Teacher Talk: Why we need itDebbie Light

How do we use our talk to give good explanations?

How do we use our talk to model academic language use?

How do we use our talk to ask questions to develop their understanding?

How do we use our talk to provide effective oral feedback?

The power of a good explanation: helping students understand new

information• Sum up the most important

information in one sentence – start with this.

• Then flesh it out with real life examples, analogies, an extended metaphor or anecdotes to make it stick.

• Repeat your opening sentence at the end of your explanation.

• Follow up by getting them to write down the explanation in their own words using one of the above techniques.

• An explanation that is longer than three minutes might need tweaking!

David Didau, aka @LearningSpy, uses the idea of a filmmaker choosing different shots in a film to explain how to analyse a text.A filmmaker might zoom in for a close up shot; this is similar to when the reader focuses on the tiny details of language. The filmmaker may then zoom out for a wide shot; this is similar to considering all of the language details in a text to evaluate its effectiveness.

Modelling academic language: helping students articulate the unfamiliar

• Display a list of informal words before you begin talking.

• Use a range of academic words in your speech and ask students to actively listen out for them.

• Afterwards, students identify these words and match them to the informal words displayed.

• Finish off by colour coding them depending on their difficulty. Warm Hot Scorching

• Use them in a later piece of writing to help students build their academic vocabulary.

Academic Language NarrativeForeshadowsSymbolismWriter’s intentionTheme

Informal languageStoryLeaves a clueSignsWriter’s messageImportant idea

Asking the right questions: helping students to develop their

understandingNever accept a student’s first answer. Use Socratic questions to challenge their thinking. If you model how to question effectively, then students will learn to carry out a similar process with their peers. What has made you think this? Will this always be the case? What evidence is there to confirm

your point? Is there another way of looking at

this? How does X affect Y? Why do you think the original

question I posed is important?

Why do you consider Magwitch to be a villain?Do you think he will always have this function in the novel or could another character become the villain?What have you read specifically that has led you to think Magwitch is a villain?Could other readers argue that he is not a villain because of the social context?How does his criminal background affect his ability to become a gentleman, despite being wealthy?What point might Dickens be making about society given the fact that Magwitch is perceived as a villain?

Immediate feedback: helping students to improve their work

• Use the gallery critique model where students display their draft work for the class.

• Students move around and make notes on post-its, referring to specified criteria.

• The teacher selects a few notes as a prompt to model Ron Berger’s critique rules of: Be kind, be helpful, be specific.

• The teacher makes links to where the criteria has not yet been met using the phrase ‘SO THAT’ – as discussed by Zoe Elder, aka @fullonlearning.

Teacher: The strength of this piece is that all of the ideas explored are supported with evidence from the text. However, there is no interpretation of the language Magwitch uses when he returns to London. This student considers it to be violent language but other readers might think differently. When redrafting, he will need to include an alternative interpretation SO THAT he has highlighted readers’ different responses based on their own social and cultural contexts.

Thanks for listening!

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