Jumpstart! Talk for Learning

Games and activities for ages 7-12

Lyn Dawes, John Foster

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781317481546
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Pedagogía
• Subtopic: Educación general

Jumpstart! Talk for Learning presents a collection of multi-sensory games and activities that will jumpstart children's use of effective talk in the classroom. This book offers practical and engaging ideas ranging from brief games to extended lesson suggestions. It offers a basis for creating your own spoken language activities to match topics you are teaching and individual needs of your class.

Specifically written to help teachers with the direct teaching of talk skills required by the National Curriculum, activities in the book encourage children to:

• participate in group and class discussions

• use exploratory talk and share a range of points of view

• use talk imaginatively to develop understanding

• develop individual presentational talk

• take part in active drama sessions

Jumpstart! Talk for Learning includes a range of classroom activities that can be used in literacy lessons and integrated across the curriculum. This essential resource will help teachers develop children's use of talk to understand one another and get things done together.

Part 1
Learning through talk

Chapter 1
Talking and learning

What I enjoy […] is speaking and listening to other people; you have to look at them to see if what you are saying is having an impact.

Maliha

When we are thinking about learning, some ways of talking are more useful than others. The term exploratory talk describes a particularly useful sort of talk in which children engage one another in a good discussion. This involves pooling all their ideas, listening actively, asking for and giving reasons, and challenging what others say in a respectful manner. Children work to gain agreement by using talk to negotiate and make meaning with one another.

Exploratory talk can be simply taught and learned, so that the child can use the necessary skills in learning. We assume that children know how to engage one another in exploratory talk at our peril. Such discussion seems simple. Indeed most children, asked to describe a good discussion, will readily point out some of the key features. And yet many children (many people) cannot hold an effective exploratory discussion, and never see the need to do so; many children may never have taken part in exploratory talk. For the child in the classroom, the risks of offering their knowledge, giving reasons and challenging others are too great, unless everyone else understands that this leads to learning, and is able and willing to do the same.

It is unusual to find a teacher involved in the direct teaching of the talk skills necessary for group discussion. As teachers, we may assume that children already have these skills – that when talking with others, they can take turns, ask one another appropriate questions, explain their own thinking and compare their point of view with others in a reasoned way. Indeed they may be able to do all of these things when an adult or mentor is with their group, but left to themselves, groups of children find it really difficult to sustain reasoned discussion. This is why they need direct tuition. They need to become aware that their discussion is crucial to their own education and that of their group. They also need to be aware that by engaging one another in exploratory talk, they are learning to reason together – and enhancing their individual capacity to reason when faced with problems.

Here are two comments from children who had experienced spoken language lessons and activities called ‘Talking Time’:

I liked the talking because we discussed it properly. We decided what we should put in our books.

David

I don’t like the talking time because Stacey just sits there.

Adam

Adam’s comment highlights Stacey’s inability to join in, therefore her need for direct tuition in the relevant spoken language skills; and the problems children face when they want to discuss ideas but group members don’t know how to, or have no motivation to do so. These are serious issues for the teacher, who went on to address them on Stacey’s behalf – ensuring that this child had a voice in the classroom, and could go on to engage others in useful discussions. The teacher taught the children the structures of exploratory talk.

Exploratory talk is talk in which every child:

1. joins in, and asks each other to join in;
2. listens attentively and reflects on what they hear;
3. offers ideas and opinions openly, giving reasons;
4. elaborates on ideas and links ideas together;
5. works towards a negotiated outcome.

Teaching exploratory talk skills involves a series of lessons focused on these ideas, as listed opposite:

1. Being part of a group – what we can contribute; our expertise and what we can offer, e.g. being a good listener, being good at questioning, our general knowledge, being friendly, being capable of reasoning and so on.
2. Listening to one another – practising the skills of active listening.
3. Reasoning – asking for, and giving, reasons; comparing ideas; changing our mind when offered sound reasons to do so.
4. Explaining and elaborating – articulating our own ideas and providing an appropriate level of detail; using appropriate vocabulary; recalling and using factual knowledge and understanding.
5. Devising and using a set of shared Ground Rules for Talk which incorporate the features of exploratory talk, for group discussion with peers.

The next section provides an example of some practical steps you can work through to raise children’s awareness of the importance of talk, to build up the skills needed for exploratory talk, and to create and use class Ground Rules for Talk.

Raising Awareness of the Importance of Talk

Raise awareness of the importance of Talk for Learning

Talk needs a context; in this example, the context for talk is ‘Lunchtime at School’. Alternatively you can use any context that is relevant to your class: a current school issue, a topic-based subject or a topic suggested by the class. The idea is to help the children become aware of talk and its power to stimulate thinking.

Ask the children to spend a minute thinking to themselves about their personal experience of lunchtime at school. Stress that you will want to know what everyone thinks. If possible, link this to a genuine context such as informing the school council of suggestions, or putting information for parents on the school website.

Display these questions on the following page:

• What do you like about lunchtimes at school?
• What would you change?
• Do you know anything about what other children do in other schools?

Next ask children to predict what they think others will say. They can make a note if necessary. Ask them:

• How easy or difficult is it to do this?
• Can they tell what others are thinking?

Model how to share ideas by asking a confident pair or group to share their ideas aloud. Point out good practice such as listening, taking turns and asking questions.

Now ask children in pairs or groups to share their ideas, taking turns to speak and listen. After a few minutes stop the class and ask children individually to say what they have heard – that is, what others think. Ask for any ideas that were a surprise, or not what they would have predicted.

Ask a child to explain their own ideas clearly to the class, then ask them to say if this is made easier by their discussion time. Highlight the importance of talk for communicating ideas, and the importance of others as careful listeners.

Finally, ask children to say if they found the ideas interesting or useful, and decide what can be done with all the new information that has been aired.

Point out the value of talk for learning. Ask children for examples from their own experience of times when they have learned through talk. (They may find this difficult at this stage.) Introduce the idea of a link between talking and thinking; and between thinking and learning. Explain that the class are going to learn to use talk to think aloud together.

Other suggested contexts for raising awareness of Talk for Learning

Bullying; safe use of the Internet; making friends; birthday parties; what we’re looking forward to; early memories of starting school; my hobby; transferring to a new class/school; learning out of school; my favourite relative; the best thing about weekends.

Continue to raise awareness of Talk for Learning

Keeping a focus on talking, thinking and learning, use the resource A classroom conversation about Talk for Learning to stimulate discussion and raise awareness. This can be a whole-class session, or the children can be given the questions to discuss with a group or at home first, before contributing to a class discussion. After the talk, ask children to sum up what they have heard, or to say what has been thought-provoking or interesting.

A classroom conversation about Talk for Learning

Who thinks they are a talkative person?

Who thinks they are a quiet person?

Who do you like talking to? Why?

When are you asked not to talk? Why?

What does ‘chatterbox’ mean?

Do you like talking on the phone? Who do you talk to?

What’s the difference between talk, email and texts?

When is it really helpful to be able to talk to people? Why?

When is it difficult to talk to other people?

What do you like to talk about with your friends?

What sort of things can we do in school by talking together?

Are you asked to talk together in class? In which lessons? Why? Can you think of reasons why talking is useful?

What ‘jobs’ can people get done by talking to each other?

How would you communicate with other people if you couldn’t talk? How many different languages can you speak?

How many different languages have you heard of?

What happens when people talk but others don’t listen?

What are any differences between talking a...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-Title Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• The power of talk
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• PART 1 Learning through talk
• PART 2 Curriculum activities and games