During a group discussion, draw a representation of the conversation. Connect-the-dots to show the pattern of talk. For example, if the teacher initiates the talk, a student responds to the teacher and then the teacher asks another student a question, the diagram would look like this:

Since you are working to increase student conversation, your goal may be a diagram more like this:

When students get used to using this diagram, you can ask them to self-monitor small group discussions. Just give one member of the group a sticky-note and ask them to track the discussion. It will be “evidence” of their accountable talk.

Choosing a Shared Experience
If you’re working on memoirs (writing about things that have happened in their lives) and you model “My Vacation in Florida”, you might loose them at airplane.  Instead, choose events that you do together. Of course you can write about big events like field trips, assemblies and field day. But you can also write about smaller events that happen everyday like reading games, science projects and library visits.

Model Your Thinking
Maybe you collected rocks as a science activity and you chose to model writing about that experience. First, think out loud: “OK, I think I’ll write about finding my rock yesterday. That was fun. What do I need to do first?” Kids will help you think it through: “Put your name on your paper!” Think out loud through the entire process. “I remember when I found my rock. I was over by the slide. I’m going to write about that. My first sentence will be, ‘I ran out the door’. I know how to write ‘I’. Next I’ll write ‘ran’.”

Reinforce Strategies
Choose a couple of strategies to reinforce during the modeling. If you have a word wall, for example, use it. If the students have alphabet charts on their desks, you should have one handy also. You might say, “Let’s see… ‘ran’. I’m going to look on my alphabet chart for the rrrrr sound. Here it is; just like ‘rocket’. R!”

Complete the Process
If your writing project will take more than one day, it might be tempting to tell the students, “OK, today you’ll finish your story from yesterday. Go ahead and get to work.” You’ll probably need to show them how to do this. Take out your model. Re-read it. Notice and correct a mistake. Think out loud about how to pick up where you left off. In other words, show them each step through completion.

• Fifth-graders spent 91.2% of class time in their seats listening to a teacher or working alone, and only 7% working in small groups, which foster social skills and critical thinking. Findings were similar in first and third grades.
• In fifth grade, 62% of instructional time was in literacy or math; only 24% was devoted to social studies or science.
• About one in seven (14%) kids had a consistently high-quality “instructional climate” all three years studied. Most classrooms had a fairly healthy “emotional climate,” but only 7% of students consistently had classrooms high in both. There was no difference between public and private schools.
Although all teachers surveyed had bachelor’s degrees — and 44% had a master’s — it didn’t mean that their classrooms were productive. The typical teacher scored only 3.6 out of seven points for “richness of instructional methods,” and 3.4 for providing “evaluative feedback” to students on their work.
Whether a teacher was highly qualified, had many years of experience or earned more mattered little, says lead researcher Robert Pianta of the University of Virginia.
Of the standard measures studied, “none of them makes a noticeable difference,” he said.

My Thoughts:
Many of the decisions made in a classroom are not made by the teacher. Instead, policy makers hand down mandates, school districts implement policies and principals enforce compliance. So, the percentage of time devoted to science, for example, may not be left to teacher discretion. School districts choose instructional programs that ensure continuity among schools and secure various sources of funding. Teachers often feel stifled by the stringent guidelines - and unable to provide the “richness of instructional method” that they would otherwise offer. Having said that, good teachers do incorporate more small group time.  Good teachers find a way to create rich instructional climates and provide evaluative feedback regardless of program parameters. The most interesting part of this study for me is the piece about teacher qualifications. The study suggests that good teaching isn’t defined by years of experience or education. I think any educator or administrator would agree.  It’s also an important point for parents when it comes to choosing a school.

Set the Mood
Count down the days until the party. Make invitations and decorations; plan to have snacks for the guests. Have a plan for how you will greet your guests and where they will sit. In other words, make it a big deal. Decorate the “stage” for the presenters.  If you have access to a video camera, record the presentations and show it to the class later.

Define the Writing Cycle
Setting a date for a publishing celebration defines an absolute ending point to the editing process. Some kids don’t need this; they can complete the process easily. Other students have trouble getting through the drafting and the editing. These kids tend to have many “almost finished” drafts.  The party pushes them to finish a piece so they can participate. If your students are very independent in their writing, and are all in different stages of the editing process, they can choose a favorite piece to read at the celebration.

Stage Fright
Even the most outgoing kids can get nervous reading in front of an audience. You’ll want to practice this skill by letting them read in front of the class several times before the party. Encourage them to give it a try, but don’t ever force someone to present if they are too nervous. If a student decides to back out at the last moment, ask if they would like you to read the piece aloud instead.

Display the Published Pieces
Create a special area in your classroom to display the completed pieces. Allow students to check them out, just like the other books. Plan to have publishing parties at the end of each unit of study (poetry, non-fiction, etc). Each published piece can then be added to the student’s writing portfolio.

Setting up Accountable Talk
Kids are used to talking to a partner (think-pair-share), but you can also try some different grouping configurations.  Start by introducing the concept in a mini-lesson. Make a chart with the different styles you show them and practice, practice, practice. Kids love this; you can time them moving from one configuration to another. When you practice talking, encourage them to extend their conversations by asking their partner “why?”.  When they get stuck, tell them to refer to the accountable talk prompts. Listen in to different conversations so you can highlight great accountable talk.  Create a rubric in order to give students feedback about the quality of their discussions. Also try using a diagram to track discussion.

Home Base
When you begin a mini-lesson, expect all the students to sit on the floor facing you. If you run into trouble with kids sitting too far away, or not wanting to sit next to each-other, just assign seats on the floor and be finished with that discussion.  When you introduce another arrangement, practice moving to and from “home base” - quietly and quickly.

Partners
Students should sit next to their “talk-partner” everyday.  Encourage them to sit knee-to-knee, look one another in the eye and listen attentively. When you practice partner talk, cue students to take turns talking. For example, you read a passage aloud and say, “Now turn and talk to your partner about Charlie’s big decision.” After a few minutes say, “Now make sure your partner has a chance to talk.” Use partner talk when you want every student to express their opinion… and be accountable for the intended learning.

Groups of Four
Two partner groups can join forces for a group of four. Don’t use this configuration if you expect each student to thoroughly justify an opinion. Instead, you can use it to “take a poll” in which students contribute and briefly explain. Also, when you feel very comfortable with your students’ ability to have quality discussions you can let them have free-form talk in groups of four.

Whole Group Circle
Use the group circle when you have an opportunity to build community through accountable talk. Maybe you read a book about civil rights and you want to discuss how it relates to issues in your classroom. Students are often shy in this configuration and might rely on you to get keep the conversation going. Once they get more comfortable, try to step back and let them take over. 

Make a chart with a menu of conversation prompts.  Make sure you model each one when you add it to the chart. When your chart is complete, hang it on the wall so that students can refer to it.  You can also make a rubric in order to evaluate student participation - and allow students to rate themselves after discussions.

Accountable Talk Prompts
- I wonder why…
- I have a question about…
- I agree with…
- I disagre with…
- That reminds me of…
- I don’t understand…
- I predict…
- I figured out…
- I liked/disliked….

Decoding Strategies:
Sample sentence: The bear climbed to the top of the tree to find the fruit.
-What is the beginning sound? C-C-Cl. The bear cl-cl-cl…
-Check the picture. What is the bear doing?
-Skip it and go back (context clues). The bear…. to the top of the tree. What did he do?
-Similar words. Does this look like another word you know?
-Sound it out. Cover up part of the word to isolate one sound at a time. Cl-cl-cl-iiiiii-mmmmm-ddddd

**A note about working on decoding strategies: Reading words should never be isolated from comprehension. Reading is meaning. If you’re struggling through each word and not discussing the book, you might end up disliking the process. Try to find books that are slightly challenging, but enjoyable. Make sure you incorporate discussion every time.

Comprehension Strategies:
-Make connections: Relate what happens in the book to your own life, or in another book.
-Predict: What do you think is going to happen next?
-Make inferences: Why do you think she was so angry?
-Question/Wonder: I wonder why he did that…. What’s the matter with the baby?
-Visualize: What picture do you see in your head when I read this part?
-Text Structure: Point out titles/headings/picture captions.

Comprehension strategies based on Making Meaning reading program.

Tell Stories
We know that talking to children is one of the best things you can do for their development.  Incorporate story telling into that talk. Some parents like to remember the day as a part of the night-time routine. Use details and rich language when you tell stories. This will help them when they begin to write.

Draw Pictures
Instead of drawing a “scene” (the house, the sun, the flowers), try drawing events. Draw the day at the park: the swings, the kids, the dog, the fall. Use details from real experiences… the clouds, the rain, the wet hair, the umbrella. Have your toddler “read” the drawing to you.

Phonics Fun
It is important that your toddler learn the names of letters, but try moving beyond that and working on the letter sounds. It’s difficult for little ears to hear all the different sounds in a word, so practice s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g words out.  “B-b-b-b-aaaaa-llllll. What other words start with the b-b-b-b sound? Right! b-b-b-b-bear.” “Mmmmmmm-aaaa-mmmmm-aaaa. Just like mmmmm-mouse.” Try to get in the habit of making the sound whenever you’re talking about a letter.

Make a Letter-Sounds Book
Fold a piece of construction paper over blank typing paper and staple the “spine”. Write each letter of the alphabet on its own page.  Get a pack of stickers and work on putting them on their sound page. “Here is a kite! Let’s find the k-k-k-k page. Here it is…. with k-k-kitchen.”

Also see the post about making books with toddlers.

Why use Rubrics for Staff Development?
Rubrics create transparency. When teachers and administrators work together to define specific performance indicators, there is no secret criteria on which teachers are evaluated. Everyone knows the behavior and evidence that will result in certain performance “scores”.  As useful as this end product is, the process of developing the rubric is far more valuable. Thinking through exactly what it means to be “advanced” or “proficient” in a particular area is very powerful. In addition, teachers have more buy-in to the evaluation process. When teachers define the criteria themselves, you can move from “Us versus them” toward, “We’re in this together”.

Start Small
Making rubrics collaboratively takes a long time. Don’t make the mistake of trying to create a rubric for every subject in one planning day. It’s difficult work. If you have a school-wide focus, begin with that.  Think through categories before you start. While teachers appreciate participating in defining performance criteria, they don’t want to start from zero. It might take several sessions to complete a rubric. You can do your collaborative work on big pieces of chart paper and then compile and type it up when it’s complete.

Communicate Expectations
If your rubric defines “beginning”, “proficient” and “advanced” teaching, tell your teachers where you expect them to be. Maybe you expect all teachers to operate at some baseline. For example, if teachers drop below the “beginning” criteria, they can expect some intervention. In addition, you might expect a certain amount of growth through the year… especially in professional development focus areas.

Using the Rubrics
Ask teachers to periodically use the rubrics for self assessment. Print copies of the rubric and ask teachers to highlight where they are now. They can then articulate their areas of need for professional development. Also use the rubrics for informal observations and evaluation. You might tell the staff, “This week we’ll be focusing on the ‘procedures’ section of the rubric. Our feedback will be related to the criteria outlined there.”