Robust Conversations at Every Level July 4, 2007 Lucy West

1. Robust Conversations at Every LevelJuly 4, 2007Lucy West

2. Overview • Making the case for talk • Talk tools • Analyzing talk in video clips • Questions

3. Children grow into the intellectual life around them.Vygotsky • What is the quality of the intellectual life at your school? • What’s your evidence?

4. What do the adults at your school spend the majority of their time talking to each other about? • What do students hear adults discussing? • How often do students see teachers engaged in learning?

5. Are the adult conversations and practices at your school designed to develop student academic proficiencies well beyond high scores on achievement tests?

6. Hypotheses • If adults are visibly, actively, and passionately learning together students will too. • If adults are publicly willing to try on new skills, analyze their erroneous thinking aloud, experiment, tinker, and laugh at themselves when they mess up, students will too.

7. What is accountable talk? • What role does talk play in developing professional expertise? • What is the nature of talk that results in dramatic improvement in student achievement?

8. Accountable to the Learning Community Accountable talk seriously responds to and further develops what others in the group have said.

9. Accountable to the Learning Community What is the nature of the talk at meetings of adults at your school? Are people questioning each other’s ideas,weighing suggestions, considering alternatives, providing evidence?

10. Accountable to the Learning Community What is the nature of the talk in your classrooms? Are students questioning each other’s ideas,weighing suggestions, considering alternatives, providing evidence?

11. Accountable to Knowledge Accountable talk puts forth and demands knowledge that is accurate and relevant to the issue under discussion. Accountable talk uses evidence appropriate to the discipline (e.g., proofs in mathematics, textual details in literature)

12. Accountable to Knowledge • What knowledge is put forth and demanded of adults at your school in relation to instructional strategies and evidence of their impact? • A plethora of instructional strategies is key

13. Accountable to Knowledge • What evidence can you site that worksheets develop understanding or skill? • What evidence can you site that all students should be engaging in the same activities at the same time?

14. Accountable to Reasoning Accountable talk follows established norms of good reasoning

15. Accountable to Reasoning • Are the teachers at your school focused on student reasoning or right answers?

16. Research • Exemplary teachers foster much more student talk--teacher/student and student/student • Purposeful talk-problem-posing and problem-solving--teachers and students • Richard Allington

17. Nature of Talk • Interrogational--teachers pose problems, children respond, teacher verifies or corrects • Conversational--discuss ideas, concepts, hypotheses, strategies and responses

18. Research • In successful high poverty schools the environment talk is more conversational than interrogational. • Interactions invited conversations. • Teachers worked to get kids to think aloud and modeled thinking aloud. • Richard Allington

19. Research • When classes are conversational the achievement gains are twice as large as when there is a focus on phonics. • Richard Allington

20. Nature of Talk • Teacher questions more “open” inviting multiple and varied correct responses • Teacher curious about thinking and making thinking visible

21. One activity that assists struggling readers is engaging in literate conversations. • Richard Allington • Could engaging in robust mathematics conversations assist struggling learners?

22. Talk Develops Language • If you want to develop language and the capacity to write, have students answer questions and write in full sentences. • Douglas Reeves • How often are students answering in one word or number in the math class?

23. Research • Students at all levels benefited from exemplary teaching, but it was the lowest achievers who benefited most. • Expertise matters

24. Dialogue • Dialogue is the central aspect of co-intelligence. We can only generate higher levels of intelligence among us if we are doing some high quality talking with one another. • Tom Alec, The Tao Of Democracy

25. Dialogue • Please turn to a partner and discuss the ideas I have presented so far • Write down any questions you would like to ask

26. Professional Dialogue • Discussing Practice • Nicole--2nd Year Teacher--5th Grade • Jessica--3rd Year Teacher--Coach • People in the Background--Coaches • Cultivating a Learning Culture

27. Questioning Practice • Chef Leo bought 1-1/2 pints of strawberries. Altogether he used 3/4 of the strawberries to make tarts. How many pints of strawberries does he have left? • Please solve the problem.

28. Questioning Practice • Chef Leo bought 1-1/2 pints of strawberries. Altogether he used 3/4 of the strawberries to make tarts. How many pints of strawberries does he have left? • What about key words like “of”“left”“altogether”?

29. Video Clip 1

30. Questioning Practice • What is your thinking about teaching “key words” in mathematics problems? • Do you teach “key words” in other content areas? If so why? If not, why not? • What might be the drawbacks of a “key words” approach? • What additional strategies might you suggest?

31. Questions for Practice • I used 2/3 of a can of paint to cover 1/2 the floor of the porch. How much paint will be needed for the whole floor? • Please solve this problem.

32. Questions for Practice • I used 2/3 of a can of paint to cover 1/2 of the floor of the porch. How much paint will be needed for the whole floor? • Does “of” indicate multiplication in this problem? • If so, what are you multiplying? • If not, what did you do to solve the problem? • What confusions, difficulties, might students display?

33. Questions for Practice • Many students in the first class wanted to multiply • It was difficult to get them to think beyond key words • Coach and teacher become aware of this unintended impact

34. Video Clip 2

35. Considering Alternatives • Responding to a question from the observing coaches and teachers • Acknowledging mistakes • Now what?

36. Video Clip 3

37. Class 2-Painting the Porch • Replanned the lesson based on our learning • Students were asked to read the problem to themselves and discuss with neighbor--asked questions of teacher • Students worked alone and with partners--many had difficulty • Summary meeting to share some ideas and student work

38. Talk Tools • 22 Verbal Events • Classroom Discussion Moves • Questioning the Author Moves • Please read these three documents • Choose the one that resonates for you • Use it as a lens to view the discussion

39. Class 2--Painting the Porch • First time working with this class-consultant/coach • 20 observers • Focus on developing meaning/use of language • Not exemplar--just an example--problematic moments in teaching/learning • View it through inquiry stance

40. Classroom Clip • Use your transcript • Identify talk moves made by the teacher • Look for evidence of development of language • Look for evidence of reasoning • Look for evidence of accountability to the community

41. Video Clip

42. Classroom Clip At your tables please do the following: • Read an example from the transcript • State what move you think it is • Or state what evidence it represents regarding language development, reasoning, or community accountability • Do this one at a time going around the table until each person has shared • Then discuss or respond in any way you like

43. Classroom Clip-Border Problem How do teachers handle mistakes? How might errors become pathways to learning?

44. Classroom Clip 2 • The Border Problem • Please solve the following problem. • Consider what errors students might make?

45. Bordering a Pool • How many red tiles will it take to border a five-by-five pool with a width of one square unit?

46. Why Does It Take 24 Tiles?

47. Classroom Clip 2 • Perimeter can be confused with border. • The solution is: • Perimeter + 4 (corner tiles) = Border • What is the area of the pool with the border?

48. Classroom Clip 2 • What is the area of the pool with the border? • Why might someone think the pool with the border would have an area of 36 square units? • How did a 5 x 5 pool become 7 x 7 if you only added one square unit of border? In other words, why is the pool with the border not a 6 x 6?

49. Classroom Clip 2 • View the tape with an ear toward how mistakes are handled in this classroom • Consider what results from examining a student’s error • 8th Grade students • Several entered class 2 years below grade level • All graduated having met standard on the 8th grade state mathematics test

50. Video Clip-Border Problem