Mentor Minute
April 2025
Ideas for Encouraging Student Voices: Reducing Teacher Talk Time
One key area where patience and perseverance pay off is in student engagement. As the school year progresses, keeping students actively involved in learning becomes even more critical. A powerful way to support new educators in this effort is by helping them reflect on their own role in classroom discussions—specifically, how much they talk versus how much their students talk.
An effective mentor conversation this month could center on the question: How can you support your mentee in letting students talk more?
In Mentoring in Action, Carolyn Pelletier Radford compares this to coaching soccer: great coaches ensure players get as many “touches on the ball” as possible. Similarly, teachers should maximize student engagement by allowing more opportunities for them to talk and interact with content.
Encourage your mentee to track their talk time and try small shifts, such as:
Integrating paired sharing into lessons
Allowing time for student discussions
Beginning class with students sharing what they already know
Ending class with time to share new learning
Partnering English learners with native speakers
Using read-aloud activities to prompt conversation
Remind them that, just as in sports, consistent practice leads to growth. When students have more opportunities to engage in meaningful discussions, they stay more connected to their learning—and new teachers gain confidence in fostering an interactive classroom.
📚Adapted from Radford, C. P. (2017). Mentoring in Action: Guiding, Sharing, and Reflecting With Novice Teachers. Harvard Education Press, p. 207. This book is available, along with its companion book, The First Years Matter: Becoming an Effective Teacher, in the VRL.)