The goals of the PLM  were to:

• Deepen teacher understanding of the role of student discourse in promoting critical thinking, language development, and equitable access to learning.

• Increase the frequency, quality, and intentional use of student academic discourse across all content areas and grade levels.

• Foster a district-wide culture that values and supports student voice as a key driver of engagement and achievement.

Throughout this professional learning module, we explored how strengthening student discourse and fostering accountable talk can transform classroom learning. We examined the signs of low student talk, learned how accountable talk supports deeper understanding and critical thinking, and discovered practical strategies like using sentence stems, establishing discussion norms, and incorporating talk moves such as revoicing, prompting for evidence, and building on ideas. 

The video in this section provides a wrap-up thought about the power of student dialogue. To access, click the box below. Once the navigation bar appears, click the first icon (the square with the arrow). The video will open in a new window. 

Scroll down for the Activity.