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Do you talk a lot in social circles? Sometimes when we get nervous we talk a lot.

Or...do you consider yourself more of a wallflower and don't talk enough?

Unfortunately, when it comes to schooling, some teachers may talk entirely too much, and the students in the classroom don't say anything because it may not be very different from their past school experiences.

I know that there is always a debate between the " Sage on the Stage" or the " Guide on the Side. " Personally, I'm a bit tired of those two categories. A well-balanced diet of both can be healthy for student learning.

But...reflect on how you teach.
Do you control the conversation? Do students ask questions? Are they allowed...even encouraged...to have conversations with one another? Or do they sit, as you talk?
Everyone remembers Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Standing at the front of the class doing roll call, he boringly repeated, " Bueller, Bueller, Bueller." over and over again as the kids sat in their chairs looking catatonic.

Clearly, that is an extreme example of a teacher who strongly believed in monologue more than dialogue, but if you saw the movie when you were younger, did it resonate with you in any way? Did you have teachers who did that? I know that they were in the minority of the teachers I experienced as a student.

Don't get me wrong, there are teachers on the other extreme, and in many places in between, who create opportunities for dialogue where student voice is not only appreciated but strongly encouraged. I've walked into observe classrooms where students were not only on task, but exceeding their own expectations.

But some teachers and leaders corner the market on talking without looking for input. In a recent speech at a Visible Learning Conference in Horsens, Denmark, John Hattie said that in his research, teachers ask around " 250 questions per day per week." On the other hand, he stated that students ask questions at a range of " 2 per class per week."

According to that meta-analysis of numerous studies, teachers ask many more questions than their students ever get a chance to ask. That is a lot of monologue with very little dialogue. They need to shift their mindset from being the fountain of all learning to being ok with the idea that students should not only ask numerous questions for understanding, but also contribute to the discussion without asking questions.
Dialogue
We know dialogue is important. Think of how often you have learned something by talking with someone new at a dinner party or professional conference. Through the conversation you learned about a new book, or it took your level of understanding of a concept to a much deeper level.

Literacy researchers have been telling us for years that dialogue offers important elements to build literacy skills for children. I would venture to guess that the same holds true for adults as well. We can all learn a lot from discussions. High quality, engaging discussions.

We need to stop talking so much in the classroom, and we need to spend more time listening to our students. It doesn't matter whether you may be an elementary school teacher, at the high school level or in a college classroom. Focused discussions around the learning intentions set up for the lesson can help us all learn a lot from one another. Students will learn from us, at the same time we can learn their level of understanding of the concept. Perhaps, our students even know elements of a concept that we don't know.

In the 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, Stephen Covey said, " Seek first to understand, then to be understood." That doesn't always mean during times of confrontation or mediation. It means during collaboration as well. Through authentic collaboration students, teachers and leaders can build an environment that is conducive to learning...from each other.
Modeling
As with most high quality learning environments, modeling is important. The stakes are high, and I'm not referring to testing, but learning. It's important that students understand how to focus on the topics at hand and offer productive feedback to one another.

Why?

In Graham Nuthall's book The Hidden Lives of Learners he found that 80% of the feedback students receive in the classroom is from other students, and 80% of that feedback is wrong. It creates a perfect storm if dialogue is not encouraged in the classroom. If students only hear questions and monologue from their teacher (and tune them out after a few minutes), and then get a majority of their feedback from their peers, and that feedback is wrong, it builds the case that students are only going to school to watch a teacher work, and they aren't getting the maximum benefit.

Classrooms where focused conversations or dialogue are part of the daily environment are much more fun, but they also have the largest effect on learning. So take a day and focus less on talking, and listen to students more. Model the behavior you want, and he include them in the process of discussing what is appropriate and helpful feedback. They have amazing things to tell us, and we all learn in the process.
Interactive ways to build dialogue:
Wiki Spaces - With proper modeling, students can learn how to appropriately interact with one another. A Wiki Space is a great place for students to offer feedback to each other.

Blogs - Student voice is vitally important. A blog can be a great venue for students to share their thoughts and opinions. The problem is that teachers want to control the environment and can't do that when students are posting to a blog. Meet in the middle. Teachers can offer acceptable use guidelines and students will still have a venue where they can use their voice.

Closed Facebook pages (age appropriate) - Notice how I said closed. Clearly, this will take time to set up guidelines of acceptable use. However, closed pages on Facebook created by a teacher can offer a venue where students can share ideas with one another.
Connect with Peter on Twitter.

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Do You Talk Too Much in Class? (Opinion)

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In a recent speech in Denmark, John Hattie said that teachers ask around 250 questions a day while their students ask about 2 questions per week. Do you talk too much in class?

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Lesson From A Tuned-Out Classroom: Talking Isn't Teaching

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A teacher lectures. A student learns? Not necessarily.

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Do Question STEMS Work in the Classroom | High Order Thinking | Professional Development For Teacher

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Student discourse boosts their learning and engagement. Teachers can support kids in talking to learn in the classroom by reflecting on their own word choice and being strategic about the things they say. This article includes seven teacher discourse moves that will benefit students' mathematical conversations. Plus, watch a on-demand webinar for more support with mathematics instruction.

Talking for Learning

Student talk is a critical component of effective teaching and learning. Maximizing the quality and quantity of student discourse takes practice, time, trust, listening, and commitment. The benefits of letting kids talk in the math classroom are worth the commitment. Remember, those who do the talking do the learning.

Focusing on the Things We Say as Teachers

What we say as teachers matters. As classroom teachers, we spend hours setting up our physical classroom environment and spend weeks building a community of learners, so now is the time to truly reflect on the things we say as teachers that will benefit our students' mathematical conversations.

If you choose one or two of these Teacher Discourse Moves to focus on for the next few weeks, you will see your students begin to engage in deeper mathematical conversations and arguments and begin to ask questions of each other. As you incorporate more Teacher Discourse Moves in your lessons, it can be helpful to actually write down one or two of the questions or statements in your plan book to remind yourself to use them as you continually develop your skills.

Move #1: REVOICING

The teacher or student revoices another student's contribution and asks if his or her interpretation of that idea is accurate. This might sound like:

So you are saying that...

So let me clarify...

I think I heard you say...

Do I have this right?

If I am understanding...you said...

Is this what you are saying?

Move #2: REPEATING

The teacher or student restates another student's idea in his or her own words and reflects on how it is alike or different from his or her idea. This move presses students to become active listeners in math class. This might sound like:

Can you repeat what _____said in your own words?

What is another way that we could say the same thing that _____shared?

Is what ______said what you meant? Does it need clarification?

Move #3: REASONING

The teacher asks students to apply their own reasoning about someone else's ideas or argument. This encourages students to think beyond their own personal ideas and build connections between differing ideas and strategies. This might sound like:

Do you agree or have a different idea?

Why?

Were you thinking the same thing or did you have another idea?

Thumbs up if you agree with _______idea/strategy.

Thumbs sideways if you respectfully have a different idea/strategy.

Move #4: ADDING ON

The teacher prompts students to add to another student's idea/strategy. This helps get multiple solutions/ideas on the table and can assist students toward making connections of various ideas/strategies. This might sound like:

Who can say something more about this?

Can you add more to this idea?

Who thinks they can explain why this is a good move/idea/strategy?

What is our group considering about this idea?

Move #5: WAIT TIME

Wait time has been emphasized for decades and has been shown as one of the most valuable teacher discourse talk moves. This move allows ALL students extra time to process information, formulate ideas, arguments and questions. This might sound like:
3

Take your time to think...

We will wait...

Think in your head silently about this...

Let's take some time to think...

Hands down...time to think privately...

Let's ponder on that thought...

Move #6: PASS IT ON

The teacher asks students to refrain from raising their hands and calls on students to share their own idea or an idea shared by their group or partner. Students begin to ask each other about ideas and strategies. This might sound like:

Remember to ask your friends for clarifying questions when they share an idea/strategy.

Does anyone have anything to share about my idea?

I was wondering what others think of my idea.

Our group is curious if other groups thought about the problem like we did.

Move #7: THINK ALOUDS

A teacher models aloud how a good mathematician thinks and talks about problems that are posed. This helps students develop the habits of mind of being a mathematician. This might sound like:

As I am reading this problem, I am thinking of...

This problem reminds me of another problem we solved last week. Can anyone think of which one?

I remember _______ solved a problem like this one. What strategy was it that _____ used?

Teachers can encourage and guide student discourse to increase engagement in the math classroom and improve student learning. Teachers can reflect on their own word choice and be strategic about the things they say in order to benefit students' conversations. Incorporating these seven teacher discourse moves is an excellent way to develop your own skills.

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7 Teacher Discourse Moves That Lets Kids Talk

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Improve student discourse in the math classroom for enhanced learning benefits with these 7 teacher discourse moves.

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Introducing Upper Elementary Students to Academic Discourse

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With a little support, young learners can pick up the skills necessary to conduct successful classroom discussions.

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Use Complex Language and Vocabulary

Before watching this video, read the text below. When instructed, watch the video from the beginning to end.

Through language, people share ideas, solve problems and conflicts, cultivate relationships, and learn new things. As children's language abilities grow, they use fewer one-word labels and express themselves in more complex language constructions. This growth is essential-children with deep and broad vocabulary become better readers, writers, and communicators. You can foster this development by exposing children to complex language and vocabulary.

Offer new words that children can use to grow their vocabulary.

Incorporate interesting and complex language. Children need to hear sophisticated words and be prompted to use them in their own speaking vocabulary. For example, say, That is a gigantic cloud! Look at this miniature pony. This looks like a ferocious lion.

Provide "child-friendly" definitions of complex vocabulary and encourage children to use the words in their speech. For example, say, Now we scatter the tiles. That means we mix them up.

Encourage children to define words on their own when possible.

Use academic language-the language of instruction. As they study subjects like math, reading, and science, children will need to learn these words (e.g., longer, higher, more, fewer, predict, add, follow, alphabet).

Chart children's progress over time. As children grow, so do the number of words they use in a sentence. A child who might once have said only "My truck" can grow to use a more complete sentence: "I made a picture of a truck."

In this video, you'll see the educators model how to use complex vocabulary and expanded sentence structures. As you watch, look for effective strategies used by the educators in the video and jot down answers to this viewing question in your Learning Log.

What strategies do the educators use to help children expand their vocabulary?
Review Why do children need to hear adults use sophisticated language?

Children with deep and broad vocabulary become better readers, writers, and communicators.

Children can often understand complex words that are not yet in their speaking vocabulary.

What strategies can educators use to introduce complex vocabulary?

Flood the environment with talk to help them learn new ideas and express themselves competently and confidently.

Model the use of new words that children can use to describe their world.

Incorporate interesting and complex language into daily talk. Children need to hear these words and be prompted to add them in their own speaking vocabulary.

Provide simple, easy-to-understand definitions of vocabulary and encourage children to use the words in conversation.

Ask children to define words. Children often pick up the vocabulary of their peers and hearing another child's definition can have more meaning.

Use read-aloud books to teach new vocabulary and to help children discover the meanings of the words they hear.

Use academic language (the language of instruction) to familiarize children with words they will encounter as they learn more math, reading, science, etc. (e.g., longer, higher, more, fewer, predict, add, follow, alphabet).

Ask open-ended questions to prompt children to think deeply and critically and to encourage multiple-word answers. These questions begin with words like what and how and usually cannot be answered with a simple "yes" or "no." (What do you predict will happen when we put the snow in the water? What might happen when you put another block at the top?)

Prompt children to talk with peers. (Samantha has a great way to find her boots. Ask her to tell you what she does.)

Reflect
Think about the learning environment in your own program as you answer these reflection questions in your Learning Log.

What strategies do you use to expose children to complex language and vocabulary?

What did you learn that you will take back to your learning environment and put into practice?

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Engaging Children in Meaningful Conversation

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Before watching this video, read the text below. When instructed, watch the video from the beginning to end. Through language, people share ideas, solve problems and conflicts, cultivate relationships, and learn new things. As children's language abilities grow, they use fewer one-word labels and express themselves in more complex language constructions.

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When I taught expository writing as a classroom teacher, I found the fastest path to improving my students' writing was to build their capacity to engage in deep discussions so they were able to work through their thesis or arguments-testing their claims and hearing their peers' perspectives. This pushed them to revise their own thinking. John Hattie's research around academic conversation and discussion confirms what I learned by direct experience: Academic conversation is one of the most powerful practices we can bring to our classrooms to promote higher achievement (Hattie, 2012).

But to grow students' brain power using academic conversation as a strategy, we need robust talk structures that allow more students to join in the conversation confidently, especially English learners, introverted students, disengaged students, and historically marginalized students. These are all students whose communication styles and funds of knowledge are not typically leveraged in classrooms.

Free-Flowing Structure

In addition to adding more robust discussion practices, we also want to make these practices more culturally responsive by centering them around the principles of youth culture and collectivist practice. I encourage teachers to find talk structures and tools that:

Honor the funds of knowledge each student brings to the conversation.

Give marginalized students greater access to the flow of the discussion.

Give students more agency in directing the conversation.

Give students a more robust cognitive workout by leveraging their everyday modes of communication.

That's why I suggest that a good starting point for facilitating deeper, more equitable discussions is to use structured protocols. Protocols are more than a fancy word for strategies. Made popular in the early 1990's by the Coalition of Essential Schools and promoted by the National School Reform Faculty, discussion protocols are rules or procedures that provide a structure and process so everyone has time to think, talk, and listen.

The overly structured nature of protocols might seem counterintuitive to the goal of encouraging a free-flowing discussion that welcomes all students. In reality, it is just the opposite. Protocols create ways into the discussion for students typically left out. We often see the same students talking in class, namely those who are comfortable conversing in English, have mainstream background knowledge, or are more extroverted.

Five Steps to Support Protocols

The following five steps will enable you to begin creating the conditions for incorporating protocols into your classroom to increase engagement and access for all students:

1. Offer structures and time for small talk that paves the way for social-emotional safety later in academic conversations. Building a culture of academic conversation begins with building a culture of connection. Creating opportunities for students to talk to each other and get to know each other sets the social-emotional stage for them to engage collaboratively during academic discussions.

Protocols such as dyads can offer a container for a social-emotional grounding to the school day or beginning of the class period. Made popular by math equity educator Julian Weissglass and community organizer Ana Becerra (2004), a dyad is a listening and talking exchange between two people that provides a structure for constructivist listening-a process in which the speaker is listened to for a dedicated amount of time without being interrupted.

2. Use protocols to shake up inequitable participation patterns during academic discussions. One of the dynamics I often see in classrooms is unequal participation. Even when we use powerful strategies and structures such as Socratic seminars, we see the same students doing much of the talking. This leads to inequitable outcomes for English learners, introverted, or struggling students who don't feel confident enough to actively engage in free-flowing class discussions.

Well-defined protocols can make discussions more egalitarian by providing time for everyone to get practice talking about their ideas about the content. For example, the typical protocol is done in "rounds" with a small group of 3-5 students. Each protocol round has three important steps that foster equitable participation. First, the process begins with 3-5 minutes of uninterrupted time for one person ("the presenter") to talk. When that person is finished, the other members of the discussion group have a set amount of time to reflect on and respond to what the presenter shared. The presenter has a final moment to respond to on the advice given by his partners. Then a new presenter from the group is invited to share his or her thinking and is given the same 3-5 minutes to talk. This process continues until everyone in the group has had time to talk.

3. Use the elements of hip-hop culture to modify protocols and make them more responsive to students' interests and knowledge base. Many of our middle and high school students are steeped in hip-hop culture, regardless of racial background or socioeconomic status. Hip-hop has grown up and become mainstream. Although widely considered a synonym for rap music, the term hip-hop actually refers to a complex culture organized around the values of social justice, respect, self-worth, community, and having fun.

While maintaining the integrity of the discussion protocols you choose to use, think about ways to include fun as a design principle in classroom discussion. As Chris Emdin (2013) reminds us, much of today's students' schema-the brain's network of knowledge, associations, allusions, references, and connections that give content meaning-is influenced by hip-hop culture. So why not leverage interactive hip-hop structures like the cipher and rap battles to help students access their existing funds of knowledge? These features of hip-hop culture have dialogic qualities that we can use to help students see that they are competent at deep thinking. How to do this? Consider a mash-up of a traditional protocol and one of the hip-hop structures:

Remix the fishbowl protocol as a cipher. The fishbowl protocol has a small number of students seated in an inner circle discussing a topic or text and using specific academic conversation skills the class is practicing, while the remaining students sit around them in an outer circle. The students in the outer circle listen to the discussion and take notes. At a designated point, the students in the inner circle rotate out, join the outer circle, and a new group of students comes into the inner circle. This has a lot in common with a hip-hop practice called cipher, in which a crowd of spectators and onlookers surrounds rappers engaged in "freestyling" as each rapper steps into the cipher to share their rhymes. In a remix or mash-up of these formats, you can introduce a more free-flowing type of fishbowl, building on collectivist, participatory elements common to hip-hop culture. For example, students in the outer circle can more actively engage and comment on what they're hearing from within the fishbowl with finger snaps. Or, you can make movement between the outer circle and inner circle more free flowing by letting students tap each other in.

Use a cipher-style protocol like the kiva to help students focus on "cognitive stitching" as they build on each other's ideas, In a kiva, rather than having an inner and outer circle, four students are positioned in a square, and four more seats are lined up behind each of them so that the pattern resembles a wheel spoke. The four speakers in the square discuss the topic and questions of the lesson. After some time passes, new students rotate from the seats behind the speaker into the center seats and continue the conversation, building on what's been said. The goal is seeing who can take the discussion deeper, make interesting text-based connections, or find real-life connections to academic concepts, depending on the subject area.

Reconfigure the chalk talk protocol as a graffiti tag billboard. Invite students to "tag" the "billboard" using elements of sketchnoting, doodling, collage, and written word to stimulate thinking before a discussion begins or to deepen it afterwards. The idea is to leverage students' comfort with multimodal expression as a way into dialogue, discussion, or debate.

4. Invoke performance elements of spoken word poetry for deeper thinking during discussions. Like hip-hop, spoken word is part of youth culture and flows out of the oral traditions of many indigenous communities and communities of color. Spoken word is a poetic performance art that is word-based, and it can center around either poetry or prose. It looks like fun, but the fluid use of word-play and metaphor makes it serious cognitive work. According to Rick Wormeli (2009), metaphor is a powerful tool for making meaningful connections and demonstrating understanding of complex concepts that changes the structure of our brain, allowing us to do more rigorous thinking as a result. The lyrical nature of spoken word techniques can give in-class discussions energy and flow, which increases engagement.

5. Give students the power to facilitate. Because culturally responsive teaching is about building student agency and brain power, it is important to train students to self-facilitate discussions. Protocols offer the needed structure and procedural "wireframe" to get them started.

Teach them to "hand off" the conversation to each other rather than have it always flow through the teacher.

Pick an MC for the discussion. In street parlance, MC stands for the "master of ceremonies." In hip-hop culture, when a number of rappers have gathered for a performance, the MC manages the energy of the crowd and the flow of the set. Help students channel their inner MC as facilitators in protocols. They need to focus not just on the procedural aspects, but also on the social-emotional climate of the discussion or debate to ensure norms are being following and a positive vibe is maintained.

Making It Work

Incorporating protocols into your classroom routines takes some planning and guided facilitation to build all students' capacity to engage in powerful discussions that lead to deeper learning. Here are a few additional tips to keep in mind:

Be patient. Remember the rule of the first pancake. Recognize that, like the first pancake, deep discussions are going to be a bit messy in the beginning. But after making some adjustments, the pancakes will come off the griddle round and ready to eat. Similarly, over time students get used to using protocols to take their discussions deeper. This is where the design thinking principles of prototyping and iterating are important.

Teach the value of code switching. You need to have norms in place to effectively implement protocols. But resist the urge to police students' use of language, like slang, non-mainstream English like African American Vernacular English, pidgin, or creole dialects like "Spanglish."

Let students talk in the language most comfortable for thinking. Be aware of the number of different languages and dialects spoken in your classroom. As a culturally responsive educator, find ways to leverage this linguistic diversity. Early in the school year, talk with students about the positive connection between discussion, thinking, and their home languages. In addition, teach them to "code switch" across registers. A register is defined as the level of formality in language that's determined by the context in which it is spoken or written. We have three common registers-a social or community register, a "business" register, and a more formal "academic" register.

There is a big difference between moving back and forth across registers (code switching) and having to abandon one's language assets. This isn't about modulating. Rather, it is a matter of "both/and". Students should not feel like they have to abandon their home and community language when they come to school. It is actually one of their assets.

Protocols can be a powerful equity tool. Leveraging protocols in our classroom can ensure equal participation in discussions that grow understanding and brain power for all students, as well as help them access their funds of knowledge, using practices from youth culture to ignite engagement.

Resources for Protocols

Get detailed descriptions of the protocols mentioned in this article along with facilitation tips from these two organizations:

Reflect & Discuss

➛ Do an equity audit: Who is doing most of the talking during your class discussions? Whose voices are being pushed out?

➛ How can you give students more agency in directing and facilitating academic conversations?

➛ Choose a protocol mentioned in the article and commit to trying it. How do you anticipate that it will improve your next class discussion? How will it ensure every student is being heard?

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Structured protocols can help teachers ensure equitable participation and create more culturally responsive discussions.

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A novel activity using little more than geometric shapes can help students examine complex problems and connect big ideas.

Online and in person, hexagonal thinking can be a fresh way to boost the energy level in classroom discussions. "Your students will see things in new ways as they seek to connect wide-ranging ideas," writes English teacher Betsy Potash for Cult of Pedagogy. With many students learning from home this school year, it's a strategy that can help get kids back into a "critical thinking zone."

By connecting a series of ideas around a theme-a process where the end result often looks entirely different for each student or group-hexagonal thinking is designed to get kids thinking critically, making novel connections, debating, and providing evidence to support their reasoning. Potash describes it as a "springboard for a totally creative discussion."

HOW IT WORKS

In person, or online, the moving parts of hexagonal thinking are the same: hexagons. These can be cut from paper-try this simple online hexagon generator-or created digitally using widely available tools like PowerPoint or Google Slides (watch Potash's tutorial; she's also designed a free digital toolkit for the activity).

Next, inside each hexagon, write key terms, ideas, and connections to other disciplines or to the modern world. Alternately, leave the hexagons blank and ask students to fill them out in their small groups. To review the big ideas from a unit on global warming, for example, the terms you might select could include carbon dioxide, emissions, ice caps, methane, and so on.

Use the PowerPoint shapes tool to create bubble arrows for students to use at key intersections points in their frameworks-they'll use these connecting points to inform their written explanations later.
Courtesy of Betsy Potash / Cult of Pedagogy
Start by setting out the goals for the activity for your class. "Your conversations now will be about showing how and why you think the different ideas and options connect," you might explain to students. "Everyone will see things differently and that's OK. Just keep talking until you find the connections that stick."

While this activity works as an individual task, or as a partner activity, Potash favors students working together in small groups so there's "more perspectives on where to place what, which can be nice." She suggests letting students decide whether they'd like to collaborate or work solo.

Let students know that each hexagon can connect to up to six others and students should keep rearranging until they feel they've created the strongest web of connected ideas.
Courtesy of Betsy Potash / Cult of Pedagogy
Once students have completed their conversations and their grids are in place, they can begin using the connection arrows to indicate intersections between key ideas. Ask them to explain their thinking related to these intersections on paper or in a Google document.
Courtesy of Betsy Potash / Cult of Pedagogy
Students working on paper can glue or tape down their hexagons, or photograph the completed web of interconnections. Online, students can submit a slide of the completed web and a slide of their written explanations.

Consider a gallery walk-you can do one online using Google Slides-so classmates can share their work. Or ask each group to present their thinking on some of their key connection points.

GRADING HEXAGONAL THINKING ACTIVITIES

To arrive at an individual grade for group work, consider asking students to write short reflections about how they contributed to their group's framework, or assign a writing task where each kid delves into their thinking on how they connected themes. For a simple task that's quick to grade, ask students to present their key insights and connections via a Flipgrid voice recording.

Or try grading students' final group webs-one collective grade for each small group. Start by explaining in advance how teams collaborate in the workplace, with each team member contributing in different ways. As part of finalizing their project, ask kids to write a short paragraph explaining how they contributed and how their unique strengths-brainstorming, adding graphic elements, or leading discussions, for example-helped the activity evolve and come together. "We rarely ask students to truly collaborate in our core subjects, so we don't really create a culture of interdependence among them," Potash notes. "They don't get to use their individual gifts to contribute to a final product created by the team, although that is often what real-world projects look like."

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Using 'Hexagonal Thinking' to Deepen Classroom Conversations

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A novel activity using little more than geometric shapes can help students examine complex problems and connect big ideas. Online and in person, hexagonal thinking can be a fresh way to boost the energy level in classroom discussions. "Your students will see things in new ways as they seek to connect wide-ranging ideas," writes English teacher Betsy Potash for Cult of Pedagogy.

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This profile is part of the Follow the Leaders project, an ongoing series from Relay Graduate School of Education to share insights and inspiration on leading for equity, wellness, and achievement.
‍Executive Summary

At a school that prioritizes student discourse, a 5th grade teacher plans for and leads high-level text-based discourse by:

Using challenging and compelling standards-aligned texts;

Identifying a clear student goal for reading, points of "productive struggle," and scaffolded discussion questions;

Arranging the classroom and creating norms that help students listen and respond to each other; and

Using wait time and question rephrasing to draw all students into the discussion.

A Classroom Filled with Student Discourse

When 5th grade teacher Hope Harrod prepared to teach a lesson on informational texts, she chose an above-grade-level piece on the Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai. Not only did she want students to learn how a teenager became a powerful voice for girl's education, she also wanted them to grapple with complex text structure and many new words and ideas whose meaning they'd have to discern from context - like "extremism" and "unstable government."

In choosing what she calls a "meaty" text, her goal was to maximize the opportunities for her students to uncover its meaning in high-level discourse with their classmates. Says Harrod: "I think of the content as sort of sitting in the middle of the students, and as they have a discussion, the ideas are bouncing around the classroom as they're talking and coming up with their thinking about its meaning."

At Burroughs Elementary, where Harrod teaches, teachers and leaders have made it a priority to ensure that students become experts in high-level academic discourse-in which students continually use the text to explain their thinking, and respond to their classmates as much as they do to their teachers. As Burroughs Principal LeVar Jenkins explains: "When they get to the intermediate grades, it's really important for students to talk to one another and get their thoughts out-to express their viewpoints as well as defend them. That's a critical skill." (Read more about how Burroughs leaders support student discourse.)

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"When they get to the intermediate grades, it's really important for students to talk to one another and get their thoughts out...that's a critical skill." - Principal LeVar Jenkins

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Putting the Text at the Center of Student Discourse

What that looks like is clearly evident in Harrod's recent lesson on Malala Yousafzai. Students sit in a seminar-style U, and preface their comments by acknowledging what classmates have said (saying "I agree with___, and would like to add on.") Harrod, who sits with the students rather than stand, guides the conversation with questions that keep the focus on what's in the text, as in:

"What's happening in this sentence?"

"Can you build on that?"

"Can you show me where in the text it tells you that?"

"Can you use the text to prove you're right?"

"Are there other words in that sentence that can tell us what that means?"

Very rarely does Harrod explicitly call out a particular idea or word. Instead, after each student reads aloud, she asks open-endedly: "Any questions pop into your head?" and "Are there words in that sentence that we might not know?" While this lets students form their own questions, Harrod strategically pauses at points she's already identified as likely to challenge students' comprehension.

Harrod's students sit in a seminar-shaped U.

Take this example: When a girl reads aloud a sentence about life in Taliban-controlled regions, Harrod asks, "What is this part of the passage about?" When another student answers by quoting from the text-"the Taliban's oppressive rules"-Harrod presses further, "What do you think it means by 'oppressive'?" This prompts further discussion among students about the text's description of bans on cell phones, music, and movies-and on girls attending school. They agree that, based on the text, "oppressive" here describes rules that are "far more strict than normal."

What's not apparent in the discussion is which students are the most advanced, and which are the least. Over several minutes of discussion, Harrod calls on every student, and every student speaks. When a student doesn't immediately answer, Harrod rephrases the question and uses wait time until the student formulates a response. Says the teacher: "You have to be patient, and not steal from them that opportunity to learn."

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"You have to be patient, and not steal from them that opportunity to learn." - Teacher Hope Harrod

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While elevating student voice, discourse serves a schoolwide goal of building better writers. As Harrod explains: "In discussions when students are tasked to explain their ideas, they have to use words and evidence to express their argument. So when they sit down to write a claim or to think about a text, they've already done that so much that their brain automatically starts doing it." In Harrod's class, discussions based on close reads of text are followed by writing tasks.

Planning for "Productive Struggle"

While the dialogue in Harrod's class may seem unguided and at times almost effortless, in fact she puts a great deal of thought into preparing. How she prepped for the lesson on Malala illustrates her process:

Choose a text with challenging content. Since her goal was for students to wrestle with the text to uncover its meaning, she needed a text that would require them to do that. That's why she went with an above-grade-level text that included many new concepts and words students would have to grapple with.

Identify standards relevant to the text. The Malala article told her story in non-chronological order - starting in the middle - allowing Harrod to address standards related to understanding complex narrative structures. She says: "Students have to figure out if the author is talking about the present, or something that happened in the past."

Students respond to Harrod asking, "Any questions pop into your head?"

Ask: What do I want students to walk away with? Harrod asks herself this to ground her lesson in an overarching goal. Of the lesson on Malala she says, "I want students with this article in particular to walk away knowing that good readers ask questions about the text." She says Malala's story is especially good for this because it relates events that are both unexpected and compelling-so students will naturally ask themselves "What happens next?" In her planning, she identifies those surprising moments as places to stop and ask what questions students have about narrative.
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Prepare key questions about the text to build on what students ask. As Harrod read the article herself, she jotted down in the margins questions she could ask to probe the text more deeply at points where students were likely to wonder about what's happening in the narrative-like "How is a 15-year old a threat?" During the discussion, this is when Harrod presses students to look in the text for evidence to support their answers.

Identify vocabulary for students to decipher. For each text she teaches, Harrod creates a list of "nice-to-know" and "need-to-know" words that are likely unfamiliar to students. For the Malala piece, the former are mostly place names (e.g. "Swat Valley") while the latter are essential for understanding the article (e.g. "oppressive" and "refugees.") Harrod doesn't point these words out or define them for her class; rather, she notes for herself where to stop to ask students what words are new to them, and then presses them to decipher their meaning from what else is in the text.

Harrod annotates the text with key questions and ideas.

Harrod and her colleagues at Burroughs are careful to note that high-quality student discourse doesn't happen simply by asking the right questions about the right kind of text. It takes the right school culture. From pre-K on, students at Burroughs are given numerous opportunities to share what they know with their class. They're taught how to acknowledge and praise their classmate's contributions. Much effort goes into building strong and trusting relationships among students and with their teachers. All that creates a "safe space" for students to offer their ideas in the classroom.

Ultimately, Harrod says the most important lesson that students learn from engaging in high-level discourse is about themselves: "I believe very strongly that it's important for students to learn how to articulate their ideas with measured precision, so they can think about their ideas in a way that is analytical and critical, but also start to think about the fact that they are people who have voices and their voices are important."

Hope Harrod has been a 4 th and 5 th grade teacher in DC Public Schools for 21 years. She has a master's degree in education from Boston College. In the 2012-13 school year, she received DCPS's highest teaching honor, the Excellence in Teaching Award and Teacher of the Year. She currently serves on the boards of An Open Book Foundation and Live it Learn it, which are both DC-based nonprofits. She is also a trustee of Kenyon College.

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‍ LeVar Jenkins has been the principal at Burroughs Elementary School since 2016. Previously, Jenkins served as assistant principal at Plummer and H.D. Cooke Elementary Schools, a DCPS special education coordinator, and a teacher with Fairfax County and Prince George's County Public Schools. Burroughs Elementary School has been recognized as one fourteen schools in the District of Columbia that are outperforming their peers. Jenkins received his bachelor's degree from Tuskegee University and his master's degree in education with a focus in special education from Bowie State University. He is an alum of Relay's Leverage Leadership Institute and has been coached by Relay's Leadership Programs team.

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An Elementary Teacher on Facilitating Student Discourse | Relay.edu

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5th Grade Teacher & Principal at Burroughs Elementary School, District of Columbia Public Schools

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Entry Event  Brainstorm template (make a copy)

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Entry Event  Brainstorm template (make a copy)

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20Time projects allow students to track their learning growth, which supercharges intrinsic motivation. Way more effective than grades and other carrots and sticks.

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The History of 20-Time:

3M started it in the 1950's with their 15% Project. The result? Post-its and masking tape. Google is credited for making the 20% Project what it is today. Google asks its employees to spend 20% of their time at Google to work on a pet project...a project that their job description doesn't cover. As a result of the 20% Project at Google, we now have Gmail, AdSense, Google News, and my favorite, the Google Teacher Academy. Using 20 Time in the workplace allows innovative ideas and projects to flourish and/or fail without the bureaucracy of committees and budgets.

What Are the Options?

20% Project: A lot of time has been spent with both success and failures to mold the 20% Project template series above. If you'd like a structured template for instituting 20-Time in your classroom, the 20% Project is for you. Check out the 20% Project writeup, the 20% Project Template Series, and the 20% Project Community. For an indepth guide on integrating 20-Time in your class- Kevin Brookhouser's 20Time Project is a must read.

Genius Hour: For those not ready for a commitment (teachers or students) try Genius Hour. Students search a different topic each week with a few informal presentations at the end of the hour.

Need One More Reason?

How about 10 Reasons? Check out AJ Juliani's post "10 Reasons to Try 20% Time in the Classroom."

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20-Time In Education Inspire. Create. Innovate.

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Inspire Drive, Creativity in the Classroom with 20-Time.

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If you haven't heard of 20% time in the classroom, the premise is simple: Give your students 20% of their class time to learn what they want. Yes, that's it. Below is a list of the 10 reasons you should consider 20% time in your school, and you will not regret making that choice!
1. You will join a great community of learners
When I first did the 20% project with my students I didn't have a community of teachers or learners. Within months that changed as a number of great teachers before and after me started to share their 20% time stories online. The largest active group is the Genius Hour teachers (inspired by Daniel Pink) who have #geniushour chats and a great Genius Hour wiki. Get involved and see what others have done!
2. You will allow students to go into depth with a topic that inspires them
One of the major issues we face in schools today is covering a wide breadth of information, instead of allowing students to get a real depth of knowledge. Students using 20% time are able to delve into subject matter that means something to them, often times taking their free time at home to learn more. Isn't this something we should be promoting at all levels?
3. There is so much positive peer pressure
When students in my school have their pitch day, they get to share with the entire class what they are working on. Publicly announcing what they are trying to accomplish makes the goal real. Students get to see what their peers are working on and want to make sure their project stands up to the rest of the class. Regardless of a grade being attached to the project, this makes for students going the extra mile.
4. It relieves students of the "game of school"
Too often our students complete assignments for the grade. They go through the motions to receive an external pat on the back (or pat on their transcript). 20% time takes away the "game of school". It brings back the love of learning for learning's sake.
5. It's fun!
Randy Pausch famously said, "If you think you can't learn and have fun at the same time. Then I don't think you have a good understanding of either." Without a doubt it is the best time of the week. Listen to how one Genius Hour teacher share her students' excitement for Genius Hour to arrive.
6. Your class will be covering all types of common core standards
It doesn't matter if you teach elementary, middle, or high school. The genius hour and 20% time projects cover multiple common cores standards. We've had teachers propose this type of learning to their administration back by awesome research. Remember, the community will help if you are fighting a battle to get 20% time started at your school.
7. It's differentiation at its best
Students are working at their level, and as teachers we should be helping to challenge each one of our learners at their best pace and ability. Because each project differs, students are not bogged down by following the same steps as their classmates. The entire class is learning, but it is truly differentiated.
8. You learn by what you do, not by what you hear
Experiential and challenge based learning puts the mastery back into the student's hands. We provide guidance and pushes along the way, but they are the ones "doing" and "making". Confucius put it perfectly: "I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." Let your students make and they will understand and thank you for the opportunity.
9. It is a perfect way to model life-long learning
I did the 20% time with my students and took it upon myself to learn how to code and make an app from scratch. I failed to make that app. But my experience learning how to program left me with a whole new perspective, and was a teachable moment about what we call "failure". There is no real way to fail a project in which "learning" is the end-goal.
10. Your students will never forget what it felt like to create
Have you seen Caine's arcade? It started out as a little idea and now Caine has inspired hundreds of other kids his age to create something unique. When you create a product, it becomes part of who you are, and there is a "care" involved that we just never see with multiple-choice tests. What would you want for your child?
This is the most important time to be in education. It is the most important time to care about education. It is the most important time to impact education.
Now, more than any other time in the past 100 years, education seems on the verge of a paradigm shift. You see, for the past century, most of the educational change has been "doing old things in new ways". Today, we are beginning to see educators, educational institutions, and educational companies do "new things in new ways".

My challenge to you as a teacher is to allow your students the freedom to learn what they want. That's what 20% time is all about, and that is why it is so successful.

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10 Reasons To Try 20% Time In The Classroom by AJ Juliani

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10 Reasons To Try 20% Time In The Classroom Added by AJ Juliani on 2013-05-08 Edudemic If you haven't heard of 20% time in the classroom, the premise is sim...

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How to engage students at the launch of a project.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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PBL overview template: Make a copy (you will turn in)

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PBL overview template: Make a copy (you will turn in)

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This is an old PBL that I did with my 4th grade students. You can see how I organize a unit.

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Sponsored by Teaching Channel and UL Xplorlabs

While hexagonal thinking is not new in the world of business and innovation, it's just making its way into the classroom. It's a method for considering the connections between ideas and finding the nuances in those connections. If you're looking for a fresh framework for discussion and critical thinking, this may be just the thing.

How it Works

When you place an idea on a hexagon, it has six sides where connections could be made to other ideas. When you place many ideas on many hexagons, the discussion about where to connect what will be different every time.

Hexagons for the Vietnam-War era
(click all images for a close-up view)

If you gave the same seven idea cards to seven people, do you think you'd get the same seven webs of interconnected hexagons? Would the people explain the connections in the same way?

Nope.

And really, that's the beauty of hexagonal thinking. It provides a springboard for a totally creative discussion. When you give a small group of students a deck of hexagons and ask them to connect them however they choose, every group will come up with a different web for different reasons. Along the way they'll hopefully question each other and dig deep into the concepts on the cards, arguing about which idea connects more to an important concept and which example deserves one of those precious six sides.

The Step-by-Step

Let's imagine you've got your students in small groups, and each group is staring at a beautiful deck of hexagons.

Now what?

I recommend you kick off this activity for the first time by giving directions something like this:
Once you have your set of hexagons, it's time for your group to begin making connections between them. Your conversations now will be about showing how and why you think the different ideas and options connect. Everyone will see things differently, and that's OK. Just keep talking until you find the connections that stick. As you discuss your ideas, use the text to find supporting evidence for why you think your connections are strong ones. Each hexagon can connect to up to six others. Arrange and rearrange until you feel you have the strongest hexagon web in place that you can. Then begin explaining your connections with connection arrows, writing in why you have created intersections between key hexagons. Everyone in the group will contribute differently, and that's OK. You need to have people listening and moving pieces to create the web, people debating, people asking questions. By the end of your discussion, you should have an interconnected web of concepts along with clearly explained connections. If you're working with paper hexagons, tape or glue them down to another sheet of paper to secure them, or take a photo of your finished web. If you're working digitally, submit your two slides: the finished hexagon web, followed by the slide with your explanations.
There's a lot of room here for students to participate in their own unique ways. For me, part of the point of the activity is for students to see that everyone can take on different roles that matter.

Two Examples

Let's take a look at what this might look like in your classroom. In this case, I'll share digital examples created in Google Slides, since you may well be leading your discussions and small group activities via online channels this year. But paper hexagons are equally wonderful when you can use them.

Example 1: English Language Arts

First let's take a look at a hexagonal thinking discussion for an English class, wrapping up a unit on 1984.

Here's the set-up, with the terms listed in individual (moveable) text boxes.

Now students can discuss the placement of their terms/hexagons. In this case, rather than shifting paper hexagons around, they will go into the Google Slide, then drag and drop their terms across the slide and into the web of hexagons as they decide where to place them.

Now that the students have made their connections as they wish, they need to explain their choices. This can take place in many ways:

Students could record arguments for one or two connections on a tool like Flipgrid,

Students could write down their analysis.

Groups could collaborate to write explanations for several of their connections or present them back to the class.

Take a peek at what the written explanations look like for the web pictured above. In this case, students are sharing five explanations, but you could adjust that to suit your needs. Some connections are always going to be more interesting than others - the ones that generate the most debate, the surprising ones, the ones where three key sections link in one place. Have students write or present about the key connections, rather than about every single one.

Example 2: Science

Now let's take a look at how this might look in a science class. Imagine you're looking back over a unit on global warming, and helping students review the big ideas.

Here's the set-up: For this version, students can move the hexagons as well as the terms, creating any number of different webs. Then they use the connection arrows to point to the intersections they are going to explain in detail.

Student groups discuss the possibilities, dragging the hexagons and terms into place as they go. The final product could look one hundred different ways.

Once they have their web created, they make their explanations.

Creating Your Hexagonal Thinking Decks

You can create decks of hexagons with the terms already inside (let your students help you cut them out!) or print blank hexagon sheets and invite student groups to brainstorm the concepts to put inside before their discussion.

No matter how you create them, you want the hexagon decks to be filled with the key ideas of your recent class work, as well as interesting ties across disciplines and to the modern world. Hexagonal thinking makes it easy to cross disciplines and bring relevant modern connections into the discussion.

Let's say you're creating a hexagon deck for Jason Reynolds' book, Long Way Down. You'll fill it with characters, themes and style elements, but also with figures from the news, current political movements, similar books, and background information about the author.

Now imagine you're creating a deck for a unit covering an artistic period. You can put in key terms and artists, but also important authors and political figures of the period, and artists and movements of today that connect back.

As for making the shapes themselves, there are lots of time-saving options, whether you want to use digital hexagons or paper ones.

Digital Hexagons

Get access to your free copy of the digital hexagonal thinking toolkit featured above right here.

Create your own digital hexagons with PowerPoint or Google Slides by following these instructions:

Paper Hexagons

Use this online hexagon generator, created by Pam Hook.

Print and laminate these free rainbow hexagons, then add concepts with dry erase markers for quick discussions.

Print blank sheets of hexagons (you can easily create these in any size using the shapes tool in PowerPoint) to give out to small groups of students, then ask them to generate key terms, ideas, connections to other disciplines, connections to the modern world, etc. on their hexagons and cut them out. Then have groups switch decks so they are discussing a fresh list of ideas.

Create your own hexagon templates with terms you can change up whenever you want to do a hexagonal thinking discussion. Cut them out while watching New Girl on Netflix, or make the first step of the discussion in class to cut out the hexagons while beginning to discuss how they will connect.

A fun addition to any paper deck is a set of connection arrows. Print a few bubble arrows (again, the PowerPoint shapes tool makes it easy) on paper for students to put in at key intersections. Have students fill them in with their explanation of the connection. Sticky notes will also work well.

Wondering how to grade this?

There are a few ways you could grade hexagonal thinking. You could have everyone write a short reflection at the end about their contributions, and grade that. You could use it as a springboard into a writing assignment, asking students to explain and argue for key connections from the discussion, then grade that. You could have students present about a key connection on Flipgrid. Easy.

But I want to suggest a slightly more complex option too. Recently I interviewed Sarah Fine, co-author of In Search of Deeper Learning. One of her findings, after years of study across American high schools, was that we rarely ask students to truly collaborate in our core subjects, so we don't really create a culture of interdependence among them. They don't get to use their individual gifts to contribute to a final product created by the team, although that is often what real-world projects look like. Instead, we favor what she calls "lockstep learning." Everyone must do the same thing, separately.

So maybe for hexagonal thinking, you grade the final group web. And you ask the kids to share about how their different strengths allowed them to contribute to the final product.

Maybe some kids are super brainstormers, coming up with lots of great terms and ideas for what to put on the hexagons. Maybe one or two students in the group are great at lettering and drawing. They could create beautiful visual representations of the terms and ideas. Maybe some students shine at leading discussion. Maybe some are natural at making spatial and visual connections, and can help move the hexagons around as they listen to the group. Maybe some are excellent listeners, and can be taking notes about the connections based on what they hear from others. Maybe some are good mediators, who can help find common ground and calm down heated debates when discussion gets intense.

If you go this route, I really think it's worth discussing in advance what project teams are like in the workplace, and how people contribute in different ways. Then, at the end, you might let kids write a short paragraph about how they contributed based on their own strengths and skills, and whether they were happy with the way the group dynamics turned out.

Variations and Additions

Individuals or Partners

This would certainly work as an individual assignment or a prompt for partners as well. But with a small group, you'll get more perspectives on where to place what, which can be nice. You might consider giving students the option to work alone, with a partner, or in a group.

Adding Visuals

If you and your students are fans of sketchnotes or one-pagers, you can always add a visual layer to your hexagons. Invite students to illustrate their concepts with representative imagery and add quotations from their texts to bring more meaning for each idea into the conversation.

This is certainly not necessary, but adds dimension to the discussion and the eventual display of the concept web.

Hexagonal One-Pagers for Long Way Down

Gallery Walking

Once your students have completed their webs, you can do a gallery walk to see each other's concept webs and check out the connections their peers have made (this can be done online through a collaborative Google slides presentation), or have each group in turn present briefly back to the class about some of their most interesting connection points. The hexagons that caused the most debate will probably be the most fun to share back, and everyone will get to see how others mixed and matched the same hexagons in unique ways.

When you bring hexagonal thinking into your classroom -whether that's online or in person-you bring a fresh spark of energy to discussion. Your students will see things in new ways as they seek to connect wide-ranging ideas. If you're finding it difficult to get kids talking this year as they transition into new scenarios, you're definitely not alone. Hexagonal thinking just might be the tool you're looking for to help your classes over this transition and back into their critical thinking zones.

Come back for more.
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Hexagonal Thinking: A Colorful Tool for Discussion

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If you've been looking for a fresh way to get students thinking outside the box, this may be just what you need.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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How to write an effective driving questions, article

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How to write an effective driving questions, article

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How to Write Effective Driving Questions for Project-Based Learning

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Good driving questions are written to help guide the teacher and the student.

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What spoke to me most in this article were these two posing questions - Are they allowed...even encouraged...to have conversations with one another?

Or do they sit, as you talk?

Sometimes we as educators talk a lot because we want to make sure we are teaching all the content areas. We are given so much to teach in so little time. Often times when students are given the opportunity to collaborate and ask questions (although it may slow instruction), higher order thinking is taking place.

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I really enjoyed this article, but I find it to be characteristic of many teaching articles. It states that lecturing isn't working and that teachers should "think about the learning, not the teaching" but it gives no concrete usable examples of what that means! Have them be curious, great, but they can't be curious about something they know nothing about. curiosity requires a baseline of understanding, we are building that baseline.

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What spoke to me the most was how, when we are creating dialogue, it helps increase our listening skills as teachers, and having the students share their voices in the classroom. I relate to this article as I feel that it is important to have dialogue with students so that they are invested in their learning. I do this with my students, so when we have conversations, we can see the growth or continue to grow their knowledge on the topic.

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I honestly find myself talking too much in class. I had to learn to let students have their voice. What has really helped is allowing my students to turn and talk. It allows them to voice their opinions about the topic to their partner and it also gives me a chance to rest my voice.

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Realizing that young students learn best through simple, hands-on activities like movement, pictures, and participation

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Realizing that young students learn best through simple, hands-on activities like movement, pictures, and participation

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Now this! this is good! it solves an issue I've been having in my class where students are unable to make connections between topics. The physical nature of this activity would work really well with my students!

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In this article I really liked #4 which was "Adding On." This method is about asking students if they can add more to an idea. I like this method because several ideas and solutions can be presented and discussed, bringing forth good classroom discussion

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I think that talking is something I need to work on. I have become accustomed to being in classrooms where teachers do 95% of the talking for years. I am realizing the students I work with are young and curious, so I have been trying to incorporate activities and lessons that allow for more student-to-student discourse.

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I love that this articles points out that when you're the only one talking, you're the only one really soaking up the content. I love making my students talk to each other and explain their thinking, because I feel that when I can hear them string their thoughts together, I get to actually see their understanding

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I love this idea of collaborative thinking! This helps students see the differences in their thought processes and also connect to the one topic. By placing them together, it shows that they collaborate as a whole and work together to identify common themes and points to further ideas and topics while organizing them. I would want to try this technique in the future!

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The passage says that students learn better when they are active and involved, not just listening to the teacher talk. It explains that teaching by only lecturing is not very effective, and real learning happens when students think and do things themselves. It also suggests that schools should focus more on how students learn instead of just how teachers teach.

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I liked the discourse moves to let kids talk, especially ways of getting students to engage with each other and not just answer questions or talk to the teacher.

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Another great article on how teachers should talk less and encourage our students to talk more. I liked that this article even gave a few interactive ideas on how to get students talking/engaged, I'd like to try a few!

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Implementing the noticing and wondering foster curiosity and help students connect new problems with existing knowledge.

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This is the first time hearing about the hexagonal thinking activity and I think it is a good way for visual learners to gather their thinking and connect their ideas together before even explaining it in writing.

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I liked how this article gave simple but effective ideas on encouraging discourse in the classroom. One strategy that particularly stood out to me was the concept of "wait time." It is meant to provide students with time to think their answer through before verbalizing it. I find that I sometimes struggle with this, and move on too quickly to keep the lesson going. Therefore, I think that this is a step I want to incorporate and make it become a habit.

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The hexagonal thinking strategy is a cool visualization that students are likely to enjoy, especially if they get to physically move around objects with their hands. I appreciate that they include short write-ups on how specific connections work.

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I think using the full matrix of bloom x webb is good for making sure you're fully engaging the faculties of your students and not just doing rote learning projects. This engagement and use of critical thinking skills is very important to making sure students are learning the material.

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The teacher can facilitate dialogue and provide clear guidelines that encourage students to ask questions, share ideas, and engage in meaningful discussion. This type of learning environment supports students in learning more effectively.

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I enjoyed reading this article, as it helped me realize I can challenge my students' academic language more effectively. With academic language, I sometimes may take a step back and use simple vocabulary that I know students will understand already. The article showed me that I just need to help students by working through the meaning and use of the word consistently with them.

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I really liked this article because it showed a creative way to get students more engaged in discussions. Hexagonal thinking seems like a fun and hands-on strategy that helps students make connections and think more deeply instead of just memorizing information. I also like how it encourages collaboration and allows students to see different perspectives. This is something I would like to try in my classroom because it promotes critical thinking and meaningful conversations.

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It is important for students to have conversations with their peers. I think that strategies like turn and talk/think pair share are beneficial because it is such an easy strategy to incorporate to anything. For example, if you teach a definition of a word I think a way to incorporate turn and talk would be asking how would you describe this definition in your own words with your peers and they can contribute to create a definition together.

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I liked this article because it made me realize how important driving questions are in guiding student learning. It showed that a good driving question helps students stay focused and understand the purpose behind what they are doing. I also liked how it connects daily activities to a bigger goal, which can make learning more meaningful and engaging. This is something I want to be more intentional about when planning my lessons.

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One of the hardest parts of teaching PE is not talking too much as providing viable instruction is key to prevent confusion that can lead to safety risks. PE can also be intimidating for students who may not like PE. I strive to get students to talk and get involved as much as possible. I have tried peer teaching than getting the class together to discuss. For instance, I had one class talk to each other about how to shoot a basketball, let them practice together, then came back together, shared ideas, and using their ideas, showed the proper form and I can that most students were engaged in class more than usual.

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I liked this article because it really showed how important student talk is in learning, especially in math. It made me think about how what I say as a teacher can either support or limit student conversations. I liked the different discourse moves, especially revoicing and wait time, because they give students more opportunities to think and explain their ideas. This is something I want to be more intentional about in my classroom so students are doing more of the talking and learning from each other.

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Driving question has to be a central, guiding question that shapes teaching and learning. It focus inquiry that give clear direction by narrowing the scope of a project. While it fosters students to think and feel sense of challenge through out the activities by answering the common questions such as " why are we doing this?... It aims for more increasing engagement when it connected to a larger purpose.

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The teacher’s reflection "Of course, they had learned nothing; it was I who had learned so much. They had been my audience." stood out to me because it shows that lecture-based teaching often benefits the teacher more than the students. By explaining the lesson himself, the teacher deepened his own understanding, while the students remained passive listeners rather than active learners.