Chalk Talk

A Chalk Talk is a silent activity suitable for students or faculty/adults. It provides all students/participants the opportunity to reflect on what they know, what they learned, or what they are thinking, and then share their thinking and wonderings while connecting to the thoughts of their classmates.

Process:

1. The teacher explains VERY BRIEFLY that chalk talk is a silent activity. No one may talk at all and anyone may add to the chalk talk as they please. You can comment on other people’s ideas simply by drawing a connecting line to the comment.

2. The facilitator writes a relevant question or questions in a circle on the board or butcher paper.

Sample questions:

• What did you learn today?

• So What? or Now What?

• What do you think about social responsibility and schooling?

• How can we involve the community in the school, and the school in community?

• How can we keep the noise level down in this room?

• What do you want to tell the scheduling committee?

• What do you know about Croatia? • How are decimals used in the world?

3. The facilitator either hands a piece of chalk to everyone, or places many pieces of chalk at the board and hands several pieces to people at random.

4. People write as they feel moved. There are likely to be long silences—that is natural, so allow plenty of wait time before deciding it is over.

5. How the facilitator chooses to interact with the Chalk Talk influences its outcome. The facilitator can stand back and let it unfold or expand thinking by:

• circling other interesting ideas, thereby inviting comments to broaden

• writing questions about a participant comment

• adding his/her own reflections or ideas

• connecting two interesting ideas/comments together with a line and adding a question mark.

Actively interacting invites participants to do the same kinds of expansions. A Chalk Talk can be an uncomplicated silent reflection or a spirited, but silent, exchange of ideas. It has been known to solve vexing problems, surprise everyone with how much is collectively known about something, get an entire project planned, or give a committee everything it needs to know without any verbal sparring.

6. When it’s done, it’s done.

References:

School Reform Initiative. Retrieved from: http://schoolreforminitiative.org/doc/chalk_talk.pdf