Divanny Rodriguez, TEDU 522.901
Mini Reflection Paper #3: Classroom Discourse
Prior to using classroom discourse as a tool for teaching and learning, a teacher needs to
establish norms in his or her classroom. He or she should establish a classroom culture where
students listen to each other with respect, feel safe to express thoughts, and are respectful; and
talk courteously. The ground rules must be centered on each other’s obligation to treat each other
with respect, and there will be no exceptions. Having the students listen to each other with
respect is important because if students feel that their comments are ridiculed, they will not talk
freely. This is a problem because we need the students to be able to talk and reflect while doing
mathematics. If students feel safe, they will be more willing to share their thoughts, which allows
students to be more open and to share their understanding. This will help other students and the
teacher to know how much the students know or if there are any misconceptions. The teacher
needs to emphasize quite often that the students need to respect others’ ideas and listen to each
other for a productive classroom talk.
At the beginning of the school year, the teacher will need to keep reminding the students
until the norms naturally flow. This is important because only one incident can seriously stop
students’ willingness to participate and openly share ideas and their thoughts. Students should
not be allowed to make derogatory noises or remarks, call names or ever be allowed to say that
they were just joking. For respectful and courteous talk, students must feel obligated to listen
attentively to each other because if they don’t know what was said they can’t participate and
learn from the conversation. When we say that the students need to attentively listen, we mean
that they should be able to hear what others are saying, and that they could participate by
speaking at some point.
Classroom discourse helps students learn mathematics by allowing them to share their
mathematical ideas and listen to each other’s ideas. The teacher is just a facilitator and guides the
students; she is not the source of information. The students are making sense of the concepts by
problem solving and by listening to each other’s reasoning.
The five Talk Moves are: Revoicing, Repeating, Reasoning, Adding on and Waiting.
Revoicing is a move in which the teacher rephrases or interprets what the student is saying after
you ask them a question. This allows the teacher and students to know what exactly the student is
saying so that other students can follow and the teacher can see if the student is confused. The
teacher needs to ask the students if that is what the student means when she revoices the
student’s answer. It makes the student’s idea available to others and allows the student to hear
their claim again. The next Talk Move is to ask someone to repeat what the student said in his or
her own words. The benefit of this move is that it gives the students redemption of the first
student’s contribution. It gives more time to process the information and it will add to the
likelihood that the students will follow the conversation and understand the student reasoning. If
students don’t hear what the other student said, they cannot participate and exchange ideas. Also,
the student needs to know that his thinking is being taken seriously. This adds interest for the
students to express their thoughts clearly to make their contributions comprehensible. The next
Talk Move will be to ask students to apply their reasoning to the student contribution by asking
if they agree or disagree on the student reasoning and why. Once the teacher listens to the other
students, she needs to refrain from supporting one or another position because she wants the
class as a whole to discover who is correct by applying their knowledge. The second to last talk
move is adding on. This move allows the students to add more to both or either of the students’
explanations or ideas. It is important for the teacher to model how to talk respectfully to the
originators of the two positions because if not students can be discouraged from participating.
The last talk move is Waiting. This is a very important move and one of the most difficult for a
teacher to follow. We need to give students at least five seconds before calling on them for an
answer. This will allow the students to think and will let them know that they have time to
answer it. If we fail to give the students time, they will not participate because they know they
cannot beat the clock.
The five Talk Moves in action will look as follow. We have a problem and we need to call
on a few students and ask them for their answers and how they got the answer. We need to
rephrase what they say or get somebody to say it in their own words. Then, we ask the rest of the
students to agree or disagree and to add if they have anything to add. It is important to give them
time to process all the information so that the learning can take place. It is one of the most
difficult things to do for teachers but it is important.
In addition to the five Talk Moves, there are three important Talk Formats. These are
whole-class discussion, small-group discussion and partner talk. Each Talk Format has its own
rules. The first one, whole-class discussion, is the most frequently used. In this Talk Format, the
teacher is not engaged on delivering information or quizzing. She engages the students in
sustainable reasoning and does not focus on providing answers directly but focuses on students
thinking. The teacher is the facilitator and guides quite actively. This allows the students to
become more confident in their abilities to make sense of concepts, skills, and problems while
lessening anxiety and avoidance that many students show with complex mathematical ideas.
While during the whole-class discussion the teacher needs to avoid giving the information, there
will be time in which she will need to provide it, for example when it is social knowledge such as
mathematical symbols. The students will be discovering knowledge all the time, but there are
things we need to teach them directly to further students’ understanding.
The other Talk Format is small-group discussion. During this, the teacher typically gives
students a question to discuss among their groups of four to six students. It is important for the
students to be familiar with the rules and be comfortable during the small-group discussion. The
teacher will walk around but doesn’t control the discussion. This Talk Format doesn’t necessarily
ensure that the conversation will be productive or students will treat each other in an equitable
manner, which is one disadvantage.
Last is the Partner Talk Format. During this talk, the teacher asks a question and the
students discuss it with a partner for a minute or two. This talk format has several benefits
because students can get caught up with the lesson if they are not; if they do not completely
understand they can bring up their questions with their partners and formulate a way to ask the
questions. This Talk Format is particularly helpful for those who are learning English as a second
language because they feel safer to talk with a partner and can prepare them for the whole-class
discussion.
One specific example of a productive talk in the article is when the teacher gives the
problem of the two equations and finding the value for the triangle and the square that will make
both equations true. In this specific example, the teacher asks one students to share her answer
and why she got it. The student response gets rephrased and then she calls on another student to
see if she agrees. The student, Juana, disagrees and explains her reasoning. Here the students are
exposed to two different ideas. The problem is accessible for all students and they are actively
listening and thinking about the problem. The way they prove which solution is right is by
plugging in the numbers and then the student who provided the wrong answer sees that her
answer actually doesn’t work. The teacher guides the students and facilitates the understanding
of the concept by allowing other students to express their thinking and by giving time for the
student who has the misconception to realize what she is doing wrong.
I think using classroom discourse as a teaching and learning strategy is a great strategy. I
like that these strategies focus on the students as the primary source of information. The teacher
is only a facilitator and she guides them. I like that it also asks the teacher to set ground rules
before starting to use these strategies. It is important for the students to listen to each other
attentively and respect each other’s contributions in the class. I think that allowing the students to
apply their knowledge and express their knowledge is a great idea because they are learning to be
critical thinkers. They learn to be critical thinkers by expressing what they know and evaluating
each other’s answers by agreeing or disagreeing with their answers or solutions. It allows them to
show what they know and learn how to respectfully talk about each other’s answers. I consider
that it is very important for us to use these talk moves strategies as well as the Talk Format. I like
the whole-class discussion in particular because the students are all listening to each other,
evaluating each other and most of all applying their knowledge. At the same time, I like the
partner talk format because it gives some students the opportunity to talk to their partners to get
them ready to participate in the whole-class discussion. I’ve been an ESL student myself and I
know that it is important to have that opportunity. It is much easier to be prepared to participate
in class as a whole and to get caught up to what the class is discussing. Small-group discussions
are much safer as well for ESL students to participate and to get involved in because they feel
more comfortable talking and getting involved. I think that both these Talk Moves and Talk
Formats are essential to the students’ learning because the students are empowered by their
learning and are critically thinking of the problems and solving them which is an essential skill
for doing mathematics.