I have enjoyed reading this book so far, and exploring all of the options for real-world application in my classroom. My class really enjoyed our activity today, which was based on the sentence frames included in the "Core Academic Conversation Skills" described in chapter two, and specifically in the area explaining how to introduce conversation skills at the beginning of the school year. I am glad I can implement these skills now and "test-drive" using these methods so that at the beginning of the next school year I can introduce them to students right away. Fourth grade students have been working on persuasive writing and using research to support their opinions. This week, they researched reasons why students should and should not have homework. As a culminating activity before they start writing about their own opinions, we used today as an opportunity to discuss their opinions using their research for support. We discussed what typically happens when we share our work, and that often students take turns reading from their papers, possibly looking up occasionally, and often do not give feedback or respond to what the other person is saying at all. I also role played a few examples of what might happen in conversations that do not use the "Good Conversation Behaviors" described in the book (i.e. going off on a tangent, looking at your watch, watching another group or talking to a friend across the room). This was a great lesson hook, and helped students to share more about what went wrong and what went right. We also talked about correct body language and why it helps to make sure you are responding appropriately. Then, I gave students printouts with sentence frames from the Elaboration and Build on and/or Challenge a Partner's Idea sections of the Core Conversation Skills. I was impressed overall with many of the conversations that I overheard during this activity, and how many of my quieter students found it easier to participate and talked more because of the sentence frames. I also think it helped them to shift the focus from "share your work" to "try to have a good conversation". Students were making more of an effort to listen and understand what their classmates were saying and to come up with meaningful responses. When we got together to reflect on how things went, many students said they thought that the sentence frames helped them. Several students pointed out that this is an opportunity for them to get to know different people. Even though students were discussing an academic topic, many pairs were able to find things they had in common and ended up in deeper conversations about the stress and anxiety that school can cause them. When I asked what things were challenging, everyone seemed to struggle more with responding than with the sentence frames that asked for more information. I think this is expected, because responding in a way that prompts more conversation is a difficult skill and requires a different type of listening. However, my class definitely agreed that if they tried this again it would be easier, so I am eager to keep them practicing and see what kind of improvements they make. Link to Video 1 Link to Video 2
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Kay Tucker
4/23/2021 11:16:13 am
What a great shift from "share your work" to "try and have a good conversation". I am excited about the possibilities for our students to learn more about academic conversation skills. Interesting comments from the students, especially the one about the opportunity to get to know different students. Maybe it is more that they get to know them in a different way than their normal encounters. Pretty powerful! Thanks for sharing your experience!
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AuthorCourtney Hayes is currently a teacher at Lone Tree Elementary Magnet School in Colorado. She has teaching experience in both primary and intermediate grades, and is passionate about personalizing her instruction to meet the needs of all students. Archives
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