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Structured Talk

The most important component of teaching comprehension is allowing children to TALK about books for extended periods of time. When I do, my students are more energetic, engaged, and empowered. Not surprisingly, they learn much more than when they work alone. I call the conversations structured talk because we build a framework within which my readers explore their responses to books. I use different structured-talk models.

On each page in this section, I offer my working definitions for the types of discussion circles we use in my class. You will also find lesson ideas for getting started. In addition, I share daybook entries which detail my struggles as I began to implement these models. Hopefully, these writings can save you a few steps.

• Partner Reading
• Stop and Think Reading
• Guided Reading
• Book Clubs
• Reciprocal teaching
• Socratic Seminars

Students need explicit instruction that includes demonstrations of what they are to do; when they grasp this, they are ready for guided practice. Instruction that is scaffolded in this way enables students to be active learners and to gain independence with activities and strategies.

Ganske, Monroe, Strickland, The Reading Teacher, October, 2003.

Getting Started

As I began to adapt these models with my personal touches, I found which one worked for my objectives. Sometimes I planned for it. Sometimes, we just kinda moved into one or the other because it fit at the moment.

For example, I learned that Partner Reading and Stop and Think Reading works well when working with small groups. Each model gives all children reading practice and increases the minutes they read in school each day. Reciprocal teaching provides a format that, when mastered, allows for more groups to meet simultaneously. When they're up and running, I can meet with one group while other groups meet independently.

Socratic Seminars is a whole-class model. I can demonstrate how to ask different kinds of questions and how to facilitate discussion. In both reciprocal teaching groups and Socratic seminars, I use shorter texts. I can coach leaders, teaching them how to lead effectively in one reading session.

Through the years, I learned to listen more and talk less but teachers tell me they fear managing kids' talk. In my workshops, they ask, "How will I know what the kids are talking about? How can I be sure the talk is on task? If I can't be every where, will the students lead one another in good ways?" Students admit fear also. They don't know what to say. They don't want others to judge their comments as dumb. In some cases, they've never seen anyone talk about books, so they don't know how.

Watch a group talk. Whether it be kids in the cafeteria or adults in the board room, the talk is centered, blurs off task, but comes back to focus several times. Expecting and ignoring some off-task talk as almost necessary to productive conversations will help somewhat. I highly recommend it.

However, to substantially improve group work, create an environment that fosters these 4 conditions: (1) Groups understand how to work together. (2) Children understand the rewards. (3) Students know exactly what is expected for success. (4) Deadlines and consequences are clearly communicated.

You won't have to worry about managing groups if you work slowly and methodically to put each step in place. "Exactly what is expected" and "deadlines and consequences" are different, depending on the type of discussion circle. You can find the scoop on those details on the personal page for each method (see index).

But, working together? And working together without me? That's tough, depending on the class. I offer some suggestions:

HOW DO WE WORK TOGETHER? We watch people talk. Create charts outlining talking tips.

Ask your class for a definition of listening. Have some fun with this. Model what listening does NOT look like. Ask a student ahead of time to tell you a story. As she tells you the story in front of the class, start to interrupt and tell your own story. Then, use off-task body language: turn around, chew on your hair, look at your watch, roll your eyes. Ask your students to analyze what's not working.

Make a chart detailing good listening behaviors brainstormed by your students. A must on this chart is sitting in such a way that every group member can see every other one. Groups that work well together take the time to arrange the furniture so that everyone has an equal seat.

Model using leaders to keep the momentum of the conversation going and track the time. Sometimes I sit slightly behind a leader and whisper as I coach suggestions for facilitating discussion. Then, collect and record questions stems for disagreeing amicably: I understand what you're saying and I would like to add..., I need you to explain what you're thinking about..., or what I hear you saying is... (For more stems, see bottom of Connections page, this website.)

Talk about potential problems in a class-meeting setting. I expect problems to arise when discussing with one another and I let my students know that. However, I ask for their help so that together we create solutions. I have a "Problem Jar" ready to go. During our meetings, we proactively solve one problem at a time. (At the beginning of the year, I hold class meetings daily, then every week or even every other week, returning to daily at high-stress times.) Some of the questions I've written on index cards for us to pull out of the jar and think about are...

• What do the members of the group (or partnership) do if a group member comes to class without having read the assigned pages?
• What should we do if someone has been absent?
• What about the classmate who says they've been trying but the group is going too fast and they can't keep up?
• How do we help students who never speak?

Be very involved in each small reading group for quite a while. You can span the range of participation from involvement as an equal member to just script-taping the discussion for debriefing, depending on the needs of the group members. The next steps gradually move students to running independent literature circles.

(1) Watch a video of a book club in action collected from previous years. Analyze what talking to one another looks like.

(2) Strategy Instruction in Use videos are available from Stenhouse. Even though the videos are meant for staff development, show the best book club to your students with a challenge; do you think we could talk as well as this group? Analyze what made the group work together so well.

(3) Ask 4-5 adults to discuss a selection your students have read. Students circle around and watch them talk, taking notes on how they do that.

(4) Run Socratic circles simultaneously with any other discussion mode. The whole-group format allows the teachers to coach all students how to talk to one another as a precursor to independent discussion circles. (Click on "Socratic Seminars," sidebar, left.)

(5) Make a star chart (map) of the conversation of one book club, share it with them, and draw conclusions about how to get better. (Click on star charts in index, left.)

(6) Before going into a discussion, ask students to set talking goals. After the discussion, assign them to write to the teacher about how they did and set new goals.

WHAT ARE THE REWARDS? Posing questions and seeking evidence over time will lead to better thinkers; that will lead to higher test scores.

This graphic organizer designed by Diane Wildman, 10th-grade English teacher, offers a theory as to why using structured talk works. In any structured-talk discussion group, students bring their questions, seek evidence, and reach conclusions. The same model is true of tests. The process is identical. Questions are posed, students seek evidence, and students select an answer.

You would think that practicing tests over and over again would bring improvement. But... students' minds turn off when practicing on manufactured tests.

A MUCH more engaging approach is to ask students to bring their questions to small groups ALL YEAR. Students apply more passion to figuring out the answers to their personal questions than they do to artificial questions. Students seek answers to the puzzles they bring and, OVER TIME, improve in their reading development. This reading sophistication transfers to the student's approach to reading tests!

My goal is to work my way out of a job. I give students permission to talk in class when I'm not teaching. Learning is a social activity and so I don't fight it. If I design my lessons so that students must talk to one another, they actually get rewarded for talking! If I serve as the guide in the beginning, I can gradually let them take over. The best reward is that students begin to read about 1 book every 2 weeks in my classes, up from 1 book every 9 weeks.