Eliciting Academic Productive Talk

Science and Math Talk Moves for the Teacher and the Students

Nancy EscamillaE.P. Foster STEM AcademyJanuary 2016

Talk as an Opportunity to Think

Productive DiscourseAllows students to• Compare science

or math explanations• Argue with

evidence• Critique a model

Students Learn to Listen to Each Other

Productive Discourse Classroom Example

Teacher, Maricela Montoy-Wilson has developed a culture of classroom discourse.

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/persist-through-challenges-perts

Science Talk is a Specialized Language

Discipline Specific Forms of Talk• Hypothesizing• Debating what counts as a good explanation• Arguing with evidence• Using language about setting up credible

experiments• Referring to patterns in data• Deciding how to revise a model

Classroom Norms for Respectful Listening and Discussion

• Anyone can ask questions if they don’t understand an idea that is being talked about.

• We can critique ideas, but personal attacks are not allowed.

• Don’t talk over your classmates.• The teacher will give “think time”.• In small group work, everyone will contribute

to the conversation.

How to Start• Need to wean students

from initiation-response-evaluation type of discussion.

• Ask students to think about the question before doing pair-share.

• Teacher listens to pair-share and then calls on a student to answer the question.

Goal # 1 Share, Expand and Clarify

• Time to think• Say More• So, Are You Saying• Don’t telegraph whether a

response is correct or incorrect.

• Give credit to students as originators of key ideas

http://inquiryproject.terc.edu/prof_dev/resources/video_cases/video_case.cfm?&case_type=st&case_grade=4&case_num=1&case_return=library&case_step=step4

Build a Culture of Listening

http://inquiryproject.terc.edu/prof_dev/resources/video_cases/video_case.cfm?case_type=st&case_num=2&case_return=library

Listening and Adding on

Adding On to Someone Else’s Statement

http://inquiryproject.terc.edu/prof_dev/resources/video_cases/video_case.cfm?&case_type=st&case_grade=4&case_num=4&case_return=library&case_step=step3

Agreeing and Disagreeinghttp://inquiryproject.terc.edu/prof_dev/resources/video_cases/video_case.cfm?&case_type=st&case_grade=4&case_num=4&case_return=library&case_step=step2

Group Activity

Talk with your fellow group members and organize the Talk Moves into categories of your choice. • Strategy for ELL, Recent Arrival, Advanced

Student, etc.• DOK Levels• Talk Moves to start with• or your own categories

Goal # 1 Share, Expand and Clarify

Goal # 2Listen Carefully

Goal # 3Deepen Their Reasoning

Goal # 4Think with Others