I started using more discussion techniques during my numeracy lessons after observing James Riley's numeracy teaching practice. I adapted his style to suit the ability groups my syndicate had in place already rather than using mixed ability groups. I used word problems and small groups of 3 students to engage the students in small scale discussions and encourage them to think about not only gaining the correct answer but to be able to explain their strategy in a way that others could understand. A big challenge was getting everyone involved. the small groups changed daily to get students used to working with others rather than just their friends however when it came time for the whole class to discuss together only a small handful would contribute.
A strategy I used to help with this challenge was to give students sentence starter cards which had suggestions of things they could contribute or questions they could ask once someone else has shared their learning. These cards had mild success. What worked better was having posters on the wall/board for each discussion time worked much better. The first few times we used them, after someone had shared their learning, I would call on a student to respond to their peers learning. this might be with a questions, agreeing, disagreeing or expanding on an idea they mentioned. having a few options of responses laid out meant the students could easily choose how they felt about what they had heard and respond appropriately without feeling like they
Numeracy discussions have been going well, the students have been more engaged and having visual reminders and sentence starters has helped a lot.