TALK AS A LEARNING TOOL

•Asking Questions•K-W-L Charts•Minilessons•Oral Reports•Interviews•Debates

Asking Questions

Asking and answering questions are common types of talk in classrooms.

There are three levels of questioning that teachers may use for different purposes. 1. Literal or “On the Page” questions. 2. Inferential or “Between the Lines” questions. 3. Critical or “Beyond the Page” questions.

Teachers often use the IRF cycle when they ask questions. Initiate: the teacher asks question. Response: the student answers the question. Feedback: the teacher responds to the student’s

answer.

K-W-L Charts

Teachers use K-W-L charts to activate and build students’ background knowledge during thematic units. K- What I/We Know W- What I/We Want to Know L- What I/We Learned

Minilessons

Teachers teach minilessons about academic language and a variety of talk-related procedures, concepts, strategies, and skills (page 256, Tompkins for a list of minilesson topics).

Oral Reports

Learning how to prepare and present an oral report is an important efferent talk activity for middle- and upper-grade students.

Students prepare and give reports about topics they are studying in social studies and science.

Students are usually the audience for the oral reports, and members of the audience have responsibilities: Be attentive Listen to the speaker Ask questions Applaud speaker

Steps for giving Oral Reports

1. Choose a topic. 2. Gather and organize

information. 3. Develop the report. 4. Create visuals. 5. Rehearse the presentation. 6. Give the presentation.

Interviews

Interviewing is an exciting language arts activity that helps students refine questioning skills and use oral and written language for authentic purposes.

One way to introduce interviews is to watch interviews conducted on television news programs.

Students prepare for the interview by generating a list of questions and follow up after the interview by using what they have learned in some way.

After the interviews, students might draw pictures of the information they gathered or write a summary.

Interviews

Hot Seat Children assume the persona of a character

from a story or biography they’re reading and sit in the “hot seat” to be interviewed by classmates.

It is called the hot seat because they are expected to respond to their classmates’ questions.

Through this activity, they deepen their comprehension as well as their classmates’.

Debates

Students participate in debates when they are excited about an issue and when most of the students have taken positions on one side of the issue or the other.

Students learn how to use oral language to persuade their classmates.

Students who are not participating are often the ones assessing their classmates’ performance in the debate and determine the winning team.

Steps for Debates

1. Identify a topic. 2. Prepare for the debate. 3. Conduct the debate. 4. Conclude the debate.

The Power of Drama Improvisation Process Drama Playing with Puppets Theatrical Productions

Improvisation

Students step into someone else’s shoes and view the world from the perspective as they reenact stories.

These activities are usually quick and informal because they emphasis is on learning, not the performance.

Students often reenact stories during literature focus units.

Process Drama

An imaginative and spontaneous dramatic activity to help students explore stories they are reading, social studies topics, and current events.

Process drama goes beyond improvisation. Not only do the students reenact the event, but they explore the topic from the viewpoint of their character as they respond to the teacher’s questions.

Steps for Process Drama

1. Set the purpose. 2. Create the dramatic context. 3. Dramatize the event. 4. Ask questions. 5. Prompt reflection. 6. Discuss the activity.

Playing with Puppets

Students become characters from their favorite stories when they put puppets on their hands.

They can create puppet shows with commercially manufactured puppets or they can construct their own.

Theatrical Productions

Scripts are a unique written language form. It often grows out of informal dramatic activities.

Scriptwriting Producing video scripts