Frequent Small Group Purposeful Talk

Frequent small group purposeful talk (FSGPT)

This element of the Fundamental Five is explained by its authors as “the practice where, after every ten to fifteen minutes of teacher-driven discussion, [sic] the teacher briefly stops talking and has groups of two to four students [sic] briefly discuss a seed question related to the instruction or the instructional activity” (Cain & Laird, 2011, p. 51). These are brief conversations from 30 seconds to three minutes intended to give a mental break to students and increase student retention and understanding.

Every FSGPT in a lesson serves like a paragraph in a book. It allows students to mentally break up the lesson into smaller sections and reset the attention span clock.

According to Cain and Laird (2011), “By introducing a small-group purposeful talk session, the teacher can circumvent the loss of student attention and the ensuing wave of boredom that follows” (p. 58).

Another instructional benefit of FSGPT is that the students have frequent opportunities to peer teach and “translate” the “adult speak” into the “student speak” for those peers who have difficulty understanding. As a result, “This simple process has a dramatic effect on the climate and the culture of a classroom. Students quickly take ownership [sic]” (Cain & Laird, 2011, p. 54).

While conducting FSGPT, however, it is important to remain in the power zone. This is critical because when in the power zone “the teacher is in the best position to ensure that the students remain focused on the task at hand, participating in an academic discussion” (Cain & Laird, 2011, p. 53).