In this second post in a two-part series about teaching with sentence frames, Alma and Sunday suggest using frames to make student “turn and talk” sessions more meaningful. See Part 1 here.
By Alma Ortiz-Agib and Sunday Cummins
Alma
“Turn and talk” has become a common practice in classrooms. But what’s really happening in those conversations?
Frequently, we’ve noticed that students each share what they are thinking and then they are done. There is no intent to construct meaning, to explore each other’s ideas, to walk away with thinking that has been transformed in some way (Nichols, 2019).
Sunday
The problem may be that students don’t understand what we mean by “talk.” They may not be familiar with what participants in a conversation have to do to engage in meaningful conversations on academic topics (e.g., acknowledge or build onto others’ ideas, ask for clarification, express a contrasting opinion).
They may also not have the language or academic vocabulary needed to take part in these conversations. This may be especially true for the English language learners in our classroom. So what can we do?
Try using collaborative language frames
We have spent the last two years exploring how to help students engage in collaborative conversations across the school day, and we’ve found that an essential instructional move is the use of collaborative language frames.
Collaborative language frames are basically sentence stems that foster cohesive conversations and move idea building forward – stems like “What I hear you saying is…” and “That makes me think about…” and “My idea builds upon _____’s idea in that…”
Here are a few suggestions for how to begin using these frames in your classroom. (You can access a Google Doc version of Figure 1 here.)
Figure 1.
Adopt categories of collaborative language frames
Conceptually, we want students to understand that meaningful conversations include opportunities to acknowledge each other’s ideas, disagree, ask for clarification, offer suggestions, and so on. With this in mind, we recommend introducing categories of collaborative language frames like those you see in Figure 1.
By providing these categorical frames, we are attempting to provide models of language students can use to build meaning during a conversation. Initially, students’ conversations using these frames may not sound very authentic. However, over time, as students practice using these frames, they build the conceptual understanding of what it takes to make meaning with others and their ability to engage in more authentic sounding conversations evolves.
Develop strong prompts for conversations
Before we can ask students to engage in meaningful conversations, we have to prepare strong prompts for those conversations. We recommend preparing a combination of closed-ended and open-ended prompts for small group student-led discussions.
Closed-ended questions sound like “Who were the key figures in the civil rights movement’s Montgomery Bus Boycott?” and “What were the main events in the boycott?” Opportunities to respond in small groups to questions like these can help the students make sure they all understand the basic facts. If there is misunderstanding by some members, then this is an excellent opportunity for clarification.
A stronger grasp of the basic facts reviewed when students respond to closed-ended questions will support conversations in response to open-ended prompts like “How can nonviolent protest bring about social and political change?” These kinds of prompts require higher-order thinking (e.g., analyzing and evaluating) as well as support and justification. Ultimately, these kinds of questions support students in engaging in more authentic conversations.
Choose a few categories of frames with intention and then build
There are several different categories of frames. (See Figure 2.) Although it’s tempting, handing English language learners a long list of collaborative language frames may not be productive. Students might get overwhelmed by so many choices, and they may not really understand the power of the different categories of frames or when to use them to the greatest effect. Introducing a few up front eases the cognitive load.
Figure 2.
One way to figure out which frames to prioritize is to think about the discussion prompt you will be presenting and visualize what you’d like to see and hear students doing during a thoughtful conversation in response to this prompt. Which categories of frames would be the most helpful in moving the conversation forward?
Let’s say you are asking students to discuss what they have learned about the civil rights movement’s Montgomery Bus Boycott as well as their thoughts about the idea of nonviolent protests as a way to bring about social and political change.
To start, you would probably want to hear the leader of the group drawing all members into the conversation so the soliciting response frames might be helpful. As students summarize the important events in the movement, you might want to hear them construct a picture of what happened with a statement of the relevant facts, so building or adding on frames might be helpful.
When they begin to ponder ideas related to the concept of nonviolent protests, you might want to hear them recognizing or appreciating their peers’ ideas before sharing their own so the acknowledging ideas frames might be helpful.
Working with the same few sets of frames for a while will help students master and begin to apply those concepts. Adjust or add additional sets of frames as needed; encourage students to go beyond the frames as well.
Fishbowl to help students notice and name
A fishbowl is a great way for students to see their peers attempt to accomplish the task at hand. Ask three or four students to sit in a circle and, as their peers observe, coach the students in how they might use the collaborative language frames to help them respond to each other. As they model for their peers, prompt the students who are observing to notice and name what they see their peers doing. They may need for you to model what this looks like.
It might sound like the following: I noticed that Maria looked at John and asked him, “What do you mean?” I think that Maria is asking for clarification. This makes me think she is listening with the intent to understand and when she doesn’t, she asks this question to help her make sense of what one of her partners has said.
Find a starting place
We’ve suggested adopting a few sets of frames at a time. If you plan with other teachers (by grade level or content area), you might set a goal of introducing a particular group of frames by the end of the quarter or semester. If this still feels like a lot, another recommendation is to start with one frame. Our recommendation is the paraphrasing frame “I heard you say.” It’s a great way to get students to actually start listening to their peers instead of just waiting for their turn.
Across the day, when you ask students to “turn and talk,” call for them to paraphrase what their partner said before they respond. For your English learners at the emergent proficiency levels and who might require additional differentiation, consider just offering one frame at a time for each of the categories presented. As the student progresses, you can add to their repertoire of choices.
Give it time
Initially the use of collaborative language frames may make student-led conversations sound stiff or unnatural, but what we have noticed over time is that students begin to use the language in the frames more naturally. They understand conceptually what they need to do to make meaning during conversations with their peers and when you ask them to “turn and talk,” they have a stronger grasp of what this entails.
Reference
Nichols, M. (2019). Building Bigger Ideas: A Process for Teaching Purposeful Talk. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Alma Ortiz-Agib is in her fourth year serving as the Elementary Bilingual District Instructional Coach for San José Unified School District. In this role, she supports curriculum development and professional learning practices aligned with the district’s initiatives to enhance outcomes for English Language Learners in both their English Only and Two-Way Bilingual Immersion Program Strands. Prior to this position, Alma served as a Site Bilingual Instructional Coach at one of the district’s Two-Way Spanish Immersion program schools and as a classroom teacher.
Sunday Cummins, Ph.D, is a literacy consultant and author and has been a teacher and literacy coach in public schools. Her work focuses on supporting teachers, schools and districts as they plan and implement assessment driven instruction with complex informational sources including traditional texts, video and infographics. She is the author of several professional books, including Close Reading of Informational Sources (Guilford, 2019). Visit her website.
