Facilitating Classroom Talk that Builds the Mind

Gaowei ChenFaculty of Education, University of Hong Kong

Meeting of Minds Series, SoLNov 26, 2015

Teacher-led classroom talk isfundamental to student learning

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Teacher

How do you know it has more volume? What’s your proof? Louie

Because I can tell that A doesn’t have that much volume.

Teacher

Why? What is it about container A or the liquid in A that makes you think there’s not a lot in there?

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Teacher talk

Press for Reasoning

Teacher

What do you think Amalia means when she says it causes physical breakdown?

Amalia

…sometimes hot weather… it causes physical breakdown of the rocks.

MarcelWell, 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.

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Teacher talk

Restate Someone Else’s Reasoning

Teacher helps students think by self

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

• 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

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

words?”

• 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)

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• 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 movesin the classroom…

However, very little teaching includessuch talk in the classroom

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

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

• Teachers believe that basic information must first betaught “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

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• How do the teachers view the analytics-supported reflection approach?

• How does the analytics-supported reflection approach impact classroom talk and student learning?

Research Design

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• Secondary mathematics classes• A year-long intervention involving school-embedded, evidence-

basedteacher learning activities

• A post-test and a delayed post-test of the impact of teacher learningon classroom talk and students’ mathematics achievement

Preliminary Findings

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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

Some Challenges

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• Recording of classroom talk– Tracking camera, microphone-array?

• Transcribing– Speech recognition software that can pick up

multi-party discussion?

• Coding– Automated coding software?

Thank You!

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