The Time Traveler

Meaningful discourse allows students to process information, share ideas, listen and respond to others, and collaborate on a consensus. Often this requires clarification questions, summarization of key concepts, connection of relevant ideas, and analysis of conversations.

“Beyond Turn and Talk: Creating Discourse”

There is an art to leading discussions in class that begins by considering your Student Learning Outcomes: What do you hope students will learn during a conversation? Is the focus on course content, skills, dispositions, or all three? What strategies do you look to use for extending students’ thinking and encouraging critical analysis, and for broadening student perspectives?

Center for Teaching, Research, and Learning

The C& I team has updated our instructional playbook. with activities to increase discourse. Please click on the link below or our Instructional Playbook Table of Contents to access them.

• Fishbowl Discussion: Discussion activity in which the class is divided into participants and observers, helps develop student facilitators, encourages total student participation, and promotes active listening skills. Click here.

• Four Corners Debate: Have students use evidence to support the claims in a classroom discussion. Click here.

• Group Photo Analysis: In small groups, students take on different roles to analyze a visual primary document (photograph, painting). Click here.

• Human Spectrum: Students will work collaboratively to compare events and their importance to each other. Click here.

• Inner-Outer Circle: Class is broken into inner and outer circles to give students more opportunities to participate in a discussion based on a text where participants seek deeper understanding of complex ideas in the text through rigorously thoughtful dialogue. Click here.

• Socratic Seminar: A student-led or teacher facilitated discussion based on a text where participants seek deeper understanding of complex ideas in the text through rigorously thoughtful dialogue. Click here.

• Three Point Review: In small groups, students review the topic covered in class through questioning. Click here.

Our Social Studies book study is Teaching Social Studies to ELLs by Tina Beene. The Google Classroom join code is ghayey2 and due date is March 31st 2023. This book study will give you 6 hours of exchange credit! Once completed the assignment, please email your instructional coach so they can give you credit.

All required assignments for the book study are posted in Google Classroom. Be sure to also register in Power School.

Reach out to Andrea Hutchison, Mandy Neece, or Miranda Hansen to borrow a copy of the book (limited copies available).

Chapter 4 is all about instructional strategies geared to academic conversation to help our emerging bilinguals in classroom discussion.

The Prosper ISD C&I department will also be hosting 12 days of Twitter in December!

Twitter chats provide you with 1 hour of SBEC credit. Follow @mrsjacksontech and #ProsperISDChat!

Please make sure to get all resources vetted by Andrea if they are not already linked in the UFD.

Miranda and Mandy