Strategies we love!
- Speakeasy Solutions
- Mar 2, 2015
- 2 min read
Every teacher has to develop their own style for imparting upon and guiding students to information. Most do so through trial and error, as well as by practicing established techniques. In this month’s blog, we’re looking at a teaching strategy that we love to use with students: academic conversation.
Academic conversation is a technique developed by educators Jeff Zwiers and Marie Crawford for young, English Language Learners based in southern California. The technique encourages students to engage in meaningful, extended discussions about content reading and literature. Although, Zwiers and Crawford intended for the technique to provide conversation cues to students still grappling with the English language, I find it useful with English speakers as well. The technique is especially helpful with students who are reluctant to speak and have trouble organising or expressing their ideas. Academic conversation also encourages intellectual debate, which is an aspect sometimes missing from other strategies for teaching comprehension.
It occurred to me as well that this may be a strategy parents can use to engage children in conversations about their schoolwork or books they’ve read at home. For instance, instead of asking your student whether or not they liked a book or movie, you can start the conversation with a more specific question: “Why do you think the author wrote this?” They might respond with an ‘I don’t know,” but you can ask them to take some time to think about it carefully. Then, respond with an agreement or disagreement that will further the conversation. This is especially useful if the book or movie being spoken about is something the student chose on his/her own. Here’s a video demonstrating the technique at different levels where students discuss whether animals use language. Also, here’s a link to an article that details how to use the strategy: How to Start an Academic Conversation
Happy Chatting!
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