How about your own learning objectives?
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How about my teaching objectives?
… for everyone to leave the workshop resolved to:
 increase their own learning/appreciation of DT&L
 increase/improve their own practice of DT&L
 especially, connecting DT&L with Enquiry and Reflection
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What would you like to know about DT&L?
Dialogue
(esp. w.r.t.
T & L)
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Dialogue is not just the next step up from monologue!
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Dia = across, between
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Logos = word, communication
It is not restricted to two-way communication.
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T = Teacher
P = Pupil
S = Story
= Talk
= Questioning
T
P
P
S
P
P
P P
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P

(Diagram Inspired by Mike Lake)
T = Teacher
P = Pupil
S = Story
= Talk
T
= Questioning
= Building on Ideas
P
P
P
S
P
P
P
P
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In dialogic classrooms children don’t just provide brief factual answers to ‘test’ or ‘recall’ questions, or merely spot the answer which they think the teacher wants to hear.
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Instead they learn to: narrate, explain, analyse, speculate, imagine, explore, evaluate, discuss, argue, justify and they ask questions of their own.
Children in dialogic classrooms also
 listen
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 think about what they hear give others time to think respect alternative viewpoints
Robin Alexander, Towards Dialogic Teaching, 2004
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Dialogic teaching is not National Curriculum
‘speaking and listening’ under another name.
It is grounded in research on the relationship between language, thinking and understanding, and in observational evidence on what makes for truly effective teaching.
Robin Alexander, Towards Dialogic Teaching, 2004
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‘The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be ignited.’
On Listening to Lectures’ - Plutarch (46 – 120)
Plutarch is not urging teachers to be inspirational performers, so much as inspirers of learners to ‘light their own fires’ – in other words, to bring their own wills and skills to the learning process.
But how to nurture such a will to be a lifelong learner?
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The test of a good teacher is not how many questions he can ask his pupils that they will answer readily, but how many questions he inspires them to ask which he finds it hard to answer.
- Alice Wellington Rollins (1847 – 1897)
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The value of learning with and from others in dialogue, and especially through raising questions and reasoning about answers, has long been recognised by philosophers, educators and psychologists.
Perhaps the most important names in this story are:
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SOCRATES (famous for the Socratic Method)
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DEWEY (for proposing education as Inquiry, and learning as Reflection)

VYGOTSKY (for proposing Socially Mediated Learning)
Think – Pair - Share
Thinking Schools
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The leading advocate in the UK today
“From the 1980’s, the Piagetian idea of the child as the ‘lone scientist’ who develops cognitively by interacting with stimulating materials was… supplemented by the Vygotskian view that the child’s cognitive development also requires it to engage , through the medium of spoken language , with adults, other children and the wider culture.”
Robin Alexander, Towards Dialogic Teaching, 2004
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Conclusion of CPR response to Government consultation on proposed curriculum

Overall, we find the proposals in many respects educationally unsound and evidentially questionable. They are based on a flawed critique of existing arrangements and an overly selective response to international data.

Their lack of serious educational rationale is confirmed by the decision to add an essentially cosmetic statement of aims after the priorities and content have been determined.

They perpetuate some of the most damaging aspects of current and past arrangements, notably a curriculum which is divided not only in time but also as to quality and seriousness of purpose, especially where the arts and humanities are concerned.
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Conclusion of CPR response to Government consultation on proposed curriculum, ctd.

The proposals rightly prioritise knowledge but wrongly reduce it to unchallengeable proposition.

They disregard both research evidence and expert opinion on matters such as spoken language and the teaching of reading, history and citizenship.

They belittle or ignore aspects of cultural life and human development such as drama, dance and the exploration of faith and belief - which ought to feature in any national curriculum.

While claiming modernity they fail adequately to reflect the profound social and educational implications of the digital revolution.

Dialogic teaching is not a single set method of teaching.
It is more a professional outlook or state of mind than a specific method.
It requires us to rethink not just the techniques we use, but the classroom relationships we foster and the balance of power between teacher and taught.
Robin Alexander, Towards Dialogic Teaching, 2004
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Keywording a key Thinking Skill strategy
Identifying and Developing Key Words/Concepts
The practice of key wording is a simple and effective one in any learning situation, whether conducted orally or in writing .
It is a practice of highlighting, mentally or on paper , the key words or concepts in any exposition.
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For instance, try identifying 5 key words from the previous slide, and then comparing your list with a partner’s.
Notice how the process is one of actively questioning for meaning, and then a questioning of each other’s meaning-making.
Thinking Schools 16

What are the key words about D T & L so far?
Dialogue
(esp. w.r.t.
T & L)
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1. Collective: teachers and children address learning tasks together, whether as a group or as a class, rather than in isolation;
2. Reciprocal: teachers and children listen to each other, share ideas and consider alternative viewpoints;
3. Supportive : children articulate their ideas freely, without fear of embarrassment over ‘wrong’ answers; and they help each other to reach common understandings;
4. Cumulative: teachers and children build on their own and each others’ ideas and chain them into coherent lines of thinking and enquiry;
5. Purposeful : teachers plan and facilitate dialogic teaching with particular educational goals in view.
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“The teacher’s goal is to teach students to be better thinkers, and to do so by engaging students in dialogue.”
“No programme I am aware of is more likely to teach durable and transferable thinking skills than Philosophy for Children.”
Robert Sternberg, Current President of the American Psychological Association
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“ The aim of a thinking skills program such as P4C to help (children) become more thoughtful , more reflective , more considerate and more reasonable individuals.”
Matthew Lipman
(1924 - )
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Thinking mode Thinking focus
CRITICAL ABOUT THINKING
CREATIVE
CARING
COLLABORATIVE
FOR YOURSELF
OF OTHERS
WITH OTHERS
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A group of people used to thinking together with a view to increasing their understanding and appreciation of the world around them and of each other
- SAPERE Level 1 Handbook, 2004
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“Pooh began to feel a little more uncomfortable, because when you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it”
- The House at Pooh Corner (A.A. Milne)
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S ynonyms / Opposites
P opular phrases / usages ally, buddy, companion, comrade, mate, pal – adversary, enemy, rival best friend, true friend, friend in need, friends reunited, facebook friends
Friend
Loyalty, care, love, reciprocity, trust, unconditional, fun
C onnected ideas helping with tasks, sharing celebrations, sharing secrets, offering sympathy
E xamples / situations
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NOT FUN
Examples
???
FUN
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Arrange the following (which are in a random order) along a continuous line from most conducive to healthy learning to least conducive: chat, debate, conversation, quarrel, argy-bargy, banter, dialogue, argument, conference
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The model of questioning set by Socrates
(470 – 399 bce) remains fit for the 21 st century

In his search for better understanding and judgement, the first step that Socrates often took was to enquire into the
MEANING of key words or ideas

The second step he took was to question the
TRUTH of what was being said or claimed

Then, if a claim was both clear and believable, his third and final step was to enquire about its
VALUE or importance
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Socratic Questioning – promoting understanding and appreciation in communities of enquiry
Questions seeking…
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Explanation – if the meaning is not clear
Illustration – if an example would make the meaning more vivid
Distillation – if much has been said and a summary would help
Elaboration – if not enough has been said, and more detail would help
Proportion – if the extent or scale of a claim needs to be checked
Precision – if an exception or distinction needs to be drawn
Evidence – if a claim to truth needs support
Reason – if a belief or point of view needs strengthening
Implications – if assumptions or conclusions need to be drawn out
Alternatives – if other considerations or applications need to be elicited
(C larify )
( Exemplify )
( Simplify )
( Amplify )
( Quantify)
( Qualify )
( Verify )
( Justify )
(Intensify)
( Diversify )
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Thinking Schools

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Children shouldn't be allowed to watch scary movies
It is possible to be kind to everyone
It is possible to always be good and never be bad
Chocolate is better than fruit
A Mars bar is better than an apple
Children should never hit teddy bears
All children can learn new things
Watching TV is more interesting than being at school
Children should always be allowed to have pets
All pets are nice
No one should ever be forced to do something they are scared of
Everyone is different
Everyone is the same in some ways
N.B. You could use a continuum line for dis/agreement, but the main aim is to draw out reasons for and against.
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
‘There’s no sense in apologising for the Slave Trade’ (History)

‘Climate change is for the scientists to advise about, the politicians to do something about, and ordinary people not to be worried by’
(Science, Geography)

‘Sales of alcohol should be much more restricted than they are’
(PSHE/Citizenship)

‘The country needs more mathematicians and linguists if it is to compete economically’ (Maths, ICT, D & T, Modern Languages,
Economics)

‘Whatever ‘modern’ music and art are, I don’t like them’ (A & D, Music)
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‘Top footballers and authors are paid far too much!’ (PE, English,
Citizenship)
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“The development of the general ability for independent thinking and judgement should always be placed foremost … not the acquisition of special knowledge.”
- Albert Einstein, Out of my Later Years, 1950
(1879 – 1955)
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