Turn and Talk

  

                                                  
When students are required to think about their own learning, articulate what they understand, and what they still need to learn, achievement improves.
                   --Black and William, 1998;  Sternberg,1996;   Young 2000

We have learned the value of "turn and talk" time for our students through many of our educational learning about best practices, such as:

• Fundamental Five
• Daily Five
• Reader's Workshop
• Kagan Strategies
• Total Participation Techniques
• The Lesson Cycle
• Active Engagement
• Learning Styles
• Comprehension Connections (question stems)

I'm sure there are MANY more as well. What it boils down to is...

KIDS LEARN THE MOST FROM TALKING AND PARTICIPATING, not through only listening.

 

Here are some tips to help make the most of this simple, but HIGHLY effective practice:

1. Create a routine and overemphasize expectations so students know exactly how it works. (Spending the time up front will be worth it as you will save LOTS of time later as you are able to allow students to have great conversations with minimal management issues.)
   
2. Make sure it is a "THICK" question, not just a "THIN" question. (Yes, there are times for quick, recall level questions but they be sure they aren't always a one answer question.) Here are some examples of what this practice should be used for:    -teach a concept      -connect on a personal level    -answer rigorous questions stems Most of your PLCs are already planning these types of questions in your lessons as you fill in the guided questions. Just be sure to have them ready to use for this student conversation time.
3. Allow time for one partner to talk and then say "SWITCH" so that the other student has a chance to share. This works well with the questions that have more than one answer where students don't just repeat a generic phrase. This is a great time for them to agree or disagree with their partner, provide more insight, and/or include text evidence or schema. One quick and easy way to get the kids to do this is to have them add...
   

Examples:
I think the character is embarrassed BECAUSE she put her head down and I know when I do that I am feeling embarrassed about something.
I think the operation is addition BECAUSE it says more flowers grew and I know that that tells us we should add more and get a bigger number, or the total.

Great resources for these type of questions:

• TPT
• Comprehension Connections
• Fundamental Five
• TEKS Resource Systems lessons (found on the exemplar lesson R drive)        ***This is the best resource for specific questions that go right along with your curriculum. Saves a lot of time!