One Step at a Time: Presentation 8
DISCUSSION SKILLS
Introduction
Initial Screen
Skills Checklist
Classroom Intervention
Lesson Planning
Teaching Method
Vocabulary Work
Monitoring Progress
Moving On
Links to Literacy
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Discussion Skills
INTRODUCTION
Discussion Skills

is a programme for developing thinking skills, social understanding and
emotional literacy

It is intended for children aged 7 and over, and can be used with older
children of any age, up to and including secondary school

If a significant number of children have not completed Narrative Skills,
the class should do some Narrative Skills work before beginning
Discussion Skills

Discussion Skills is expected to extend across at least two years but will
still benefit all children if used for a single year
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Discussion Skills
INTRODUCTION
Discussion is:
a
form of expanded conversation, requiring extended speaking and
extended listening, but also tends to be more general and abstract
a
highly effective but under-used method of teaching and learning
a
way of developing children’s thinking skills, social understanding and
emotional literacy, and the ability to direct and control their own learning
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Discussion Skills
INTRODUCTION
Discussion work:

is a valuable teaching tool in its own right

can be used to deliver any part of the curriculum

takes pressure off staff by allowing children to work independently

enables children to learn from and support each other

can boost the confidence and language skills of less able children

It need not be noisy or disruptive but does need to be introduced
gradually through whole-class and partner work
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Discussion Skills
INITIAL SCREEN
The Initial Screen helps staff to:
‘tune-in’
identify
to the relevant skills at this level of the programme
children’s current development of these skills
determine
the amount of support they are likely to need
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Discussion Skills
INITIAL SCREEN
The Initial Screen identifies children as:

Competent: they seem to be acquiring these skills without too much
difficulty and are not expected to need special attention

Developing: they seem to be slower in acquiring these skills and are
likely to need some assistance and monitoring

Delayed: they seem to be having difficulty in acquiring these skills and
are likely to need more intensive support and monitoring
These groupings are intended to be flexible and are likely to change in the
course of a term or year.
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Discussion Skills
INITIAL SCREEN
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Discussion Skills
INITIAL SCREEN

While children are getting used to working in discussion groups
the teacher can be observing them informally, focusing on the
behaviours to be assessed

Working with a colleague if possible, the class teacher
completes the initial screen for each child separately

A behaviour should only be credited if a child is using it
confidently, competently and consistently. If there is any doubt
or disagreement, the behaviour should not be credited
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Discussion Skills
INITIAL SCREEN

The screen has two bands, and children are assessed band by band. If they
do not have all the behaviours in Band 1, they do not need to be assessed
on Band 2

Children who lack any of the behaviours in Band 1 are identified as
Delayed, even if they have some of the behaviours in Band 2

Children who have all the behaviours in Band 1 but lack any of the
behaviours in Band 2 are identified as Developing

Children who have all the behaviours in both bands are identified as
Competent
The Delayed group may include some children with special needs, but should
not be thought of as a special needs group.
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Discussion Skills
SKILLS CHECKLISTS
Discussion Skills has three checklists:

Learning through Discussion

Planning and Problem Solving

Negotiation and Emotional Literacy
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Discussion Skills
SKILLS CHECKLISTS
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Discussion Skills
SKILLS CHECKLISTS

Each checklist identifies two or three general skills, divided into
separate behaviours or sub-skills

Skills and behaviours are listed in rough developmental order as
a guide to intervention

The teacher normally works through each checklist in sequence,
a few behaviours at a time

Every child and every behaviour needs to be assessed and
monitored separately
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Discussion Skills
CLASSROOM INTERVENTION

Discussion skills are taught through a combination of whole-class, smalldiscussion and targeted intervention with individual children

The checklists set teaching objectives for all children on a rolling basis,
while the initial screens determine the amount of support needed for
each child
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Discussion Skills
CLASSROOM INTERVENTION: Whole-Class Work
Whole-class work is used to:

introduce and explain discussion work in general (what it is, why it is
useful, how it works, what the rules are)

demonstrate and practise discussion work

introduce and explain each discussion topic

explain and demonstrate the specific aspects of discussion work
currently being targeted
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Discussion Skills
CLASSROOM INTERVENTION: Discussion Groups

Children are assigned to discussion groups of up to six children on the
basis of the initial screen. Using discussion work, it should be possible for
all children to practise discussion skills almost every day

The teacher works with individual children in their discussion groups,
paying particular attention to any children identified as Delayed, and
helping them to develop specific behaviours

A list of the skills and behaviours currently being worked on should be
displayed prominently, so all adults can use it to guide their interaction
with individual children
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Discussion Skills
LESSON PLANNING

The skills checklists provide learning and teaching objectives for
all children

Suggestions for discussion topics and questions are given in the
Notes to the checklists

It should not at first be necessary to plan separate discussion
lesson but these may be needed for later skills
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Discussion Skills
TEACHING METHOD
Parents normally teach their children spoken language (usually without
realising they are doing it) by:

Highlighting: drawing attention to a word or behaviour by
indicating or emphasising it

Modelling: providing an example for the child to copy

Prompting: encouraging him to respond, directing him towards
an appropriate response

Rewarding: rewarding any appropriate response with praise
and further encouragement
The teacher should use the same techniques, but use them explicitly and
systematically.
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Discussion Skills
VOCABULARY WORK

Discussion Skills includes a Vocabulary Wordlist of 100 words that children
will need to know for their discussion work: discussion vocabulary for
Checklists 1 and 2, and the vocabulary of feelings and emotion for
Checklist 3

Staff should ensure that all children are familiar with these words, by
introducing and explaining them in whole-class work

They may need to teach some of these words systematically to some
children
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Discussion Skills
MONITORING PROGRESS

Each child is monitored separately using the checklists. As each
child acquires a behaviour or question form it gets ticked off on the
checklist

A behaviour should only be credited when the child is using it
confidently, competently and consistently. If there is any doubt
about a behaviour, it should not be credited

The teacher needs to ensure that each behaviour has been properly
consolidated, and should return later to any items that have proved
difficult, to confirm that previous learning has been retained

It is always more important that children consolidate basic skills
than that they move on to more advanced ones
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Discussion Skills
MOVING ON

The teacher normally keeps working on the same behaviours until all
children have learnt them, but it may sometimes be necessary to move on
to the next skills or the next checklist

She may sometimes be working on different skills with different children,
but should not attempt to work on two checklists at the same time

Each checklist is expected to take more than a term to complete
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Discussion Skills
LINKS TO LITERACY
Discussion work supports both reading and writing:

It gives children something to write about and improves their
understanding of what they read

It can be used to share and develop ideas for both independent
writing and comprehension work

It promotes the use and understanding of information sources

It can help children to reflect on what and how they read and write.
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