Who’s Doing the Who’s Doing the Thinking and Thinking and

Talking In Your Talking In Your Classroom? Classroom?

Darlene HerbetDarlene HerbetNational Education ConsultantNational Education Consultant

Developmental Studies Developmental Studies CenterCenter

Non-profit based in Oakland, CA Working with schools since 1980 Mission-driven

ACADEMIC Achievement

SOCIAL Skills

ETHICAL Development EMOTIONAL Well-being

A Commitment to the Whole Child

Session GoalsSession Goals Reflect on and experience how talk

supports thinking and comprehension

Examine research about purposeful talk and about comprehension

Analyze classroom examples to explore effective facilitation strategies

Purposeful TalkPurposeful Talk In a conversation, the people doing the

most talking are the ones doing the most learning.

Learning is a social event…talking is a natural part of learning.

“The #1 way for students to comprehend text is for for them to talk about what they have read.”

Stephanie Harvey

The invitation said,A tea for Mothers and Daughters.I didn’t even tell Lucille about itand threw the envelope into the garbagecan beside the TV in Dad’s office.And I was happy when he found itand looked like he might cry.I’d stopped crying about being mom-freebut had to make sure nobody forgot it—and in the end wound up with Dad holding a tea cup and cookies on his knees,talking with womenabout dress sizes and their husbands.

Reading Reading Comprehension Comprehension

StrategiesStrategies Retelling Making Connections Wondering/Questioning Visualizing Making Inferences Understanding Text Structure Determining Important Ideas Summarizing Synthesizing

Reading Reading Comprehension: What Comprehension: What

Works*Works* Teacher-directed instruction in

comprehension strategies Opportunities for peer and

collaborative learning Occasions for students to talk to a

teacher and one another about their responses to reading

Large amounts of time for actual text reading at independent reading level

* Linda G. Fielding and P. David Pearson, Educational Leadership, Synthesis of Research

Video of Primary Video of Primary Visualizing Lesson Visualizing Lesson

Grade 1: Visualizing

Students have experienced instruction in: Making Connections Retelling

When visualizing, students make sense of text by creating images of the written word in their mind.

Video of Primary Video of Primary Visualizing Lesson Visualizing Lesson

(cont.)(cont.) Day 1—Read-Aloud and Strategy Lesson

Teacher introduces “Think, Pair, Share” and Visualizing

Teacher reads aloud two poems (“School Bus” and “Sliding Board”)

Students discuss images they created in their minds.

Video of Primary Video of Primary Visualizing Lesson Visualizing Lesson

(cont.)(cont.) Day 2—Guided Strategy

Practice Teacher reads aloud a new

poem, “The Balloon Man” Students discuss images

they created in their minds Students draw their images,

then share their drawing with their partner

Demographics of Demographics of ClassroomClassroom

40% of the students do not speak English as their primary language

More than 10 languages are represented (Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Erdu, Cantonese)

75% qualify for free and reduced lunch

Viewing the VideoViewing the Video With your partner, decide who will

focus on the students’ thinking and behavior the teacher’s actions

Grade 1 - VisualizingGrade 1 - Visualizing

Discuss the Video Discuss the Video What did you notice about the

students’ thinking and behavior? What evidence did you see of comprehension?

What was the impact of purposeful talk with these students?

What teacher actions did you notice? How did they impact the students’ thinking and behavior?

Primary Video - Primary Video - SummarySummary

The students Make inferences Visualize

The teacher Reads the poem twice Uses Turn to Your Partner to increase

participation and responsibility Helps students understand vocabulary Circulates as students work Asks open-ended and follow-up questions Has students discuss their social interactions

Student Learning Student Learning GrowsGrows

Teacher Modeling Guided Practice Independent Practice Application of Strategy to Independent

Reading

Cooperative Cooperative Structures: Explicitly Structures: Explicitly

TaughtTaught Think, Pair, Share

Turn to Your Partner

Think, Pair, Write

Heads Together

Group Brainstorming

Discussion Prompts: Discussion Prompts: Explicitly TaughtExplicitly Taught

“I agree with _______ because…” “I disagree with _______ because…” “In addition to what _______ said, I

think…” “I heard you say ________. Did I get

that right?”

Ralph Peterson…Ralph Peterson… “The way human

beings learn has nothing to do with being kept quiet.”

What are your What are your questions?questions?

Thank you for participating!!

Darlene Herbet

deherbet@juno.com

Developmental Studies Center

www.devstu.org