Academic Conversations
Brainstorm
• What types of conversations are most interesting
to your students? How do they start? How are
they maintained?
• If students were to have a “scholarly”
conversation (i.e. classroom talk that fosters
critical thinking and content understandings),
what would you:
• see?
hear?
hope for?
What are Academic Conversations?
Academic conversations…
• are sustained and purposeful conversations about school
topics
• use core conversation skills:
elaborate and clarify
support ideas with examples
build on and/or challenge a partner’s ideas
paraphrase
synthesize conversation points
• help students focus on and explore an important question,
idea, or topic
Why Teach Conversation Skills?
Or what to say when the administrators want to know why your
classroom is always so loud!
• Oral language is a cornerstone on which we build
our literacy and learning throughout life.
• Warning: Just because students are talking does
not mean that the interaction has any depth of
thinking or negotiation of meaning.
Strategy: Quotation Cafe
• Quotation Café…
 Gives pairs a chance to predict, synthesize, and interpret
 Requires students to use academic terms to support their ideas
•Set up:
 Choose important quotations from the text that students will read. Put them on
separate paper strips or note cards.
 Distribute a quotation to each student.
 Show the title of the text, read the first part of the text aloud, and/or show an image
or two from the text.
 Explain that the purpose of the activity is to form an idea of what the text will be
about as they talk to different partners.
 Students circulate and find one partner at a time with whom to discuss each quotation
and predict what the text will be about.
All Great Ideas Begin
by Talking Out Loud:
Redesigning Classroom
Conversations
What is an Academic Conversation?
An academic conversation goes beyond casual
conversation. The goal is for the participants to
reach a new understanding of a school topic
through the use of specific conversational
skills. Each partner must listen and speak,
elaborate, clarify, challenge, paraphrase, and
summarize what his/her partner says, and
determine the outcome of the conversation.
https://wisc.adobeconnect.com/_a825758332
/p2gavpn3fog/?launcher=false&fcsContent=tr
ue&pbMode=normal Webinar
Getting Started
• Effective conversations
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Both partners talk
Critical and creative thinking
Welcome controversy and conflict
Recognize and reduce ambiguity
Follow norms
Encourage thinking based on rules of the discipline
Use opportunities for transfer of knowledge and skills
Provide choice and ownership
Conversation Norms
•
•
•
•
We listen to each other
We share our own ideas and explain them
We respect another’s ideas, even if they are different
We let others finish explaining an idea without
interrupting
• We take turns and share air time
Elaborate and Clarify: Questions
Questions ask for specific information. Try these:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Can you elaborate on…?
What do you mean by…?
Can you tell me more about…?
What makes you think that?
Can you clarify the part about …?
Can you be more specific?
How so?
How/Why is that important?
I wonder if …?
I’m a little confused about the part…
Support Ideas with Examples: Teaching
• The Hunt for Deep Ideas. What makes you stop & think?
Write quotations on cards.
• Plan the conversation on an organizer
Idea
Example
The Red Sox are a great team.
They won the World Series eight times.
(1903, 1912, 1915, 1916,
1918,2004,2007, 2013)
They have 74 players in the Hall of Fame.
• Evaluate the support (quality) of examples on a
continuum:
IDEA
Weak support
Med Support
Strong support
Elaborate and Clarify: Frames by Grade Level 3-5
Grade
Questions
Answers
3
What do you mean by…?
Tell me more about….
Can you elaborate on…?
I wonder how/if….
What makes you think that?
Can you be more specific?
How does that connect to…?
Why is that important?
I mean…
By that I meant….
I think that…
It’s similar to when…
In other words…
According to .…
It’s important because…
I believe that…
4-5
What do you mean by…?
Tell me more about….
Can you elaborate on…?
I wonder how/if….
What makes you think that?
Can you be more specific?
How does that connect to…?
Why is that important?
I’m confused about the part….
Can you clarify the part about…?
I mean…
By that I meant….
I think that…
It’s similar to when…
In other words…
According to…
It’s important because…
I believe that…
An analogy for this might be…
More specifically, it is…because…
Support Ideas with Examples
Questions
• Can you give me an example from the text?
• Can you show me where it says that?
• What is the evidence for that?
• Why do you say that?
• Like what?
Answers
• For example, …
• In the text (on page..) it said …
• For instance, …
• According to…
• In this situation…
Synthesize Conversation Points
Questions
• What have we discussed so far?
• How can we bring this all together?
• What can we agree on?
• What are the main points?
• What was the original question?
Answers
• So, you are saying that…
• Let me see if I understand you.
• In other words, …
• What I’m hearing is…
Build on &/or Challenge a Partner’s
Ideas: Teaching
• Read two texts, opposing views
• Two-minute Opinion Share
– Give the partners a controversial question.
– Assign one partner A, one B
– A gets 1 minute to defend her/her side of the
question
– B must challenge A’s position
– Third minute is for consensus
• Build – and use – a set of norms
Build on and/or Challenge a Partner’s
Ideas
Questions
• Can you add to that idea?
• Do you agree?
• How does that connect to…?
• What are some other ideas?
Answers
• I want to add to your point that…
• Connecting to that, …
• Another way to look at that is…
• If __________, then __________.
• I wonder if….
Conversation Norms - Challenge
• We listen to each other
• We share our own ideas and explain them
• We respect another’s ideas, even if they are different
• We respectfully disagree and try to see the
other view
• We let others finish explaining an idea without
interrupting
• We try to come to some agreement in the end
• We take turns and share air time
Opinion Continuum
Jelly beans are better than M&Ms.
Yes
No
• Students place their own personal arrow
where their opinion falls.
Integrating Critical and Creative
Thinking Strategies
It is not about whose viewpoint is “right” . . .
it is getting to deeper understandings with
new and broader perspectives
Three types of argument:
1. Social Arguments
2. Literacy Argument
3. Nonfiction Topic
Social Arguments
• Should chocolate milk be allowed in schools?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjxpeAom5HU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ4wGDl56Zg
• Should soda be sold in school vending
machines?
Literary Arguments
• Giving Tree – is tree weak or strong?
• Children learn to be more
nuanced
• Lead to deeper understandings
of abstract ideas
• Example: Socratic Seminar,
http://www.ebmcdn.net/fcps/fcps_video_view
er.php?viewnode=194301d2a52ff
In Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken” is the poet
ambivalent, self-assured, regretful, or adventuresome?
How does this poem connect to the focus on increasing
academic conversations
in your
school?
The
Road
Not Taken
by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Nonfiction Argument
• What they know comes from the text
• Requires student to sort, weigh, and
evaluate evidence
• Reasoning coupled with evidence
• Examples: Structured Academic
Controversy, Debate
Academic Controversy
Have you learned the lessons only of those who admired you,
and were tender with you, and stood aside for you?
Have you not learned great lessons from those who braced
themselves against you, and disputed passage with you?
Walt Whitman, 1860
Scaffolding Academic Controversy
It was the __________’s
opinion that barbed wire led to
_______.
While ________ felt that
barbed wire was
_________, ________ felt
that it ___________..
According to ______ barbed
wire is _______
because____________.
Academic Controversy exists when one
student’s idea, information, conclusions,
theories, and opinions are incompatible with
those of another, and the two seek to reach an
agreement. (Johnson & Johnson, 1995)
Aristotle called this deliberate discourse - the
discussion of advantages and disadvantages
of proposed actions aimed at synthesizing
novel solutions.
Student Talk vs. Teacher Talk
ACADEMIC CONVERSATIONS
TRADITIONAL CLASS
DISCUSSIONS
97% student talk
97% teacher talk
Average student response – 812 seconds
No teacher approval or
disapproval
Average student response – 2-3
seconds
Teacher judgment; emphasis on
correctness
Rightness is paramount;
thinking ends when someone is
right
Thinking is paramount, backed
up with textual evidence
Students listen primarily to
peers
Students listen primarily to
teacher
Student ownership for “flow”
Teacher ownership for “flow”
Student Talk vs. Teacher Talk
ACADEMIC CONVERSATIONS
TRADITIONAL CLASS
DISCUSSIONS
97% student talk
97% teacher talk
Average student response – 812 seconds
No teacher approval or
disapproval
Average student response – 2-3
seconds
Teacher judgment; emphasis on
correctness
Rightness is paramount;
thinking ends when someone is
right
Thinking is paramount, backed
up with textual evidence
Students listen primarily to
peers
Students listen primarily to
teacher
Student ownership for “flow”
Teacher ownership for “flow”
Journey to Student Driven
Academic Conversation
4
Leadership
1
Participation
2
Cooperation
Become aware
of problems like
factions and
Learn to speak to each
dominance.
other with minimal
Work together
mediation by
to enable all
facilitator.
members to
Learn discussion skills
speak.
Invest in process
through sharing
experience.
3
Listening
Work together to
listen to each other
and the text.
Examine their
assumptions and
perspectives and how
they differ from those
of the text and one
another.
Begin to change their
opinions because of
what others say.
Learn how to
share
leadership
with the
teacher.
Learn how to
lead the
group.
How might I apply
What resources and
What professional
this information in my support might I need? development might
school?
my teachers need?
Who at my school can
help lead the way?
Stand Up, Hand Up, Pair Up
1) What is the purpose of
using academic
conversations?
2) Describe how you could
support moving from talk
to discourse in your
building.
Conversation starters:
I would ____ in order to ______.
If ___, I would use _____.

Conversation
prompts:
 Can you elaborate
on that?
 Please give an
example.
 I was wondering
what you meant by…
 To build on what you
said…
To succeed in life, students should be able to
write and speak with clarity, and to read and
listen with comprehension. Language and
thought are inextricably connected, and as
students develop their linguistic skills, they
hone the quality of their thinking and become
intellectually and socially empowered.
- Ernest Boyer, Carnegie Foundation
Deepen the Practice
Students take on more responsibility to deepen the
conversations:
• Whole Brain Teaching: Teach/OK
• Pairs invite singletons to join them
• Pairs change
• If one pair member won’t talk, other member may join
another pair
• Each pair monitors itself – point value (eventually)
– Baseline and improvement data
• Students monitor conversations with checklists
• Recognition for great conversations
Watch for:
• Disputes
• Which skills could move this conversation forward?
–
–
–
–
“The Red Sox are a great team.”
“The Yankees are better.”
“The Red Sox by far.”
“You don’t know anything.”
• Accumulation
• Which skills could move this conversation forward?
– and then…and then… and then…
– Information is added, but there is no critical questioning
Watch for:
• Procedural talk
• Which skills could move this conversation forward?
– Students talk about what they should be doing or
discussing, who should be next, etc. rather than
exploring the topic.
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?
• How do conversation skills transfer to academic reading and
writing in all content areas?
• How can academic conversations demonstrate Depth of
Knowledge?
Speaking and Listening
Anchor Standards
Comprehension and Collaboration
1. Prepare for and participate effectively in a range
of conversations and collaborations with diverse
partners, building on others’ ideas and
expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
2. Integrate and evaluate information presented
in diverse media and formats, including visually,
quantitatively, and orally.
3. Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning,
and use of evidence and rhetoric.
• Elaborate & Clarify
• Paraphrase
• Support Ideas with Evidence
• Build on and/or challenge partner’s ideas
• Synthesize
Independent
Academic
Conversations
5 Core
Conversation
Skills
Structured
Interactions of
“Collaboration”
Individual Seat
Work
•
•
•
•
•
•
Kagan/Cooperative Learning
SIOP Strategies
Pair Share
Save the Last Word
Take a Side
Conversation Lines and Circles
Directions for Interview Grid—
Example of a Structured Interaction
• Walk around the room interviewing three other
people using the questions on the grid. Have
them explain their answers.
• Paraphrase the responses you hear and record it
on the grid.
Interview Grid
Name
What is one thing you would
never do and why?
If you could change one thing in
your life what would it be and
why?
When you think back on your
summer vacation, what one
thing still makes you smile and
why?
Debrief discussion
Did you use the skills?
• How did your discussion include the 5 Core
Conversation Skills?
–
–
–
–
–
Elaborate & Clarify
Paraphrase
Support Ideas with Evidence
Build on and/or challenge partner’s ideas
Synthesize
• Brainstorm individually on the back side of the interview
form, then share with your elbow partner. After 4 minutes
selected participants will be asked to summarize.
Assessment
• Informal: ask students how many skills they
used
• More formal: Skill checklist on clipboard
– Teacher roams, checks some or all conversations
– One student listens and checks 2 talkers. Rotate.
(Who checks the checker?)
“Education for Life and Work: Developing Transferable Knowledge and Skills in the 21st Century.” National Research Council, 2012
• If these are the skills, how do we
currently meet the demands of the
21st Century?
Turn and talk
How does engaging in productive
academic conversations meet the
demands of the 21st Century?
Advantages of Academic Conversations
Language & Literacy
Cognitive
Content Learning
Social & Cultural
Psychological
As a group, sort the advantages of academic
conversation into categories.
1. Language and Literacy
Advantages
Conversation builds:
academic language
vocabulary
literacy skills
communication skills
2. Cognitive Advantages
Conversation:
builds critical thinking skills
promotes different perspectives
and empathy
fosters creativity
fosters skills for negotiating
meaning
3. Content Learning Advantages
Conversation:
cultivates connections
helps students co-construct
understandings
helps teachers assess learning
4. Social and Cultural Advantages
Conversation:
builds relationships
makes lessons more
culturally relevant
fosters equity
5. Psychological Advantages
Conversation:
fosters engagement and
motivation
builds confidence and academic
identity
builds student voice and
empowerment
Pick a Content Area
• Connect with your own teaching partners
• Decide how you will apply one or more of
these skills
• IT IS OK TO TAKE IT SLOW
– Try one skill at a time
– Stick with it for awhile until if feels natural
– There is no hurry, there’s just taking the next step
• Thank you for your time today!
What are collaborative academic
conversations?
“Academic conversations are back and forth
dialogues in which students focus on a topic and
explore it by building, challenging, and negotiating
relevant ideas. They push students to think and
learn in lasting ways.”
Jeff Zwiers and Marie Crawford
Academic Conversations
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 Prepare for and
participate effectively in a range of
conversations and collaborations with
diverse partners, building on others’ ideas
and expressing their own clearly and
persuasively.
Establishing Norms for Collaborative
Academic Conversations
1. Listen to others attentively
2.
Now, brainstorm (by yourself or with a course alike
partner) some of the norms to promote effective
academic conversations in your classroom.
Consider incorporating schoolwide norms as well.
Between now and then…
• Create norms for Collaborative Academic
Conversations with your students
• Provide time for students to practice these norms in
a collaborative setting (pairs, trios, groups, class
discussions…)
• Be prepared to share:
– 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?
Next Steps
•
•
•
Application of Five
Core Skills
Connecting to
Theoretical
Framework &
Academic Language
Creating
Conversational
Prompts
Academic Conversation Skills Placemat
x
© Jeff Zwiers