Habits of Discussion

What are some of the success and challenges you have experience using a classroom
Discussion?

In Context:

Participation Ratio

Think Ratio

Objectives:

Analyze the tools champion teachers use to maximize efficiency, accountability,

engagement and rigor when employing a Turn and Talk.
Practice preparing and delivering Turn and Talks effectively

Vargas.House Clip43
What is effective about the discussion in Yasmins class?

Habits of Discussion

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Key Idea: Make your discussions more productive and enjoyable by normalizing a set of
ground rules or habits that allow discussion to be more efficiently cohesive and connected.

Four Parts:

Discussion fundamentals: voice, tracking, names

Follow-on, and follow-on prompting
Sentence Starters
Managing the meta

Colleen Driggs GR5

What behaviors is Colleen teaching to her students in this video?

Discussion Fundamentals:

Voice speaking loud enough to be heard

Tracking show engagement by looking at one another
Names expect and remind students to use one anothers names

Jessica Bracey - GR5

What is particularly effective about the class discussion in this video?

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Follow-on, and Follow-on Prompting:

Socializing students to listen involves a combination of accountability and inspiration.

Follow on: from Cold Call Technique 33
Consistently ask one student to respond to something another has said
Skylar, do you agree with Markus?
Follow - on Prompting:
Short and fast prompts
Develop, DavidAdd on, Carlton

Sentence Starters:

Post them on your wall and start by having students practice using some of them
Slowly add more to the lsit
Sentence starters can start simple and become more complex over time

Sentence Starters Brainstorm Practice:

1. Find someone who teaches a subject or grade level the same/similar to yours
2. Take 3 minutes to brainstorm as many sentence starters for your classes as possible.
Write them all down :

3. After 3 minutes is up, discuss which you would start training students with and which
you would hold off until later. Why?

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 Habits of Discussion contd.

Managing the Meta:

The power of discussion can be in developing and expanding ideas through a series
of connected comments
This requires sometimes keeping students inside the box.
That is interesting, but Id like to hear someone respond to Saras comment before
we move on to another one
Question: despite the push towards outside the box thinking, what could be said for
keeping classroom discussion inside the box? Are the two mutually exclusive?

Efficiency and Accountability Practice

Planning: Use the space below to plan your tools for efficiency and accountability.

List two-three student

behaviors you want students to
do while in the class
discussion

(e.g. Eye contact, use of

sentence starters)

Draft what you will say when

you model and describe those
two to three behaviors

(e.g. Remember, when we

have a class discussion, we
make sure to make eye
contact with who is speaking.)

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 Script any cues you might use
to prompt these behaviors

(e.g. track the speaker,

pointing from my eyes to the
students eyes non-verbal
gesture)

Prompts:
Whats the most important part of a good discussion?
What is the biggest challenge of facilitating a class discussion?
What benefits can you expect your students to get from a good class discussion?

Jot down: One tool youd like to try in the next round of practice

Vargas.House Clip43
Re-watch this video and reflect on what tools you could apply to your class and what you
might adapt or change in your class.