heart of heartlands lessons

‘Well done for contributing, now try to use full sentences!’

This half-term staff at Heartlands have actively been raising the profile of Oracy and student talk, both in and out of lessons. They have been encouraging students to check their verbal and written responses, through class discussions, and before students start the writing process. So why the focus on students using full sentences? For students it can a daunting experience to have the complete attention of the teacher and their peers, during a class question and answer. And what is the easiest thing to do...quick….escape… give with a one worded answer! We could accept the answer? We could let students off the hook? We could move onto the next student?

Promoting the use of full sentences enables students to improve the quality of their written answers and literacy. In the EEF’s report on ‘Improving Literacy’ it says ‘articulating ideas before writing means pupils are not hindered by handwriting and spelling skills ’. This means students can use their verbal answers to correct their grammatical errors, before they put pen to paper.

Moreover, the EEF also emphasises that oral language intervention has positive impact on progress with ‘approximately five months' additional progress over the course of a year.’ One of these interventions are the use of structured questioning to develop reading comprehension. Here are some practical ways questioning can encourage more structured talk:

Tools for Talk

Give students key words, sentence stems and connectives before questioning them, to enable them to have the tools for successful talk.

Cold Call

Thinking time before cold calling students enables them to process their thoughts. Also, writing the questions down on the board gives students the opportunity to plan their answers, before sharing them with the class.

Probe

Build student confidence with closed ended questions, then gradually open up the questioning, so students can respond in more detail.

Agree, Build or Challenge

Encourage debate so that students can collaborate with their peers. Ask them to give a reason why they might agree with their peer, how they can the build on their answer or challenge them with an opposing idea.

With clear structures in place, before student talk, students have the means to speak consciously, clearly, and confidently using full sentences.