Facilitating Classroom Talk that Builds the Mind by Dr. Gaowei Chen

Facilitating Classroom Talk that

Builds the Mind

Gaowei Chen

Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong

Meeting of Minds Series, SoL

Nov 26, 2015

Teacher-led classroom talk is

fundamental to student learning

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Teacher talk

How do you know it has more

volume? What’s your

proof?

Teacher

Louie

Because I can tell that A doesn’t

have that much volume.

Why? What is it about container A

or the liquid in A that makes you

think there’s not a lot in there?

Teacher

Press for Reasoning

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Teacher talk

What do you think Amalia

means when she says it

causes physical breakdown?

Teacher

Amalia

…sometimes hot weather… it causes

physical breakdown of the rocks.

Marcel

Well, I- I think she means like the

rocks like after you get - it starts to

cool and when it starts to warm again

usually a lot of stuff starts to break out

there.

Restate Someone Else’s Reasoning

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Teacher helps students think by self

• Press for Reasoning “Why do you think that?” “What’s your evidence?”

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• Say More “Can you say more about that?”

“Can you give an example?”

• Revoice “So, let me see if I’ve got what you’re saying. Are you

saying…?”

• Challenge “Does it always work that way?”

“I kind of disagree with you”

Teacher helps students think with others

• Restate “Who can repeat what he just said or put it into their own

words?”

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• Agree/

Disagree

“Do you agree/disagree? (And why?)”

“Does anyone want to respond to that idea?”

• Add On “Who can add onto the idea that he is building?”

“Can anyone take that suggestion and push it a little further?”

• Explain Other “Who can explain what he means when she says that?”

“Why do you think he said that?”

• Improved student achievement and reasoning

skills

(Bill et al., 1992; Chapin & O’Connor, 2004; Kuhn et al., 2013; Resnick et al., 2015)

• Long term effect and transfer

(Adey & Shayer, 2001; Bill, Leer, Reams, & Resnick, 1992; Chapin & O’Connor, 2004; Shayer, 1999;

Topping & Trickey, 2007)

When teachers use such talk moves

in the classroom…

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However, very little teaching includes

such talk in the classroom

8(Kane & Staiger, 2012; Mercer, Dawes, & Staarman, 2009; Pimentel & McNeil, 2013)

• Teachers find it difficult to learn and effectively integrate such talk moves into their instruction

• Teachers believe that basic information must first be taught “directly”

• Teachers believe that only a few students are capable of the kind of effective talk that appears to have robust effects

• …

Hence the Need for…

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facilitating teacher professional

development in the skills of

discussion-based teaching

An Analytics-supported Reflection

Approach

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• Teacher professional development context

– School embedded, evidence based

• Teacher and facilitator community

• Joint reflection supported by visual analytics, video,

and transcripts

• Visual representations serve as a lens for identifying meaningful segments

Visualization Transcripts

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Visualization Transcripts

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Research Questions

• How do the teachers view the analytics-

supported reflection approach?

• How does the analytics-supported

reflection approach impact classroom talk

and student learning?

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Research Design• Secondary mathematics classes

• A year-long intervention involving school-embedded, evidence-based

teacher learning activities

• A post-test and a delayed post-test of the impact of teacher learning

on classroom talk and students’ mathematics achievement14

Preliminary Findings

North Carolina school district with 6 reading teachers and 3 facilitators

After the analytics-supported intervention…

• Growth in specific talk moves

– 4 of the 6 teachers showed growth in specific talk moves

– This targeted growth corresponds to specific talk goals that teachers and facilitators

identified in coaching sessions

• Level of student involvement

– 5 out of the 6 teachers engaged more students in the discussion

– Teachers tended to be more aware of the number of students involved in classroom

discussions

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Some Challenges

• Recording of classroom talk

– Tracking camera, microphone-array?

• Transcribing

– Speech recognition software that can pick up multi-party discussion?

• Coding

– Automated coding software?

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Thank You!

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