Talking and Listening
Listening and speaking—it's the art at the heart of literacy workshops. But there is also a science to how these skills are taught and learned. These resources will show you how to build communication skills in your classroom and school communities.
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Eavesdrop on Your Students
Melissa Quimby suggests listening in on students’ conversations to find out their interests. These tidbits will help you in building connections, recommending books, and encouraging writing topics.
Still Thinking: An Opportunity to Pause and Think Deeply
Jodie Bailey provides a structure to give students more time to think through ideas and problems. By using this practice, students gain ownership for their learning.
Listening for Conjectures
Mallory Messenger shares a routine for hearing student conjectures (in math and other subjects) and a process for giving time for the class to prove or disprove the claims. Download a Conjecture—Prove or Disprove Recording Sheet to collect student conjectures in your classroom.
Student Voices First
David Pittman offers practical ways to place student voices first in classrooms in order for their passions, interests, and identities to influence our teaching.
Our Words Matter: Developing Perseverance in Literacy
Becca Burk reflects on the power of intentional language to build perseverance in students. She shares a booklist designed to give students scripts they need to become brave learners.
Math Debates: A Powerful Sense-Making Routine
Jodie Bailey shares a powerful practice of math debates for students to explore a problem with discussion and evidence to discover the correct solution.
Lifting the Quality of Hands-Down Conversations
Tammy Mulligan leads us through troubleshooting the difficult parts of launching hands-down conversations. This is the third installment of a three-part series about launching hands-down conversations.
How to Begin a Community Circle
Bitsy Parks gives direction in beginning a community circle with primary learners.
Hands-Down Conversations in the Primary Grades
Tammy Mulligan shares the steps to encouraging hands-down conversations in the first days of the school year. This is the second installment of a three-part series about launching hands-down conversations.
Using Video to Launch Hands-Down Conversations
Tammy Mulligan shares many video options to launch conversation skills in her primary classroom.
Deepening Discussion with a Circle Process
Jen Vincent strengthens the authenticity of a share session in writing workshop by building and tending to relationships that honor a circle process that originated in Indigenous communities.
What Criteria Should We Use When Selecting Whole-Class Texts?
Christy Rush-Levine reminds us that text selection affects students. By shaping a unit of study to contain texts of varying formats and representing a wide variety of characters, students are empowered to develop their own ideas even while reading a whole-class text. Download a diverse text list to deepen a discussion of how family shapes identity.
Tips for Selecting Inclusive Texts
Hannah Tills and Josie Stewart challenge themselves to select more inclusive texts so all students feel as though they belong. They offer six suggestions to help us examine our bookshelves, thinking, and curriculum.
Using Digital Photos to Enhance Learning
Stella Villalba uses photos in the classroom as a powerful tool for critical thinking and reflection. Photos allow students to process complex learning as it happens.
Presence Required
Christy Rush-Levine reminds us that it requires presence to sit alongside young readers and writers. In two examples, we find resilience for meeting students at their points of need and then teaching them as readers and writers.
What Is Communication? A Mini-Inquiry Project and Booklist
Bitsy Parks leads her first-grade class in a study about communication to strengthen their socially distanced and muffled-by-masks community. Included is a booklist.
Using Art to Bridge Storytelling
Stella Villalba creates space for students to deeply notice the way artist Aminah Robinson uses images to share stories and testimonies.
Field Notes: 6 Ways to Respond Remotely to Build a Community of Writers
Ruth Ayres observes a writing workshop that is remote. She reflects on the ways students offer feedback and how their community of writers is established.
Honoring Student Identity
Christy Rush-Levine considers how to communicate to all students that their presence and their identities are valued and appreciated.
Socratic Discussion in Third Grade
Lora Bieghler facilitates a Socratic-style discussion among third graders.
Collaborating for Understanding in Writing
Mark Levine realizes explaining expectations for an essay assignment over and over again isn’t working. But when he has students write in pairs for a portion of his workshop, magic happens.
Whole-Class Reflection in Middle School
Mark Levine explains why whole-class reflection is an essential component of his middle school workshops.
Young Learners and Self-Talk
Do you have young readers and writers in your class who constantly talk to themselves? Stella Villalba helps a teacher decode the value of this self-talk for first grader Kayla, using it as a springboard for more learning.
Helping Students Develop Conversational Identity
Jen Schwanke writes about the challenges of helping students develop conversational identities, providing prompts to help teachers reflect on their strengths and needs in fostering talk in classrooms.
Growing Talk About Reading
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills find that struggling readers in the early grades benefit from scaffolds and repeated practice in small groups. They share some of their favorite tools, including key ring prompts and anchor charts.
Stepping Away from the Conversation
Jennifer Schwanke explains why sometimes the best thing teachers can do to foster better conversations in their classrooms is to step away and let the talk unfold among students.
Balancing Whole-Class and Independent Reading in Middle School
The choice between whole-class novels or independent reading can be a false one in many middle school classrooms. Katie Doherty’s sixth graders discuss their reading together of a novel in verse, and Katie explains how some shared whole-class texts can support independent reading.
Talk Guide
Gigi McAllister presents a guide to her fourth-grade students to improve talk in reading trios.
Stop and Inquire
Mark Levine capitalizes on what captures his middle school students’ attention with his Stop and Inquire routine.
Better Writing Response Groups
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills discover giving “compliments and wishes” aren’t enough when it comes to useful feedback for revision in peer groups. They implement a more structured response process for writing groups.
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