Classroom Climate

Creating conditions for conversation

• Build a positive climate of trust, inclusion and equity

• Value student voice and risk taking

• Consider social needs and dynamics in the group

Preparing for, and participating in conversation

• Clarify the purpose of the conversation

• Provide stimulus material and graphic organisers to prepare thinking

• Explicitly teach and rehearse strategies for participating in discussion

Explicit Teaching of Discussion Skills

Talk moves are strategies that can be used by students and teachers to participate in, and guide discussion.

Rehearsing talk moves in low stakes ways helps students to understand the purpose of the moves.

Choose a low stakes topic in which students have common ground and feel confident, favourite movies or foods, or a 'would you rather' scenario for example.

Cut out some talk move cards and hand them out to students. Their challenge is to focus on using the talk move they have been given, or that they select as a move they want to practice and rehearse.

Make sure students understand what the purpose of the conversation is. 

• Providing students with clarity about the purpose of the conversation helps them prepare their thinking and more effectively contribute to the discussion.

• Is the purpose of the discussion to explore ideas, solve a problem, or understand a concept? Is it to connect prior knowledge to new learning? Is it to make discoveries or find clues? Is it to rehearse new language or evaluate a procedure?

• Giving students a specific purpose or role for their involvement in the discussion can also help give students clarity about how they can participate in discussion. For example, you might give someone the role of 'devil's advocate', 'fact checker' or 'connection maker'. Here is an example of the discussion roles that students can take on.

Providing students with a written, visual or audio stimulus prior to the discussion will help them engage with the thinking, language and ideas that will help them participate effectively.

Use a notice wonder and question routine, or a text rendering strategy or provide a list of discussion questions ahead of time to help students undertake some pre-thinking.

Use graphic organisers for students to prepare and record their thinking prior to, during and after the discussion.

These organisers are a great source of feedback about what students think and understand.

It is also powerful to simply observe the conversation and make your own notes about misconceptions you need to address, and the strengths you can build on.

The key indicator is when you see students moving away from a reliance on seeking answers from the teacher and instead working together to generate and extend on ideas and questions raised during the focus of a lesson.

You may find this checklist of dialogic teacher and student behaviours useful to help you look for, observe and reflect on the dialogic practices occurring in your classrooms.

http://21stcenturylearners.org.uk/?p=1361 

What it is

Communities of Inquiry are a way of undertaking philosophical inquiry to explore our world, our existence, what we observe and what we experience as humans.

The word philosophy means 'love of wisdom', and that's what the Community of Inquiry represents. As a member of the Community you get to appreciate each others' wisdom. Everyone is equal, even the teacher, even though the teacher is the facilitator. Everyone's contribution is respected equally.

In a Community of Inquiry, you start with a big idea and a set of essential questions. What starts from there is the creation of new learning together. We invite students in to a conversation, it draws out everyone's ideas and brings thinking together. It also encourages us to appreciate everyone's ideas and thinking as part of a community of knowledge creation.

COI is a great framework for supporting the ability of people to express their ideas and to value their own and others' thinking.

"I've often found that when students put their understanding into words it really clarifies their thinking. It’s a thinking skill. Thinking aloud is really valuable, It's the most valuable thing in my opinion. It's more valuable than teaching from a textbook or the teacher’s words. It’s an exploration of a topic and that exploration can go anywhere. 

The wisdom in teenagers can be incredible, when these young minds are given the freedom to express their thinking. And some people are just dying to express their point of view. A kid may go the whole day without saying something or sharing their ideas with anyone in their classrooms.

We are not filling empty heads with wisdom, there is already wisdom there. Tapping into students knowledge and sharing that knowledge, they have extensive knowledge and life stories. We don't take advantage of that enough. We aren't pouring that into them, it's already there. 

To spark curiosity, I often used to get the students to come up with the essential questions. They would write down what they would like to discuss. They would then put them together to find categories or one would stand out. You give them a general focus or topic - Artificial Intelligence for example, then they come up with some questions:

• Do robots have consciousness? 

• Can we trust robots?

You can answer a question with a question as well. Often on our mind maps, I'd have more questions that come from the questions we are discussing. It takes on a life of its own. 

We have to create the why, and to create this with kids. When we create the big idea and enduring understanding, we know exactly what we are talking about. 

A lot of students can speak better than they can write and read, it increases their confidence, they are expressing their ideas in their own way, and everyone's ideas are valued equally.

With EAL students I have repeated what they've shared so they can hear it again, or I say back to them "I think you mean..." and you paraphrase what they've said, then they can say 'no miss I meant …' .

You base your responses based on what they bring up. You follow the thread, but also help make sure that it doesn't go off on a tangent. Keeping them focused on the essential question.

You do go down other pathways, but as a facilitator, you reflect on the way the conversation has lead from the essential questions, then guide student thinking back to these questions.

We also need to teach them how to agree and respectfully agree - modelling questions and ways of connecting to or challenging other ideas in ways that doesn't feel like a personal attack.

Students also become more self regulating - I had to tell them: I don't want to hear my voice, I want to hear yours.

At first for me, you feel like you're not in control. You are, but it’s not your normal control. You're not up the front being a fountain of all wisdom. You really have to position yourself to guide the students to share the wisdom with each other.

It doesn't suit everyone, you need to be prepared to work in a flat hierarchy, where no one's knowledge is better than anyone else's. You have to be humble. That's what I found most difficult at first. I forced myself to do it at first. I recognised that I was uncomfortable, but I thought, if I don't try it, I'm never going to do it."

Bron Doran

Example of a Community of Inquiry Class Agreement

• Everyone is equal.

• Everyone has the right to be listened to respectfully: only speak when it is your turn and show positive body language to the person speaking. Look at the person.

• Build on others’ ideas by raising your hand and saying, “I would like to build on what ….was saying”…

• Politely disagree by raising your hand and saying, “I would like to disagree with… Instead I think…”

• Accept each others’ views: no put downs (laughing, making faces, rolling eyes etc.)

• There are no right or wrong answers.

• We create new learning together.

The CoI Procedure

1. Participants sit in a circle or horseshoe so they can see and hear each other easily.

2. The group are provided a stimulus material. This can be a picture, a video, even music or a specially written text. Doing so creates a shared experience that provides connection to big idea or concept.

3. The facilitator asks the group to explore the stimulus material and makes sure that all participants have been able to access it (reading written texts for low literacy students for example).

4. The facilitator invites comments about what people find puzzling, or questions that the stimulus has raised, doing so helps encourage exploration of philosophical issues. Merely asking what is 'interesting' often leads to simplified observations.

5. During the conversation, the facilitator uses 'talk moves' to help guide the dialogue, connect ideas and provoke deeper thinking, they do not contribute their own thinking, but may pose questions to encourage exploration of a particular point of view or idea.

6. It can help to have a symbolic object that is held by the person who wishes to share their thinking, and to reinforce that when one person is speaking, others listen.

7. Participants are given space and time to consider the way in which they want to contribute, the facilitator does not use 'cold calling' or force people to share, they create a safe space for inviting people in to the conversation, and express gratitude for the sharing of ideas and questions. The facilitator avoids making statements such as 'that's a great idea' which can indicate to students that the facilitator is looking for specific ideas. They may model respectful responses to others opinions, and recognise that in a democratic discussion, all members have a right to be heard and respected.

8. After the set amount of time, or when the conversation has run its course, participants reflect on the notes and ideas generated by the conversation. They look for connections or expand on key points and ideas by creating their own mind-maps using shared thinking from the group.

9. The facilitator reflects on the conversation to identify key points, affirm positive examples of how the class agreement has been upheld, and to celebrate the thinking that has been shared.

Classroom Talk Techniques

Accountable Talk