confidence that English learners best acquire English when language forms are explicitly taught and when they have many opportunities to use the language in meaningful contexts (Goldenberg, 2008).

Yet while the explicit instructional support that ESL and bilingual teachers provide is essential to English learners' academic language development, English learners receive a majority of their instruction from general education and content area teachers who may not have experience teaching academic language development.

The question becomes then: What do general education classroom teachers need to do in order to support the academic English development of language learners, especially when English learners are one of many types of students they serve?

Teaching content to ELs: The solution

One principle that teachers of English learners can begin to apply immediately is creating and posting language objectives for their lessons. Many teachers are familiar with using content objectives to identify what students will learn and be able to do in the lesson. However, they are less likely to include language objectives that support the linguistic development of their students.

Implementing language objectives can be a powerful first step in ensuring that English learners have equal access to the curriculum even though they may not be fully proficient in the language. This is because the second language acquisition process requires opportunities for the language learner to be exposed to, practice with, and then be assessed on their language skills (Echevarria, Short, & Vogt, 2008).

To this end, language objectives:

articulate for learners the academic language functions and skills that they need to master to fully participate in the lesson and meet the grade-level content standards (Echevarria, Short, & Vogt, 2008).

are beneficial not only for language learners but for all students in a class, as everyone can benefit from the clarity that comes with a teacher outlining the requisite academic language to be learned and mastered in each lesson.

Now let's take a closer look at some examples and how to write language objectives.

Back to top

Writing Language Objectives

What is a language objective?

Language objectives are lesson objectives that specifically outline the type of language that students will need to learn and use in order to accomplish the goals of the lesson. Quality language objectives complement the content knowledge and skills identified in content area standards and address the aspects of academic language that will be developed or reinforced during the teaching of grade-level content concepts (Echevarria & Short, 2010).

These objectives involve the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing), but they can also include:

the language functions related to the topic of the lesson (e.g., justify, hypothesize)

vocabulary essential to a student being able to fully participate in the lesson (e.g., axis, locate, graph)

language learning strategies to aid in comprehension (e.g, questioning, making predictions).

Below are examples of language objectives for different content areas and grade levels. They come from the Common Core State Standards for Math and English Language Arts (2012) and state standards in New York and California.
Sources:
How do I create effective language objectives?

Dr. Cindy Lundgren discusses the process of writing language objectives in this excerpt from her Meet the Expert interview.

Language objectives are directly correlated to content objectives. Once a teacher determines the lesson topic from the appropriate content standards, the teacher will want to begin thinking about the academic language necessary for English learners to complete the tasks that support the content objectives. This identification of the academic language embedded in the lesson's content will become the basis for the lesson's language objectives.

You can use the following guidelines to start thinking about appropriate language objectives for the lesson:

1. Decide what key vocabulary, concept words, and other academic words students will need to know in order to talk, read, and write about the topic of the lesson. Those words might be taught as a language objective. They should include technical terms, such as ecosystem, and terms like distribution that have different meanings across content areas. Other terms to highlight are those that language learners may know in one context, such as family (as in parents, siblings, etc.), but that have a different use in science (e.g., family of elements in the periodic table).

2. Consider the language functions related to the topic of the lesson (e.g, will the students describe, explain, compare, or chart information). See the WIDA English Language Proficiency (ELP) standards for examples of these functions for English language arts, math, science, and social studies for all English proficiency levels and grade-level clusters.

3. Think about the language skills necessary for students to accomplish the lesson's activities. Will the students be reading a textbook passage to identify the stages of mitosis? Are they able to read a text passage to find specific information? Will they be reporting what they observe during a scientific demonstration to a peer? Do they know how to report observations orally? Acquiring the skills needed to carry out these tasks might be the focus of a language objective.

4. Identify grammar or language structures common to the content area. For example, many science textbooks use the passive voice to describe processes. Additionally, students may have to use comparative language to analyze two related concepts. Writing with the passive voice or using comparative phrases might be a language objective.

5. Consider the tasks that the students will complete and the language that will be embedded in those assignments. If students are working on a scientific investigation together, will they need to explain the steps of the procedure to one another? The language objective might focus on how to explain procedures aloud.

6. Explore language learning strategies that lend themselves to the topic of the lesson. For example, if students are starting a new chapter in the textbook, the strategy of previewing the text might be an appropriate language objective.

(Adapted from Short, Himmel, Gutierrez, & Hudec, 2012. Used with permission.)

Aligning Language Objectives and Standards

English Language Proficiency (ELP) standards

Developing appropriate language objectives for lessons involves becoming familiar with a state's content area and ELP standards. Whereas the content standards will provide the topic of the lesson and what exactly the students should be doing with that topic (e.g., solving problems, creating models, ranking ideas), the English language proficiency or development standards help to identify language skills and functions that students should be working on to achieve academic language fluency. These ELP standards can help to identify:

communicative tasks (e.g., retelling, asking clarification questions)

language structures (e.g., sequential language, past-conditional tense)

types of texts students need to understand (e.g., informational text versus literature).

English Language Arts (ELA) standards

Other resources in addition to the ELP standards are a state's English Language Arts standards or the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History, Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects (CCSS). The English Language Arts and Literacy CCSS might be especially useful to teachers of English learners due to its attention to literacy across the content areas.

Additional resources to consult, especially if a state is a member of the WIDA consortium, are the Model Proficiency Indicators (MPIs) outlined in their ELP standards. The MPIs outline what an English learner at a specific level of English language proficiency can do in a language domain (e.g., listening) by addressing the language functions embedded in an example topic for that content area with appropriate scaffolds or support (Gottlieb, Cranley, & Cammileri, 2007). Classroom texts and other materials (e.g., science investigations, primary source documents) are other good sources to consult when preparing a lesson.

Getting Started

How can I get started?

Careful lesson planning

In creating measureable and student-friendly language objectives that support the content objectives, it is important that learner tasks in the lesson are aligned with the objectives. It is not enough to have well-written objectives that promote language acquisition if the lesson is lacking in tasks that support the objectives. If the language objective for a middle school social studies lesson is for the students to orally retell the key characteristics in a historical event using sequential language, it is important that the teacher previews sequential language with the students, such as providing sentence stems or frames, and builds into the lesson some structured pair work so the students have an opportunity to retell the event to a peer. Therefore, careful lesson planning is another essential step in preparing effective language objectives.

Collaboration

It is also useful for content area and ESL/bilingual teachers to plan lessons together, as we saw with the 7th grade science lesson scenario involving Mr. Zhang and Mr. Lewis. In this co-planning scenario, each teacher used his expertise to better integrate content and language instruction for the language learners. This type of collaboration can help a teacher like Mr. Zhang learn more about the second language acquisition process of his students and can help a teacher like Mr. Lewis become more familiar with the grade-level content expectations that his English learners encounter in content area classes.

How do I know which language objectives are best for my students?

The language objective that the teacher selects will depend on what the English learners in the class need most at that point in the year and what language is most important to understanding the content concepts. If the students have already spent a good deal of time working with new vocabulary, then the teacher might consider having students use that vocabulary to develop their writing skill by writing a summary of the process they followed.

Conversely, the teacher might want to help students become more proficient with a particular type of graphic organizer in order to develop more strategic language learning. As all teachers know, teaching is a dynamic and complex process that requires a multitude of decisions to be made. However, the advance planning required in creating language objectives allows teachers to better anticipate the academic English needs of all students thus increasing the comprehensibility of the lessons.

It is important for teachers to realize that even though their lesson may include all four language skills (it is good if they do, since the language skills reinforce one another), they do not need to post a language objective for every language-related item addressed in the lesson. Teachers address many instructional needs in a 50- or 60-minute class period. Rather than highlighting all language uses in a particular lesson, it is important for the teacher to think about what is non-negotiable in that lesson.

In other words, the teacher should keep the perspective of the English learner in mind and ask, "Of all of the skills and functions addressed in my lesson, which is most important for helping students meet the grade-level standard and develop their language proficiency?" These objectives then must be measureable (i.e., can you see or assess the student's mastery of that objective?) and written in language that accounts for the linguistic and cognitive development of the students.

How can I make language objectives "student-friendly"?

Both of the above objectives are measurable, but both also take into account appropriate developmental stages of the students. Teachers of young students (e.g., PK or K) may even want to consider further adapting the objectives. For example, we have seen kindergarten teachers use symbols such as a pencil to symbolize "write" and a mouth to symbolize "talk" when they post their objectives for the children to see. We have also seen teachers of young learners rely on pictures to show the key terms they want the students to use or to convey the topic of the lesson (e.g., a picture of a ruler and of hands to discuss standard and non-standard measurement).

One way that teachers can ensure that their language objectives are measureable and student-friendly is by using appropriate verbs. Because language objectives should provide students with practice in the four language skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking, verbs related to those skills might include, but are not limited to, the following:

List

Retell

Summarize in writing

Record

Read

It is also important to not equate low language proficiency with limited cognitive ability. Therefore, teachers will want to make sure that the language objectives they create also reflect tasks that fall on the higher end of Bloom's Taxonomy and use verbs (e.g., orally justify) accordingly.

As noted above in the guidelines to creating language objectives, language functions are also a potential source for language objectives. Verbs related to language functions might include:

Describe

Orally explain

Report findings in writing

When should I share language objectives with students?

To help students take ownership of their learning and provide explicit direction to students, especially the English learners who are processing content in a new language, it is important that objectives be stated at the beginning of the lesson and reviewed with the students at the end of the lesson to allow them to assess if they have met the objectives (Echevarria, Vogt & Short, 2008).

How this happens may differ according to the grade level and content area of the class. Some teachers like to have the students choral read the objectives, while teachers of older students sometimes have them record the language objectives in their journal in addition to asking an individual student to read them aloud. Some teachers, such as those who teach science, like to reveal the objectives later in the lesson, perhaps after the warm up or exploratory activity, so that they can maintain an inquiry-based approach (Echevarria & Colburn, 2006).

Should I differentiate language objectives based on my students' language proficiency?

Although all teachers have students of varying language proficiency and skill levels in their classes, it is not necessary to differentiate language objectives by creating and posting multiple language objectives that reflect these proficiency levels. Rather, teachers should have one language objective that is appropriate for all students to meet. To provide the appropriate differentiation, the teacher would provide different scaffolds (e.g., adapted text, visuals, sentence frames) for students to use in order to reach the objectives.

For example, an appropriate language objective for an upper elementary language arts class might be for the students to be able to orally list text features found in a non-fiction book. For lower proficiency language learners, the teacher may give them a word bank from which to choose the text features; therefore, the students are meeting the same objective but with the appropriate amount of linguistic support from the teacher.

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Next Steps

How can I learn more?

For more information on the SIOP Model, see Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners: The SIOP Model (Echevarria, Short, & Vogt, 2008).

Although language objectives can be implemented in any lesson design approach, they are especially congruent with sheltered instruction and the SIOP Model. Since language objectives ensure that teachers meet the unique linguistic needs of English learners, they are sometimes easier to implement in the context of instructional practices espoused by the SIOP Model.

Practices that focus on explicit academic language teaching include:

development of key vocabulary

peer-to-peer interaction

meaningful activities that allow learners to practice the academic language in authentic contexts.

Below are other resources that can help you learn more about creating language objectives and about integrating academic language into content area classes.

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Final Thoughts

We realize that it takes teachers some time to become very comfortable with creating language objectives, but our experience has shown that the implementation of language objectives can bring immediate benefits to instruction. Some immediate benefits include teachers understanding more concretely that they are both a content area and language teacher - as one teacher said in a CAL SIOP Model workshop, "I now see myself as a math teacher AND a language teacher".

We have also observed that when teachers consciously plan to meet the academic English needs of their learners, they end up with better planned learner tasks, and students begin to have more ownership of their content area and language learning. When it comes to building proficiency in academic English, as many teachers in our workshops remind us, "If you want to see it, you have to teach it." Therefore, if teachers want to see language development, language objectives are a great first step in helping teachers explicitly teach it.

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Resources

Short, D., Himmel, J., Gutierrez, S., & Hudec, J. (2012). Using the SIOP Model: Professional development for sheltered instruction. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics.

Echevarria, J., Vogt, M.E., & Short, D. (2010). The SIOP Model for teaching mathematics to English learners. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Echevarria, J., & Short, D. (2011). The SIOP Model: A professional development framework for a comprehensive school-wide intervention. Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners (CREATE) Brief. http://www.cal.org/create/resources/pubs/professional-development-framework.html

Himmel, J., Short, D., Richards, C., & Echevarria, J. (2009). Using the SIOP Model to improve middle school science instruction. Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners (CREATE) Brief. http://www.cal.org/create/resources/pubs/siopscience.html

Short, D., Vogt, M., & Echevarria, J. (2010a). The SIOP Model for teaching history-social studies to English learners. Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

Short, D., Vogt, M., & Echevarria, J. (2010b). The SIOP Model for teaching science to English learners. Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

Vogt, M.E., Echevarria, J., & Short, D. (2010). The SIOP Model for teaching English language arts to English learners. Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

Jennifer Himmel is the SIOP Manager at the Center for Applied Linguistics, a non-profit organization for language education research, policy, and practice in Washington, DC. She has served as a curriculum developer and research associate for the U.S. Department of Education funded project, Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners (CREATE) that is investigating academic achievement of ELLs in grades 4th-8th, and as a language testing specialist for the WIDA ACCESS for ELLs® language proficiency test. She currently manages the SIOP Model professional development service line and provides technical assistance and professional development in sheltered instruction to districts and schools.

Video Clip: Language Objectives

In this excerpt from her Meet the Expert interview, Dr. Cynthia Lundgren explains the value of writing language objectives when teaching English learners.

Anstrom, K., DiCerbo, P., Butler, F., Katz, A., Millet, J., & Rivera, C. (2010). A review of the literature on academic English: Implications for K-12 English language learners. Arlington, VA: The George Washington University Center for Equity and Excellence. Education.www.ceee.gwu.edu.

Echevarria, J., & Colburn, A. (2006). Designing lessons: Inquiry approach to science using the SIOP Model. In A. Lathman & D. Crowther (Eds.), Science for English language learners (pp.95-108). Arlington, VA: National Science Teachers Association Press.

Echevarria, J., Vogt, M., & Short, D. (2008). Making content comprehensible for English learners: The SIOP Model. Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

Echevarria, J., & Short, D. ( 2010). Programs and practices for effective sheltered content instruction. In California Department of Education (Ed), Improving education for English learners: Research-based approaches. Sacramento, CA: CDE Press.

Francis, D., Rivera, M., Lesaux, N., Kieffer, M., & Rivera, H. (2006). Practical guidelines for the education of English language learners: Research-based recommendations for instruction and academic interventions. Portsmouth, NH: RMC Research Corporation, Center on Instruction. www.centeroninstruction.org/files/ELL1-Interventions.pdf

Goldenberg, C. (2008). Teaching English language learners: What the research does-and does not-say. American Educator, Summer 2008, pp. 13-44.

Gottlieb, M., Cranley, E., & Cammilleri, A. (2007). Understanding the WIDA English Language Proficiency Standards: A resource guide. Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, on behalf of the WIDA Consortium.

Short, D., Himmel, J., Gutierrez, S., & Hudec, J. (2012). Using the SIOP Model: Professional development for sheltered instruction. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics.

World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (2007). WIDA English Language Proficiency Standards. Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, on behalf of the WIDA Consortium http://www.wida.us/standards/elp.asp

You are welcome to print copies or republish materials for non-commercial use as long as credit is given to Colorín Colorado and the author(s). For commercial use, please contact info@colorincolorado.org.

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Language Objectives: The Key to Effective Content Area Instruction for English Learners

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This article provides an overview of how to use language objectives in content-area instruction for English learners and offers classroom-based examples from different grade and subject levels. In this article written for Colorín Colorado, Jennifer Himmel of the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) provides an overview of how to use language objectives in content-area instruction for English learners.

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I have used this as a starter for a discussion about effective social discourse. I use a "sticky note" activity with it (video about 12 minutes).

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Most people instinctively avoid conflict, but as Margaret Heffernan shows us, good disagreement is central to progress. She illustrates (sometimes counterintuitively) how the best partners aren't echo chambers -- and how great research teams, relationships and businesses allow people to deeply disagree.

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Looking for the Speaking-Listening Standards?

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Looking for the Speaking-Listening Standards?

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The CCSS original speaking-listening standards are also listed under Big Ideas)).

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This is just the PPT version of the Emaze presentation used at Faculty Meeting (better for printing).

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Below are instructions/handouts provided in faculty meeting (April 2014 and 2015).

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Kansas CCR Literacy and Speaking-Listening Standards

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Kansas CCR Literacy and Speaking-Listening Standards

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Kansas version of standards

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This handout has step-by-step directions on how educators can approach the standards.

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Teaching Presentation Skills with Ignite

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Teaching Presentation Skills with Ignite

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All sophomores are required to perform an Ignite Talk (starting with this year's seniors).

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I know that, in my project-based learning classroom, students did presentations all the time for a variety of purposes. One of the key components of a PBL project is the 21st-century skill of presentation or communication. We know that this presentation can take on any number of shapes, from something formal to a podcast or even a poster session. I always struggled with getting quality presentations from my students. I used a variety of teaching techniques and examples, but there is one that I know can really help improve presentation skills: Ignite!

Ignite is a specific genre of presentation. An Ignite presenter only has five minutes to speak about the topic, and 20 slides to do so. Every 15 seconds, slides are moved along automatically. The overall purpose of an Ignite session is to empower and excite the audience around a specific subject matter, idea or topic. Ignite is used at conferences all around the world, at EdCamps, and even within professional organizations and businesses.

Ignite is similar to PechaKucha, where you have 20 slides that change every 20 seconds. Usually, someone is "offstage" to time the event by changing slides, which forces the presenter to stay on task and move forward in the presentation. The slides contain only images, which the presenter prepares. However, the presenter is usually not allowed to prepare a script. This demands improvisation and creativity while still trying to craft a message.

Final Product

An Ignite session can be a great final product for a PBL project or another unit of instruction. Although we might be inclined to push for a larger presentation, there are times when an Ignite presentation would be appropriate. It can help assess certain quality indicators of effective presentation, and can be a presentation that is more fun and engaging for both students and audience members. Imagine an exhibition night of multiple Ignite presentations! Consider an Ignite presentation as either a product or assessment for all students, or as another choice in the products students can choose from.

Practice and Scaffolding

Although you might demand a more lengthy or formal presentation as a final product, an Ignite presentation can serve as a great scaffolding tool. As students prepare for the bigger presentation, have them craft shorter pieces in teams or individually as practice. It can help them pick the right words to speak and find the right pictures to use as they reflect on and revise their final presentation. And it can serve as a great formative assessment for you as the teacher, along with helping students plan their presentation in manageable ways.

Teaching

Instead of droning on with lengthy lectures, as a teacher you can use Ignite presentations to get important content or skills across to students. Yes, there is occasion for a more traditional lecture, but not all the time. What's great is that any Ignite sessions you build can be stored for future use or exchanged with teachers in a PLC or PLN. We also love it when students teach students. Have them craft Ignite presentations on content to teach each other.

Ignite can be a great presentation tool to support your classroom and students. It helps to avoid "time sucks" while building presentation skills for your students. There's no question that young people will find this form engaging, and they'll enjoy crafting these five-minute programs. I know I do! Don't forget to use an effective rubric to assess the presentation effectively, and to make sure that expectations are clear from the beginning.

Ready?

Ignite!

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Teaching Presentation Skills with Ignite | Edutopia

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I know that, in my project-based learning classroom, students did presentations all the time for a variety of purposes. One of the key components of a PBL project is the 21st-century skill of presentation or communication. We know that this presentation can take on any number of shapes, from something formal to a podcast or even a poster session.

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The November 2014 issue of Ed Leadership was all about Speaking and Listening, so here are some of the best articles!

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ASCD Express

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ASCD Express 10.05 - Talking and Listening in Class

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ASCD

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Teaching the Core Skills of Listening and Speaking

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Teaching the Core Skills of Listening and Speaking

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Teaching the Core Skills of Listening and Speaking

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Common Core Speaking and Listening Standards

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Stepping onto the TED or TEDx stage - or speaking in front of any group of people, for that matter - is truly nerve-wracking. Will you remember everything you wanted to say, or get so discombobulated that you skip over major points? Will the audience be receptive to your ideas, or will you notice a guy in row three nodding off to sleep?

Presentation expert Nancy Duarte, who gave the TED Talk " The secret structure of great talks," has built her career helping people express their ideas in presentations. The author of Slide:ology and Resonate, Duarte has just released a new book through the Harvard Business Review: The HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations.

The TED Blog talked with Duarte in her California office about what makes a killer presentation, as well as about how giving her own TED Talk shaped her thoughts on presenting.
What would you say are the three keys to giving a great presentation?
The number one thing, I think, is to be audience-centric. To take the time to think through who the audience is and develop all your material from a place of empathy toward them. You're asking them to adopt your idea, which means they may have to abandon a belief they hold as true - and that's hard. So, know your audience - take a walk in their shoes. What keeps them up at night? How are they wired to resist your message? Most presenters are consumed with preparing their content rapidly, which makes the material about their own narrow perspective. By flipping that paradigm to an audience-centric approach, your material will resonate and the audience can feel a deeper connection to you and your material.

Number two, you need to understand your role in the presentation. So many people feel like they're the central figure - kind of like the hero of the story - because they're the one talking the most. But in reality, your role is that of a mentor - you should be giving the audience a magical gift or a special tool, or helping them get unstuck in some way. You have to defer to your audience. When you put your idea out there for an audience to contend with - if they reject your idea, your idea will die. You have to think of it as, "The speaker needs the audience more than the audience needs the speaker." Then you'll start to approach a material with your audience in mind - you'll have more of a stance of humility than one of arrogance. That will help you create the kind of movement needed to get your idea to spread.

And then the third thing - wrap your content in story. A story serves like the sugarcoating on the outside of a pill in some ways - it just makes it go down easier. If you look at preliterate generations for thousands and thousands of years, stories would pass down for generation after generation after generation - and stay almost completely intact. Yet, a lot of people can't remember the last presentation they sat through. So, using principles of story - the tension and release that happens in a story - that's what will help persuade the audience toward your idea.
What do you feel like you learned from giving your own TED Talk?
I learned so much. Being the "Presentation Lady," I knew I couldn't suck at it. The hardest part was getting [my talk] to fit within this finite amount of time. So I trimmed and trimmed, keeping in mind that you still have to nail why this is important to the audience. I had a person coach me and point out places where I could trim. "You took too long here, and that made this part of emphasis too long." I worked with the timer counting up until I knew I was within the time window - then what I did was work with the timer counting down so I'd know, "When I'm a fourth of the way through, I should be on this slide. When I'm halfway through, I need to be on this slide." I created markers in my mind so I would know how I was running on time. Sure enough, I finished the talk and I had six seconds left on the clock.

It was a great experience for me because I hadn't gone through it myself. I'd coached people through it but - wow - to actually be a victim was interesting. I learned the power of rehearsing. If you rehearse really, really, really well - it looks improvisational. Some people rehearse to a point where they're robotic, and they sound like they have memorized their presentation and didn't take it to the next level. Going from sounding memorized and canned to sounding natural is a lot of work.
So, the classic advice for stage fright is to imagine the audience in their underwear. What do you recommend people do to calm their nerves?
I don't usually get nervous, but when I got on [the TED] stage, I was nervous because it's pretty high stakes. I recommend doing some breathing exercises - breathe in as deep as you can, and then take a couple more big gasps. Then, release it really slowly. That calms my heart down. But my favorite piece of advice isn't my own - it's from a guy named Nick Morgan. He said, "What you need to do right before you walk on stage is think of someone that you love dearly." Doing that, I felt the chemistry in my whole body change. My shoulders relaxed and my heart melted. That feeling of affection makes your body calm itself down. That's a really great way to stop stage fright.
What is the best way to start creating a presentation?
My best advice is to not start in PowerPoint. Presentation tools force you to think through information linearly, and you really need to start by thinking of the whole instead of the individual lines. I encourage people to use 3×5 note cards or sticky notes - write one idea per note. I tape mine up on the wall and then study them. Then I arrange them and rearrange them - just work and work until the structure feels sound. And from that sound structure, you start to fill it in using a presentation tool.

[For visuals], I think people tend to go with the easiest, fastest idea. Like, "I'm going to put a handshake in front of a globe to mean partnership!" Well, how many handshakes in front of a globe do we have to look at before we realize it's a total cliche? Another common one - the arrow in the middle of a bullseye. Really? Everyone else is thinking that way. The slides themselves are supposed to be a mnemonic device for the audience so they can remember what you had to say. They're not just a teleprompter for the speaker. A bullseye isn't going to make anyone remember anything. Don't go for the first idea. Think about the point you're trying to make and brainstorm individual moments that you're trying to emphasize. Think to the second, the third, the fourth idea - and by the time you get to about the tenth idea, those will be the more clever memorable things for the audience.
One thing that is really different about giving a TED Talk is the fact that you know it will be filmed. How do you think about the difference between live presentations and ones that will exist on video?
On stage, it feels really awkward to do large movements because - normally in life - we're talking to someone in a more intimate setting and moving your arms really big feels melodramatic. But on the stage, you have to move your body in really big gestures. It feels awkward at first if you're not used to it, so you have to kind of close your eyes and get used to it. Say things and move largely. Take big bold steps forward, big bold steps backward. You have this grand stage and people don't use the space enough. I think one of the great things that Jill Bolte Taylor did was how she used her body. Her arms stretched all the way up when she talked about nirvana. Then she when she talks about her whole soul feeling constricted, she brings her hands down and folds her arms down in front of her. She's using her body as a prop. That's an important way to create meaning.

Also, with video, a tech rehearsal is important. Your audience on video is exponentially larger than the people in the room. So by familiarizing yourself with the cameras, you can at least look in that general direction. You know how you're supposed to look around the audience - look and hold for five seconds, look and hold for five seconds? You should look at the camera as if it's a human. Get used to seeing that circular lens as a face. Feel like it's a person you're talking to, because that audience on camera needs to feel like they're there and that you're looking right at them.

To me, presentations are the most powerful device. You can't really name a movement that didn't start with the spoken word. TED was once this exclusive, amazing event where ideas were exchanged, but you've moved to treating presentations as a media type. You guys have been so refined at it, that what it's done is created a movement. What TED has done is made a platform for introverts, for scientists, for inventors - to share their ideas in a way that's clear and appeals to a broad audience so that their ideas spread and get adopted. It's completely changed how people present. It's created this desire to be excellent in communication.

When you look at even how businesses communicated in the '30's, '40's and '50's - they were so much clearer and well-crafted. I recently went to the Stanford Library and I got a bunch of old GE Board meetings from, like, 1957. And I thought, "These are so beautiful!" Their presentations referenced history, they quoted things, they crafted their words in such a beautiful way. Then PowerPoint entered into the mix and suddenly there wasn't any desire to craft anymore. I think TED Talks have brought the desire for the craft back.
Your new book is from the Harvard Business Review. Is it intended for someone who is in business, or for anyone?
All of my books are for anyone who has an idea that they need to communicate! I loved working with Harvard Business Review and I think because of the publisher, business professionals may be more interested in this book. But anyone with an idea can benefit from it. It's a guidebook, so that people can think, "Oh, I need to know how to do this specific thing. I'm going to go get this book and find that one thing."

Want more advice on giving talks? Our curator Chris Anderson is writing the official TED guide to public speaking-to be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in spring 2016. Titled Talk This Way!, it will be packed with insights on what makes talks work.

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How to give more persuasive presentations: A Q&A with Nancy Duarte

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Stepping onto the TED or TEDx stage - or speaking in front of any group of people, for that matter - is truly nerve-wracking. Will you remember everything you wanted to say, or get so discombobulated that you skip over major points?

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Watch how you can team teach a with a Socratic Seminar across disciplines. Here we see and ELA and social studies teach team teaching with lessons aligned to the Common Core..

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How to Bring Socratic Seminar to Your Classroom

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How to Bring Socratic Seminar to Your Classroom

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ELA.RL.9-10.1

Common core State Standards

ELA: English Language Arts

RL: Reading Standards for Literature 6-12

9-10: 9th & 10th Grades

1:
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text
says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

Download Common Core State Standards (PDF 1.2 MB)

|

ELA.RL.9-10.4

Common core State Standards

ELA: English Language Arts

RL: Reading Standards for Literature 6-12

9-10: 9th & 10th Grades

4:
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text,
including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact
of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes
a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).

Download Common Core State Standards (PDF 1.2 MB)

|

ELA.SL.9-10.1c

Common core State Standards

ELA: English Language Arts

SL: Speaking and Listening Standards 6-12

9-10: 9th & 10th Grades

1c:
Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions
(one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9-10
topics, texts, and issues, building on others'\x80\x99 ideas and expressing their own
clearly and persuasively.

a. Come to discussions prepared, having read and researched material under
study; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence from
texts and other research on the topic or issue to stimulate a thoughtful,
well-reasoned exchange of ideas.

b. Work with peers to set rules for collegial discussions and decision-making
(e.g., informal consensus, taking votes on key issues, presentation of
alternate views), clear goals and deadlines, and individual roles as needed.

c. Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that relate the
current discussion to broader themes or larger ideas; actively incorporate
others into the discussion; and clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and
conclusions.

d. Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarize points of
agreement and disagreement, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their
own views and understanding and make new connections in light of the
evidence and reasoning presented.

Download Common Core State Standards (PDF 1.2 MB)

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Discussion and Supporting Materials

Thought starters

1. How do students develop discussion skills by participating in both the inner and outer circles?

2. What can you learn from Ms. Price about using the language of the Common Core with students?

3. Ms. Price says that it's our responsibility to make it their responsibility. How does she do this?

School Details

Mountain View High School
3535 Truman Avenue
Mountain View CA 94040

Data Provided By:

Teachers

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Ninth graders in Paige Price's ELA class participate in a Socratic Seminar to discuss the role of poetic language. Paige sets up the Socratic Seminar with an inner and an outer circle. Students partner up so that one student participates in the inner circle discussion while the other partner observes from the outer circle.

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Due to the integrated nature of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), we have an opportunity to dive deeply into multiple literacy standards simultaneously. Gone are the days when reading, writing, speaking, and listening were skills taught in isolation. Few instructional strategies accomplish literacy integration as well as the Paideia Seminar. Paideia, from the Greek paidos, or nurturing of a child, is a framework that encourages the active learning of all students, regardless of variability. It's something every teacher will want to explore.

What is a Paideia Seminar?

You've all probably experienced the Socratic Seminar in college, a formal class discussion that values the power of questioning in building shared knowledge. A Paideia Seminar is similar, but it takes the Socratic discussion to the next level, as it embodies important guidelines of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and aligns to the CCSS.

The National Paideia Center defines the Paideia Seminar as a collaborative, intellectual dialogue facilitated with open-ended questions about a text. If we break down that definition, you can see alignment to the UDL Guidelines and the CCSS. The connection between UDL and the CCSS is significant because UDL is explicitly mentioned in the CCSS (in the Application for Students with Disabilities section, as best practice).

How do Paideia Seminars help students meet the Common Core Standards?

1) Paideia Seminars foster collaborative, intellectual dialogue. This addresses CCSS Speaking & Listening Anchor Standard 1: Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

2) Paideia Seminars give students experience with facilitated discussions. As described in the CCSS Speaking and Listening Anchor Standards to build a foundation for college and career readiness, students must have ample opportunities to take part in a variety of rich, structured conversations.

3) Paideia Seminars encourage open-ended questions about a text. Reading Anchor Standard 1 says students should read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

Simply put, the Paideia Seminar is a protocol for facilitating a discussion about complex text while also scaffolding important social skills that students need to be successful in college or their chosen careers. It's also important to note that "text" includes artwork, a word problem, a map, a chart, a scientific experiment, or traditional text. Below is a video of a teacher using the $1 bill as text in a Paideia Seminar; the possibilities are endless!

What is the Basic Structure of a Paideia Seminar?

A Paideia Seminar includes a pre-seminar, the seminar, and a post-seminar. Once you facilitate your first seminar, you will see its ability to engage all students in the exploration of rigorous text because it integrates so many of the UDL Guidelines.

Pre-seminar: During the pre-seminar, students are organized in a circle so they can all make eye contact. In this session, you will review standards and objectives (UDL Guideline 8.1), activate or supply important background knowledge for the text (UDL Guideline 3.1), clarify important vocabulary (UDL Guideline 2.1), and ask students to participate in a self-assessment (UDL Guideline 9.3). During this self-assessment, students reflect on how they usually participate in group discussions and create an individual goal for the session with your support (UDL Guideline 6.1). An example of a goal may be, "I will look at every person while he or she is speaking," or "I will participate at least twice and use ideas from the text." Also, you should support students as they create group goals, such as "We will build on each other's ideas by linking to the ideas of others." Having agreed-upon rules for discussion minimizes threats and distractions (UDL Guideline 7.3) which would prevent students from participating.

Seminar: During the seminar, facilitate discussion by asking open-ended questions about the text. As students answer, require them to refer to the text by citing specific details and quoting actual passages to support their point of view (CCSS, Anchor Reading 1). During this session, you will ask questions about the main idea of the text, focus and analyze textual details, and require students to personalize, or transfer and generalize acquired knowledge to their own lives (UDL Guideline 3.4).

Post-seminar: In the post-seminar, ask students to reflect on their progress toward group and individual goals and the standards (UDL Guideline 9.3). This reflection is often done in writing or drawing, but you can use multiple tools for construction and composition (UDL Guideline 5.2). I provide choices for students so they can reflect in ways that are meaningful to them. For example, you may ask students to reflect in a poem, a poster, a blog, a talk show script, a video or PowerPoint, or a journal entry.

Where can I find examples of Paideia Seminars?

You can find free Paideia lesson plans on the Paideia National Center website. I have personally used many, and can't say enough good things about the process and the products that result from implementing the seminar in the classroom. As one of my students said last year when I tried to teach a close reading lesson another way, "Can't we just Paideia this?"
Katie Novak, Ed.D., works for Chelmsford Public Schools in Massachusetts as the K-12 reading coordinator, Title I director, and ELL director. With more than a decade of teaching experience (including postsecondary), Novak continues to teach and also designs and presents workshops nationally and internationally focusing on teacher implementation of UDL. If you have questions about how to implement UDL contact Katie at katienovakudl.com. For more ideas about how to meet the Common Core State Standards using Universal Design for Learning, read Katie Novak's new book, UDL Now!: A Teacher's Monday-Morning Guide to Implementing Common Core Standards Using Universal Design for Learning.

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Paideia Seminar: Build Student Collaboration Skills

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Due to the integrated nature of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), we have an opportunity to dive deeply into multiple literacy standards simultaneously. Gone are the days when reading, writing, speaking, and listening were skills taught in isolation. Few instructional strategies accomplish literacy integration as well as the Paideia Seminar.

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These would be helpful to students, like what we used in faculty meeting.

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I found this information from Edutopia that addresses some ways to get students to listen.

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So how do we help kids become better listeners? Check out these tactics for encouraging a deeper level of listening that also include student accountability:

Strategy #1: Say it Once

Repeating ourselves in the classroom will produce lazy listening in our students. If kids are accustomed to hearing instructions twice, three times, and even four times, listening the first time around becomes unnecessary. Begin the year by establishing that you are a teacher who rarely repeats instructions and this will surely perk up ears.

Of course you don't want to leave distracted students in the dust so for those few who forgot to listen, you can advise them to, "ask three, then ask me."

Strategy #2: Turn and Talk

One way to inspire active listening in your students is to give them a listening task. It might look like this, "I'm going to describe the process of _________. I will pause along the way and ask you to turn to a partner and explain to them what you heard." You can ask students to take turns talking each time you pause, and meanwhile, walk around observing their conversations (also allowing you to check for understanding).

Strategy #3: Student Hand Signals

Asking students to pay full attention and indicating that they will follow this with a non-verbal signal is a wonderful tool for sharpening those listening skills. It can look like this: "I'm going to read a former president's statement about why he believes war is sometimes necessary. When I'm finished, you will share your opinion by holding up one finger if you agree, two fingers if you disagree, and three fingers if you are undecided or if you have a question." This strategy allows whole-class participation and response. It's also a favorite for kids who are more on the shy side, giving them a "voice."

Watch how hand signals encourage active listening in a fifth-grade classroom.

Strategy #4: Pay Attention, Pause, Paraphrase

Children need structured opportunities to restrain themselves from speaking in order to keep their attention on listening, especially when working in groups. Try this strategy:

1. When students talk in pairs or small groups, assign one speaker at a time only (they can number off).

2. Ask all others to listen fully to whoever is speaking and to avoid formulating a response while the other person talks. Tell them to simply listen that is all. (This is a difficult task even for adults!)

3. When the person stops talking, the other takes a breath before she speaks and then paraphrases something her partner just said: "You believe that...." "You aren't sure if....".

4. After paraphrasing her partner, she can then follow that with an "I" statement: "I see what you mean...", "I'm not sure I agree...".

Discussion sentence starters are a helpful tool for students as they learn this new way of having a conversation. It's also incredibly helpful for students to see this in action. Ask a couple of students to model it for the whole class or have an adult visit to partner with you.

Strategy #5: Creating Questions

If your students are listening to a speech, watching a documentary clip, or hearing a story read aloud, break it up by stopping a few times and having students write a question or two about what they just heard. This way, students actively listen for any confusion or wonderings they may have -- this takes a high-level of concentration. It's important to provide models for this since we are typically trained in school to look for the answers and information rather than to focus on what is not understood or is still a mystery.

Motivating Words

Good listeners are both rare and valued. It's important to share this with students, and to also share the fact that people who really listen -- make eye contact, show interest, and restrain from cutting others off in a conversation -- are easy to like and respect.

Here's also a few quotes to present to students and/or post around your classroom:

"If speaking is silver, then listening is gold." -- Turkish saying

"I think the one lesson I have learned is that there is no substitute for paying attention." -- Diane Sawyer, newscaster

"One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say." -- Bryant McGill, author

In what ways do you teach active listening in your classroom? Please share with us in the comment section.

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Say What? 5 Ways to Get Students to Listen | Edutopia

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So how do we help kids become better listeners? Check out these tactics for encouraging a deeper level of listening that also include student accountability: Repeating ourselves in the classroom will produce lazy listening in our students. If kids are accustomed to hearing instructions twice, three times, and even four times, listening the first time around becomes unnecessary.

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Just some thoughts from your local speech and debate (and sometimes English) teacher.

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Socratic Circles by Copeland and Thinking Through Quality Questioning by Walsh and Sattes (Ch 5)

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Below are general resources about speaking/listening.

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The Hunt Institute: Key Role of Evidence in Speaking/Listening

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The Hunt Institute: Key Role of Evidence in Speaking/Listening

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Speaking and Listening: The Key Role of Evidence

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Standards for speaking and listening * Focus on collaboration in multiple settings in work or college * Preparation, respect, and problem-solving in formal and informal situations

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Simple Rubrics for Common Core Speaking and Listening Standards

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Simple Rubrics for Common Core Speaking and Listening Standards

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One search term that seems to regularly bring folks to the Teaching the Core blog is "speaking and listening rubrics for Common Core State Standards." Up to this point, those good-hearted yet unfortunate rube-seekers haven't found what they were looking for here.

In the words of William Wallace's Uncle Argyle, "That is something we shall have to remedy, isn't it?"

While my speaking and listening rubrics for the CCSS aren't going to win me a gold star in an Ed Theory class, they do effectively tell me whether my students have it, are on the way to getting it, or are showing no evidence of getting it. In other words, they may not be sexy, but they work.

For any graded debate or discussion, I give the students one skill from the Speaking and Listening standards that I want them to focus on. I deliver this to them in the form of a statement (see the image below) or question (see the list later in this post), and I post that on the board or in the day's slideshow.

Before the debate or discussion begins, I explain the move to students, but, way more importantly, I model it for them as well, usually with a different topic from what they're going to speak about. To help illustrate why and how they're working on this move, I also connect the Speaking and Listening move to moves I want them to make in their writing. Speaking and Listening tasks are awesome avenues into better writing and reading.

To scaffold the moves, I often include a sentence starter or two on the board (energetic nod to Graff and Birkenstein). These enable students to frame their ideas within effective language. I always remind students that their responses need not be limited to these templates.

Finally, I explain how they will be graded: I simply start a new column on my class roster and give students a check (they got it), check minus (they attempted but aren't quite there yet), or zero (they totally missed it or did not participate).

Remember, my students are freshmen, and to make these rubric questions specific to them, I use the 9-10 grade-specific Speaking and Listening standards. Similar work can be quickly done for other grade levels.

Do you refer to evidence from the text under discussion and/or other research pertaining to the subject? (SL.9-10.1a)
According to ______, ________. In other words, ________

Do you propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that relate the current discussion to broader themes or larger ideas? (SL.9-10.1c)

In response to _____'s question, ______.

_____'s comment about _____ points to the larger issue of _______.

Do you actively incorporate others into the discussion? (SL.9-10.1c)

______, I'm curious what you have to say on this matter, given your previous statement about ________.

________ was wise to point out _________; to add to it, I would argue _______.

Do you clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions? (SL.9-10.1c)

________, I heard you say ________. Am I getting that right?

_________, is it fair to summarize your point by saying ______?

________ said ______, and I would challenge that conclusion with this: ________.

Do you summarize points of agreement and/or disagreement? (SL.9-10.1d)
_________ and _______ seem to agree on _________. However, they disagree on __________.

Do you qualify or justify your own views and/or make new connections in light of evidence and reasoning presented by others? (SL.9-10.1d)
As you all know, I previously said ________. However, I would like to justify what I said in light of _____'s evidence.

Are you able to detect fallacious reasoning or exaggerated/distorted evidence? (SL.9-10.3)
(This one is best explored and modeled with mentor texts or pre-recorded debates.)

Do you present your ______ (point, information, finding, supporting evidence) clearly, concisely, and logically? (SL.9-10.4)

Requiring students to use transitions is key for increasing clarity and logic.

To help them think about clarity, concision, and logic, try showing them videos of themselves or their peers speaking.

Are you able to show your command of formal English? (SL.9-10.6)

My goal with grading Speaking and Listening standards is to give students feedback that is immediate (I'm done grading them by the time they sit down), focused (hence giving them one skill per speaking task), and, ultimately, helpful to them. At the end of the day, my students are the ones that will live with their speaking and listening abilities - not me.
Do you grade every speaking/listening task your students do?
I don't grade every debate and discussion that we have, and I don't always require every student to participate. However, a majority of the time these tasks are graded and mandatory because I want to give students feedback and I want them to grow.
Do you require all students to participate, even if it makes them uncomfortable to do so?

I do require every student to participate in any graded speaking/listening task. Surprisingly, even though I have had students who are literally brought to tears at the pressure of speaking in front of their peers, I always see these students grow by the midpoint in the school year, and this growth is both in their skill and in their confidence. Just this past week, I had a student tell me about how she spoke up at a community event one evening, and that she did so because of the confidence she has gained in my class. For the first two months of school, I couldn't get this kid to speak loud enough to be heard a few feet away.

If you come to my room, you will see students who tend to enjoy being there and tend to feel loved. Mandatory participation (even for shy kids) is possible in my room because I strive to build community from Day 1, and because my students know that I am an equal opportunity comfort zone destroyer. I also share with them about how I was super shy in high school, and how that shyness has only been harder to overcome as an adult.

What classes do you do this in?
Even though the Speaking and Listening standard is technically only for ELA classes, my students and I probably tend to do just as much Speaking and Listening work in my World History classes as in my Freshman Comp/Lit classes. To me, social studies classes seem like they should be filled with chances to discuss and debate.

Doesn't focusing on one skill per speaking/listening event create really boring discussions and debates?
Not at all. Though I do grade for certain moves, I encourage students to be much more sophisticated than the skill on the board. To promote creative contributions, I often stop and praise great student moves, and there's at least one time per event where I'm practically beside myself with glee at a brilliant contribution (granted, I sometimes need to force this display early on in the year; my goal is to show students how exciting and entertaining debates and discussions can be).
Do you have printable rubrics?
Since I grade a single skill per speaking/listening event, I rarely print out a rubric. If anything, I sometimes use slips of scrap paper when I want to give students written feedback.
How do you allow for student choice in your speaking/listening events?
Even though students don't get to pick the skill they are graded on, I try to allow student choice in some way, be it when they speak, what side they speak for, or who they speak with.
What types of debate structures do you use?
I use a variety of different debate structures, and I'll be writing about those in a later post.

If you have more questions, let me know in the comments!

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Simple Rubrics for Common Core Speaking and Listening Standards - Dave Stuart Jr.

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One search term that seems to regularly bring folks to the Teaching the Core blog is "speaking and listening rubrics for Common Core State Standards." Up to this point, those good-hearted yet unfortunate rube-seekers haven't found what they were looking for here. In the words of William Wallace's Uncle Argyle, "That is something we shall ...

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Common Core Standards : ELA - Speaking and Listening

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© 2018 Shmoop University, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Most of the LEARN NC Content has been archived using the Wayback Machine. Instructions for how to access that content is below, including links to frequently requested materials.

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More than Words: Developing Core Speaking and Listening Skills

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More than Words: Developing Core Speaking and Listening Skills

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If you would like the rest of this article, email Angie!

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December 2013 | Volume 55 | Number 12
Pages 1-4-5

Jessica Roake and Laura Varlas

Thoughtful, content-based discussions have always been a classroom ideal. With an added push from the Common Core State Standards, educators are amplifying their efforts to plan for purposeful talk.

"So I had to read the first part of this book, and then the next day our teacher put us in groups of like 10 students and told us we had to have a discussion about the reading. She told us we each had to say at least one thing, and no more than three things. And then she left, and there was just silence because nobody knew what to say. It was awkward."

At some point in your career, you've probably experienced a classroom discussion that played out like this, and with good reason. "Let's not even pretend that most students are ready to naturally hold a content-based discussion that doesn't fizzle out if we aren't providing some targeted discussion scaffolds," says Pérsida Himmele, ASCD author and associate professor at Millersville University. "Knowing how to hold a thriving content-based conversation takes quite a bit of social maturity, time, and practice. Most [students] need to be guided through it."

Keys to Cognition

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More than Words: Developing Core Speaking and Listening Skills

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December 2013 | Volume 55 | Number 12 Pages 1-4-5 Jessica Roake and Laura Varlas Thoughtful, content-based discussions have always been a classroom ideal. With an added push from the Common Core State Standards, educators are amplifying their efforts to plan for purposeful talk.

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BBC Skillswise: Speaking and Listening for Adults

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BBC Skillswise: Speaking and Listening for Adults

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Become a better communicator by improving both your speaking and listening skills.

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Just click to post any resources you would like to share about speaking/listening.

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Just click to post your questions/comments.