• What is it?
  • Why did we do it?
  • Question for reflection?
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How Can Student Talk Enhance LEarning?
Student talk deepens understanding of important ideas and processes, so that learning is transferable across all klas and into all aspects of life.

Oakhill Drive strives to embed quality teaching and learning practices in a dynamic school.  Current research supports that when students are regularly engaged in sustained conversations about concepts, their learning is deepened. 
Instructional Rounds enabled us to explore who is doing the talking in our classrooms, what opportunities exist for students to engage in substantive talk and what types of questioning is being used.  This round was an exciting chance to delve into how our students are learning.
  1. What impact has your lesson had on developing students skill in WM? How do you know?
  2. How well do my questioning techniques make students' understanding, reasoning and skills in problem solving visible? Did I follow up students' responses in a way that deepened their thinking?
  3. What other support could I plan to ensure that all students are successful?

A LIST OF READINGS, PRESENTATIONS AND WEBSITES THAT WE USED. 
Check out these four great presentations created by school instructional rounds teams that show you how to incorporate student talk in mathematics and reading.

library Resource #1 - Student talk in mathematics

A summary prepared by the John Purchase team and includes Success Criteria for quality talk as well as a list of suggested picture books.
ir_pres_odps_july_2017.pdf
File Size: 558 kb
File Type: pdf
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library Resource #2 - student talk in reading

And now a longer version of the John Purchase presentation including an expansion of the main ideas, and the pictures from "Suri's Wall"
354853328-student-talk-reading-resource.pdf
File Size: 10015 kb
File Type: pdf
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student_talk_in_reading_2.pdf
File Size: 9889 kb
File Type: pdf
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library Resource #3 - substantive communication in mathematics

Lots of ideas here about planning for student talk in Maths - reflections stems, sentence starters and teacher questions. From the Oakhill Drive team
substantive_communication_in_mathematics.pptx
File Size: 432 kb
File Type: pptx
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library Resource #4

From the West Pennant Hills team an overview of what you can expect if students were substantially communicating in maths - what would it look, feel and sound like & what strategies should teachers plan for.
3_talk_moves_final_version.pptx
File Size: 9469 kb
File Type: pptx
Download File

what works in the classroom ...
Our teachers  Top 10

#1 I See / I Think / I Wonder / I Connect

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I See / I Think / I Wonder / I Connect
'A fantastic tool to teach children how to delve deeper into their understanding of text and imagery.'
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#2 Think / Pair / Share

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'Think /Pair / Share is a wonderful way to encourage students to participate in class discussions.  It begins by giving the students time to think of the answers on their own, followed by sharing their ideas with a small group where they can confirm their thoughts, hear other opinions and consolidate their answers before finally sharing it with the class.  The pressure of sharing the 'correct answer' is taken off the student as they have already confirmed their thoughts with their peers.' 

#3 Teacher questioning

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'The questions we ask our students can encourage them to delve deeper into a topic and find reasoning to enhance their understanding.  By modelling these forms of questions in the classroom we introduce our students to a higher range of questioning techniques and we can encourage our students to use these questions with their peers.' 

#4 Socratic Circles

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The students sit in 2 concentric circles.  The inside circle takes it in turns to discus a topic.  Next the outside circle gives feedback on the student's responses and asks questions to further understanding.  'I find that this holds my students accountable for their listening and encourages them to ask questions that deepen their understanding.  It has been a valuable tool to change up the communication routines in our classroom discussions.'

#5 concentric circles

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The students sit in 2 concentric circles, each facing one partner.  They are given a timeframe to 'interview', or discuss a topic with that partner before the inner circle stands up and moves around to a new partner.  'My students love this activity.  They enjoy interviewing different people, and especially love dancing around in the circle until the music stops and finding out who their new partner is.  It encourages them to enhance their questioning techniques, find different view points and speak to students that they may not usually sit near/ speak to.'

#6 step it up walls / continuum

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'My students use the Step it Up Wall (where progressive levels of student work are displayed and annotated), as well as the continuum (which is displayed on our walls) to peer assess each others work. The students find areas in their peers work that they can compare to a poster on the wall.  They can then read the example of the 'next level up' and  give their peers advice on how they can improve their work.  This makes them accountable for their learning and gives them clear indicators of where and how to improve.'

#7 scaffolding

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'Our literacy groups use scaffolding cards where students are given an specific role in the group's reading activities.  Each role covers a skill required in reading and the cards give the students clear instructions and examples on how to fulfil that role.  The roles are rotated each week so that the students become proficient in each skill.'

#8 WALTs / WILFs

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'I find that having clear expectations of what We Are Learning About (WALT) and What I'm Looking For (WILF) gives guidance to the students in their discussions.  As they answer questions they can refer back to the WALT and WILF and see where their questioning / communication needs to progress or delve deeper.'

#9 Question starters

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''Having Question Starters displayed in my classroom (or given to students as a bookmark) provides the students with a different range of questions to use.  It can be used as a scaffold for students who struggle to think of questions to ask, as well as an extension for students, encouraging them to use a wider range of questioning techniques in the classroom.'
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#10 two stars and a wish

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 'I found this a really positive way for my Stage 1 students to begin to learn to evaluate and respond to their peers work.  It scaffolds their responses and shows them that it is kind to share what you liked about a student's work, as well as constructive to point out the positives as well as areas for improvement .'

additional note ** Google translate

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 'To help EALD students understand and participate in class / small group discussions Google Translate is a fabulous tool.  It can verbally and in text translate words that you type in - as well as the iPad app being able translate text from a book / worksheet just by holding the iPad over the page!  An incredible tool.'

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