Engaging All Students in Collaborative Discussions: Building comprehension of narrative and informational texts through listening and speaking Paul Boyd-Batstone, Ph.D. California State University, Long Beach

Common Core Listen and Speaking Build on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material; explicitly draw on that preparation and other information known about the topic to explore ideas under discussion. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions and carry out assigned roles.

CCSS listening & speaking (cont’) Pose and respond to specific questions by making comments that contribute to the discussion and elaborate on the remarks of others. Review the key ideas expressed and draw conclusions in light of information and knowledge gained from the discussions. Summarize a written text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

Product of a collaborative discusssion For Narrative texts: Summarize and illustrate the points a speaker makes and discuss your analysis and response to the story. For Informational texts: Summarize the points a speaker makes and explain how each claim is supported by reasons and evidence, and identify and analyze any logical fallacies.

Helpful Strategies and Unhelpful Practices Helpful Strategies Beginning to learn new concepts with explicit and concrete vocabulary instruction Continuing to show visuals and real objects that give clues and images about the instruction Providing reading previews, including overviews, highlights of difficult passages, and new vocabulary Unhelpful Practices Falsely assuming that ELLs understand what they read because they can read all of the words aloud and pronounce them correctly Teaching with misapplied false cognates Using dictionary definitions exclusively to explain the meanings of words without providing appropriate linguistic supports

Helpful Strategies and Unhelpful Practices (Cont’) Helpful Strategies Providing a purpose for reading assigned passages Inviting comparisons by asking, “What is this like?”, “What is it not like?”, and “What else is it like?” Helping students expand their sentences with alternative adjectives, richer verbs, and transitional phrases Unhelpful Practices Failing to allow wait time for ELLs to think about their answers before responding Assigning copying of definitions from word lists Mocking a student’s misspellings Evaluating speech only according to conventions (grammar, pronunciation) and neglecting the content of the ideas

Fostering Collaborative Discussions 1. Preparation Assign a text for students to read ahead of time. Teach key vocabulary and main ideas in the text. Organize the class into equal-sized small groups of four to six students. Number each member in order (1, 2, 3, 4). Tell students they will have one minute each to talk about one aspect of their reading. Set a timer for one minute.

2. Initial Discussion Begin with student #1. After one minute, follow with student #2-4. Repeat the sequence with each student in the group until all students have had a chance to tell about their topic. All student groups are doing this simultaneously.

3. Class voting Ask students in each group to vote on the most interesting or compelling story for the group. Ask each group to give a title to its selected topic. Write the topic titles on the board—one from each group. Have the entire class vote on which story they want to hear about.

4. Collaborative Interview Invite the student who provided the topic to sit in an interviewee’s chair at the front of the room. Ask the rest of the students to formulate wh- questions to ask about the topic.

Use a Wh- question bank to provide examples of types of questions:

4. Collaborative Interview (cont’) Moderate the interview. Model for students how to write down the interviewee’s responses. Write down the answers to the questions on a large sheet of paper. Ask students to select key responses to help them understand the text. Students can then arrange the responses in the form of a story as a homework assignment.

Collaborative Discussion’s 4 parts in review 1.Preparation: Rules, text, grouping, timing 2.Initial Discussion: Everyone gets a 1 minute turn 3.Class Voting: Each group selects a topic, then all vote for a topic of interest 4.Collaborative Interview: invite “wh-” questions

Group Activity 1.Read the classroom “snap shot” about a lesson on erosion. 2.Think of similar lesson you may have taught. What went right? What went wrong? 3.Form a group of 4 people and number off In your group, take 1 minute each to share your teaching story. 5.At the end of 4 minutes, select one story from your group and give it a catchy title.

Group Activity (cont’) 1.Record the various “catchy” titles. 2.Vote on a title. 3.Invite the winning title author to be interviewed. 4.Conduct a collaborative interview. 5.Arrange ideas in a logical order.

Latest Book by Paul Boyd-Batstone (2015) Teaching ELLs to Read: Strategies to Meet the Common Core K-5 Foundational Reading Standards Contextual support for text complexity Practical applications for print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, fluency through poetry and music CCSS task specific lesson plans

“Five Strategies to Help Beginning ELLs Meet the Common Core” by Paul Boyd-Batstone Free Download: White Paper Batstone_ELLs.pdf

For More Information Helping English Language Learners Meet the Common Core: Assessment and Instructional Strategies By Paul Boyd-Batstone (2013) Routledge/Eye on education /