Using silent cues for strategic small group discussions

We see each teacher as they join the video call. One participant is already on, and we see her organizing stacks of paper on a table behind her computer. She occasionally looks over her shoulder, squinting to see if anyone else has joined the call. Ding! A screen appears, and a man is eating a spoonful of yogurt while he adjusts his camera to a better angle. We hear him typing rapidly, occasionally glancing at the screen, at us. When he sees he has another minute before the call officially starts, he goes back to typing. Ding! Ding! Ding! Three more teachers arrive and we see constant movement as one grabs her cup of coffee, another finishes taping up a poster on a nearby wall, and another efficiently rearranges the desk, so we no longer see the empty fast food wrappers and soda can in the corner of our screen.

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Teachers spend every moment they can to keep up with the demands of their work. One of those demands, Danielson component 3b, requires teachers to implement practices that will spark discussion among their students. Keep the Kids Talking, which we offer as both an in-person workshop series and as an asynchronous online course, addresses this component by providing an opportunity for educators to learn targeted instructional strategies that create conditions for authentic, student-driven discussion in their classrooms.

When connecting with our most recent online course cohort via phone, we enacted our Thinking & Talking strategy, which enables the use of silent cues to communicate when you have something to say. To use this strategy, each person in the group is equipped with a small card that can be flipped to reveal that they want to contribute to the discussion, or that they’re still thinking. Participants can then call on one another as the discussion moves along, instead of waiting for a teacher or facilitator to decide who should speak next.

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“This was valuable for my quieter students. With a simple card flip, they could show that they had something to say, and when another student passed to them, they were more easily able to join the discussion."

“I found that my students were actually ready to move forward without the cards fairly quickly. I’m ready to tackle the next challenge!”

Before the end of the course, teachers are often sailing past proficient and onto distinguished along the Danielson Framework rubric for 3b, with the following goals well within their plans and practice:

• Using a variety of questions and prompts that will:
  • Challenge students cognitively
  • Advance high-level thinking and discourse
  • Promote metacognition
• Creating an environment in which:
  • Students formulate their own questions
  • Initiate topics
  • Challenge one another’s thinking
  • Make unsolicited contributions to the discussion
  • Ensure all voices are heard

Sustained reflection and discussion over the 12-week course provided the support these teachers had been searching for to move their questioning and discussion practice to the next level. For more strategies, join us for an in-person, 3-session series starting this February, or stay tuned for our next online offering of this course by checking out our upcoming events.