One Step at a Time: Presentation 8 DISCUSSION SKILLS Introduction Initial Screen Skills Checklist Classroom Intervention Lesson Planning Teaching Method Vocabulary Work Monitoring Progress Moving On Links to Literacy 1

Discussion Skills INTRODUCTION Discussion Skills  is a programme for developing thinking skills, social understanding and emotional literacy  It is intended for children aged 7 and over, and can be used with older children of any age, up to and including secondary school  If a significant number of children have not completed Narrative Skills, the class should do some Narrative Skills work before beginning Discussion Skills  Discussion Skills is expected to extend across at least two years but will still benefit all children if used for a single year 2

Discussion Skills INTRODUCTION Discussion is:  a form of expanded conversation, requiring extended speaking and extended listening, but also tends to be more general and abstract  a highly effective but under-used method of teaching and learning  a way of developing children’s thinking skills, social understanding and emotional literacy, and the ability to direct and control their own learning 3

Discussion Skills INTRODUCTION Discussion work:  is a valuable teaching tool in its own right  can be used to deliver any part of the curriculum  takes pressure off staff by allowing children to work independently  enables children to learn from and support each other  can boost the confidence and language skills of less able children  It need not be noisy or disruptive but does need to be introduced gradually through whole-class and partner work 4

Discussion Skills INITIAL SCREEN The Initial Screen helps staff to:  ‘tune-in’ to the relevant skills at this level of the programme  identify children’s current development of these skills  determine the amount of support they are likely to need 5

Discussion Skills INITIAL SCREEN The Initial Screen identifies children as:  Competent: they seem to be acquiring these skills without too much difficulty and are not expected to need special attention  Developing: they seem to be slower in acquiring these skills and are likely to need some assistance and monitoring  Delayed: they seem to be having difficulty in acquiring these skills and are likely to need more intensive support and monitoring These groupings are intended to be flexible and are likely to change in the course of a term or year. 6

Discussion Skills INITIAL SCREEN 7

 While children are getting used to working in discussion groups the teacher can be observing them informally, focusing on the behaviours to be assessed  Working with a colleague if possible, the class teacher completes the initial screen for each child separately  A behaviour should only be credited if a child is using it confidently, competently and consistently. If there is any doubt or disagreement, the behaviour should not be credited 8

Discussion Skills INITIAL SCREEN  The screen has two bands, and children are assessed band by band. If they do not have all the behaviours in Band 1, they do not need to be assessed on Band 2  Children who lack any of the behaviours in Band 1 are identified as Delayed, even if they have some of the behaviours in Band 2  Children who have all the behaviours in Band 1 but lack any of the behaviours in Band 2 are identified as Developing  Children who have all the behaviours in both bands are identified as Competent The Delayed group may include some children with special needs, but should not be thought of as a special needs group. 9

Discussion Skills SKILLS CHECKLISTS Discussion Skills has three checklists:  Learning through Discussion  Planning and Problem Solving  Negotiation and Emotional Literacy 10

Discussion Skills SKILLS CHECKLISTS 11

Discussion Skills SKILLS CHECKLISTS  Each checklist identifies two or three general skills, divided into separate behaviours or sub-skills  Skills and behaviours are listed in rough developmental order as a guide to intervention  The teacher normally works through each checklist in sequence, a few behaviours at a time  Every child and every behaviour needs to be assessed and monitored separately 12

Discussion Skills CLASSROOM INTERVENTION  Discussion skills are taught through a combination of whole-class, small- discussion and targeted intervention with individual children  The checklists set teaching objectives for all children on a rolling basis, while the initial screens determine the amount of support needed for each child 13

Discussion Skills CLASSROOM INTERVENTION: Whole-Class Work Whole-class work is used to:  introduce and explain discussion work in general (what it is, why it is useful, how it works, what the rules are)  demonstrate and practise discussion work  introduce and explain each discussion topic  explain and demonstrate the specific aspects of discussion work currently being targeted 14

Discussion Skills CLASSROOM INTERVENTION: Discussion Groups  Children are assigned to discussion groups of up to six children on the basis of the initial screen. Using discussion work, it should be possible for all children to practise discussion skills almost every day  The teacher works with individual children in their discussion groups, paying particular attention to any children identified as Delayed, and helping them to develop specific behaviours  A list of the skills and behaviours currently being worked on should be displayed prominently, so all adults can use it to guide their interaction with individual children 15

Discussion Skills LESSON PLANNING  The skills checklists provide learning and teaching objectives for all children  Suggestions for discussion topics and questions are given in the Notes to the checklists  It should not at first be necessary to plan separate discussion lesson but these may be needed for later skills 16

Discussion Skills TEACHING METHOD Parents normally teach their children spoken language (usually without realising they are doing it) by:  Highlighting: drawing attention to a word or behaviour by indicating or emphasising it  Modelling: providing an example for the child to copy  Prompting: encouraging him to respond, directing him towards an appropriate response  Rewarding: rewarding any appropriate response with praise and further encouragement The teacher should use the same techniques, but use them explicitly and systematically. 17

Discussion Skills VOCABULARY WORK  Discussion Skills includes a Vocabulary Wordlist of 100 words that children will need to know for their discussion work: discussion vocabulary for Checklists 1 and 2, and the vocabulary of feelings and emotion for Checklist 3  Staff should ensure that all children are familiar with these words, by introducing and explaining them in whole-class work  They may need to teach some of these words systematically to some children 18

Discussion Skills MONITORING PROGRESS  Each child is monitored separately using the checklists. As each child acquires a behaviour or question form it gets ticked off on the checklist  A behaviour should only be credited when the child is using it confidently, competently and consistently. If there is any doubt about a behaviour, it should not be credited  The teacher needs to ensure that each behaviour has been properly consolidated, and should return later to any items that have proved difficult, to confirm that previous learning has been retained  It is always more important that children consolidate basic skills than that they move on to more advanced ones 19

Discussion Skills MOVING ON  The teacher normally keeps working on the same behaviours until all children have learnt them, but it may sometimes be necessary to move on to the next skills or the next checklist  She may sometimes be working on different skills with different children, but should not attempt to work on two checklists at the same time  Each checklist is expected to take more than a term to complete 20

Discussion Skills LINKS TO LITERACY Discussion work supports both reading and writing:  It gives children something to write about and improves their understanding of what they read  It can be used to share and develop ideas for both independent writing and comprehension work  It promotes the use and understanding of information sources  It can help children to reflect on what and how they read and write. 21