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Successful StudentsSuperior Standards Supportive School Climate

Collaborative Academic Conversations

Professional DevelopmentSession 4

Fall 2013

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Successful StudentsSuperior Standards Supportive School Climate

Collaborative Academic Conversations

Meeting 1: Sessions 1-3 Meeting 3: Session 5

Meeting 4: Session 6

Meeting 2: Session 4• Characteristics

of productive talk

• 5 Conversation Skills: description and examples

Big Idea: Collaborative academic conversations

empower students to communicate well in a variety of situations.

Essential Questions:• What 21st century collaboration skills are

needed to sustain purposeful conversations and to enable students to be successful members of society?

• How do we move students beyond “talk” to academic conversations?

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Reflect on Classroom Norms

Positives Challenges Changes

Think about the first few weeks of school so far and the norms for classroom conversations you established before the first day.

What have been the positives with establishing and maintaining norms in your classroom?

What have been the challenges?

What changes still need to be made?

Brainstorm and then share with your colleagues.

Page 4

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Successful StudentsSuperior Standards Supportive School Climate

Reflect on Classroom Norms

Successes Challenges Changes

Think about the first few weeks of school so far and the norms for classroom conversations you established before the first day.

What have been the positives with establishing and maintaining norms in your classroom?

What have been the challenges?

What changes still need to be made?

Share with your colleagues.

Types of Conversations

• Read “Accelerating Oral Language with Academic Conversations” paragraphs 1-6 and answer the questions on page 5.

• Key questions:o According to Zwiers, what makes

conversations ‘Academic”?o According to the researchers, what

challenges did students face when starting academic conversations?

What was the main point of the article?

In your group, cometo consensus and synthesizethe main point of the articleso far.

Jigsaw ReadingRead the assigned skill description from pages 13-37.• Elaborate and Clarify (p. 13-15)• Support Ideas with Examples (p. 16-21)• Build on or Challenge Partner’s Ideas (p. 22-25)• Paraphrase (p. 26-28)• Synthesize Conversation Points (p. 29-30)

purposebenefits classroom application

Question Response

1. Provide a short definition for skill.

    

2. How can the skill be developed in the classroom?

    

3. What is one of the benefits/purpose of the skill for all students?

    

4. Identify one way that you have seen this skill being used in a classroom.

    

Complete the Comparison/Contrast Matrix for your skill

Comparison/Contrast Matrix

Description of Skills

Application of Skill

Additional notes

Elaborate and Clarify

Support Ideas with Examples

Build On or Challenge Partner’s Ideas

Paraphrase

Synthesize Conversation Points

Between now and then…

• Read the remaining 4 Conversation Skills from today’s reading

• Introduce ONE new Conversation Skill each week and provide ample opportunities for students to practice

• Be prepared to share:o What have been the successes in implementing

academic conversations in your classroom?o What have been the challenges?o What changes still need to be made?