Formative assessment through class discussion Talk Moves Formative assessment through class discussion

What are Talk Moves? - Classroom discussion is comparable to a chess game. Teachers need to think strategically about conversational actions. - Types of talk moves can be categorized so teachers can share strategies and think about effects. - Seemingly straightforward conversations can be leveraged to become authentic checks for intelligibility, coherence, engagement, and participation. - These moves are not intended to be a fixed list, but rather a starting point for discussion.

Why talk moves? Allows you to increase rigor by facilitating student led discussions Increase your student engagement by holding the student accountable to listening to their peers as well as you. Evaluate lesson and needs for enrichment or remediation by formatively assessing understanding through intentional questioning and student feedback.

Where to begin? REVOICING REPEATING REASONING ADDING ON “So you’re saying that….” REPEATING “Can you repeat what Sam Just said in your own words?” REASONING “Do you agree or disagree and why?” ADDING ON “Would someone like to add on?” “Who thinks they can explain why this is a good move?” WAITING: USE WAIT TIME “Take your time….we’ll wait.” Teacher Talk moves posters in color

Academic Conversations Classroom Talks That Foster Critical Thinking and Content Understanding.

What Are They? Extended, meaningful, and productive paired back-and-forth talk between students Extended: exchanges that are long enough to help pairs of students co-construct ideas, clarify thoughts for each other, and support opinions. Paired: as opposed to groups of 3-4 (where conversations are dominated by the leaders) or whole class discussions which limit the amount of time each student gets to talk and can be intimidating. Paired conversations enables the most talk/min since ½ of the class can talk concurrently.

What else? Face-to-face talk has become rare in the midst of technology CCSS require students to apply higher order thinking skills, such as evaluating, summarizing, analyzing, hypothesizing, etc. Oral language, extended vocabulary, critical thinking skills are required skills for the 21st century workforce.

What Conversational Skills Would Make Classroom Conversations Meaningful? Five (5) Core Skills: Elaborate and Clarify Support Ideas with Examples Build On and/or Challenge Ideas Paraphrase Synthesize Do they sound familiar? (Talk Moves!)

How Are Academic Conversations Different from the Talk Moves? Revoicing (“So you're saying...”) Restating someone else's reasoning ("Can you repeat what s/he just said in your own words?”) Applying one’s reasoning to someone else's reasoning ("Do you agree or disagree and why?”) Prompting students for further participation ("Would someone like to add on?”) Using wait time ("Take your time...we'll wait.”) Paraphrasing Building On and/or Challenging A Partner’s Idea Elaborating and Clarifying -------------------------------------------------------- New Skills: Supporting Ideas with Examples Synthesizing Conversation Points

How Do We Get Started? Start out by scaffolding the Conversation Skills, using the Visuals (that should be displayed in a conspicuous location in the classroom) Then have students make their own cards for reinforcement: visual on the front and sample questions on the back (optional)

Handout

Book Marks Language strategies in a binder for them to use as they practice working with each other in the group Two types of conversations to monitor: SOCIAL AND ACADEMIC….. We will intentionally focus on monitoring the talk in the group and using social vs academic conversation Book marks

Academic Conversations Skills 1. Elaborate and Clarify 2. Support Ideas with Examples 3. Build On and/or Challenge Ideas 4. Paraphrase 5. Synthesize

Universal design in Math Learning Multiple means of engagement to tap into learners' interests, challenge them appropriately, and motivate them to learn Multiple means of representation to give learners various ways of acquiring information and knowledge Multiple means of action and expressionto provide learners alternatives for demonstrating what they know, and Universal design can benefit diverse learners… •Learning disabilities such as dyslexia •English language barriers •Emotional or behavioral problems •Lack of interest or engagement •Sensory and physical disabilities

Our academic conversation What is a function?

Example of Effective Academic Conversation Excerpt of a fifth-grade academic conversation about applying and transferring knowledge (The Pilgrims). Discuss which skills are used in this short excerpt.

Key elements Setting the norms in the classroom Clarifying one’s own thinking or classmates Making and testing conjectures Asking questions Rich engaging and rigorous math tasks Math Tools for Discourse (manipulatives , technology, games, graphs, tables, representations) Building academic vocabulary Using different group structures

Creating Classrooms that Encourage Discourse A factor in developing classrooms discourse is creating a social, and mathematical environment in which students: Listen to one another Respect one another and themselves Accept opposing views, Participate in a genuine give-and-take of ideas and thoughts; Collaboration and active learning are emphasized, valued, and celebrated by teachers and students, and The teacher’s role has changed and is not seen as the only expert and within the classroom. Manouchehri, A., Enderson, M. (1999). Promoting mathematical discourse: learning from classroom examples. Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School 4(4).

Here are some great activities… To Elaborate and Clarify: Journal Jumpstarts To Support Ideas with Examples: Planning Conversations On Paper (Great for ELL students) Supportive Examples Practice (Great for all students) To Build On and/or Challenge a Partner’s Idea: Two-Minute Opinion Share (great for supporting an idea we might be against) To Paraphrase: Paraphrase Cards Interview Grids To Synthesize Conversation Points: Parking, Promoting, and Pruning Ideas

Conversation Tasks MUST be Effective! Topics must require both partners to talk Topics must require critical and creative thinking Start out by providing topics Slowly get students to generate their own topics of interest