Dear colleague,
In the Speaking/Listening chapter of These 6 Things, I argue that teachers only need three kinds of speaking routines for their practice:
- Think-Pair-Share for 1:1:all communication
- Conversation Challenge for small-group communication
- Pop-Up Debate for whole-class communication
This school year, one of the few experiments I've run in my practice is with pop-up debates. Based on promising results at the end of the previous year, I went into this school year knowing I wanted to try making it my best pop-up debate year ever. Twenty PUDs later, I can say: mission accomplished. Students improve at things in which they are given:
- Consistent practice
- Slow and steady targeted skill instruction
- Clear feedback
Pop-up debates make all of this very easy. But PUDs aren't the focus of this article, so if you want to see what my year-long journey with students looked like, check out this playlist where I've documented it.
For today's purposes, I want to share an idea that you can try with:
- No prior warning to students
- A high likelihood of success
- Minimal classroom time invested
Here's what you do:
1. Pick a category of work you've had students do over the course of the semester. In my example, I did student essays (we wrote 10 of them in a five-week period after spring break…yes, I am crazy, but it was for experimental purposes), but you could do projects, certain regular homework assignments, quizzes, etc.
2. Have them get all their “data” out on their desks. (For me, it was returned rubrics.)
3. Have them look for patterns in their work. (I used the below slide to help them understand this part.)
4. Have them get ready to share what they noticed via a Conversation Challenge. This is where you explain the expectations to them: everyone speaks at least one time, and the group's “challenge” is to keep conversation flowing for the full time limit.
5. Once you hit “go” on the timer, walk around and listen in. Coach where needed. Gather insights into where they are struggling and where they are succeeding. These 3-4 minutes are rich in formative information.
6. Do a quick debrief: how did the Conversation Challenge go? Which groups had everyone speak at least once? Which groups had at least one awkward pause? Who can share what a group member did that helped keep the conversation going?
7. If you have time, have them do another round, this time with different prompts. (In the video example above, you'll see me do this in the classroom footage.)
Why This Boosts Efficacy
This simple activity is a great example of Strategy 9 in The Will to Learn: Unpack Outcomes, Good or Bad. You're providing clear directions and a motivation context within which students can look at and think about the results of their efforts. Whether their outcomes are good or bad, this kind of effort helps to cultivate a clearer sense for students of what success is and why it is or isn't happening for them. All of which helps alleviate the vague notions students will tend to have about success and progress without activities like these.
Give it a shot. The worst thing that can happen is that your students have some (brief) unproductive conversations. But even then, you can then unpack that bad outcome and grow clearer about how to get better outcomes next time.
Best,
DSJR
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