Accountable Talk

Accountable Talk

I sat down to write a post on the importance of accountable talk in the classroom and then got stuck. Should I refer to this practice as accountable talk or purposeful talk? There are a variety of opinions on whether we should refer to talk in the classroom as dialogue, conversation, discussion, or talk - each implying a different purpose. Then I started thinking that really I should start with questioning, since meaningful discussion (dialogue?) starts with a productive, open ended question. I got stuck again when I thought - no, wait! I really have to start with creating a culture of risk free classrooms, because how will our scholars share their thinking if they think they are "wrong"? No, no, no; it all begins with listening, really listening, not just hearing.

I keep thinking about ideas and purpose and how hard it is to nail down what I really want to say! Our scholars face this conundrum frequently during writers workshop, when faced with that blank page. So here I sit, the day before Thanksgiving break attempting to find my focus (and apparently doing subjecting you to some rambling).

Anyone who has participated in lesson study with me, should not be surprised that I am attempting a post on talk in the classroom. Moving from a teacher directed to scholar directed environment, I believe is essential to growing thinkers. A common "take away" from lesson study from any group of teachers is that we (teachers) talk too much and we need to create more space for purposeful (accountable?) student talk. Where and how do we begin? I can recommend the book "Comprehension Through Conversation" by Maria Nichols.  She says important things about growing thinking in the classroom through talk. She writes about ways to move our scholars beyond "agreeing/disagreeing with" classmates in a discussion, to truly listening to and growing an idea. There is a huge difference in the level of talk when students learn to stick with and explore an idea as opposed to participating by adding on (are they really adding to the idea or using that as a chance to share their own idea?) or simply saying "I agree" which requires no thinking at all.

So maybe another day I will ramble on about risk free classrooms, or open ended questions, or ways to get started as a teacher with giving up some of your control to the kids. I would love to hear from any of you about successes you have had or maybe things you have tried that didn't work out the way you hoped.

Happy Thanksgiving!