All Talk

Talking is something that, undoubtedly, your students will love to do. Much like everything else, there is a specific time and place for discussion. There are going to be many times in a classroom setting where students are not supposed to be talking. Teachers should, however, give them the opportunity to do so, because it is an important part of their education.

There are many ways to incorporate effective talking activities into the classroom setting. Teachers need to be very careful in how they structure it though because students like to and will get off topic if given the opportunity. Adolescent Literacy: Turning Promise into Practice gives very helpful advice in structuring these sorts of activities. In chapter five, the author emphasizes the importance of asking the right questions. The questions should be complex enough that the students don’t simply answer it with a yes or no, but they should not be so complex to where the students don’t know how to begin to address it. In either of these situations, you are going to have very quiet groups, and the goal is to get them thinking critically and discussing with one another.

In a math classroom, there are many opportunities for discussion. Oftentimes classmates are useful in working on in-class assignments. If one student at a table understands a certain problem, they can explain it to the others. In order to do this successfully, they will need to have good speaking skills so they can relate their thoughts and procedures to others so that then they also understand.  

Beers, G. (n.d.). Adolescent literacy: Turning promise into practice.