How to Get Students Talking about Their Learning
Cheryl Abla shares practical strategies to foster engaging and productive classroomdiscussions among middle and high school students. She recognizes teachers' commonhesitations about student discussions, such as concerns about noise, lack of focus, and thechallenge of maintaining control. To address these concerns, Abla proposes severalstraightforward techniques that are quick to implement and require minimal preparation, eachtaking approximately four to seven minutes. Abla suggests the "Give Two, Get Two" strategy. In this approach, students write down key details from the lesson on sticky notes andthen exchange these notes with peers while moving around the classroom. This facilitatesinteraction and culminates students summarizing the collective insights gathered on their newmessages.
Another technique is the "3-2-1" exercise, where students list three significant concepts froma lesson, discuss these with a partner, and eventually distill the ideas down to the most crucialtakeaway. This process encourages collaborative decision-making and a deeperunderstanding of the lesson’s core content. Abla also recommends a creative activity called"Create It," where students use materials like drawing paper, markers, or Play-Doh torepresent what they've learned visually. This creative outlet engages students in hands-on learning and collaborative discussion, helping them to internalize the concepts. Throughoutthese methods, Abla emphasizes the importance of the teacher modeling the strategy first toensure successful implementation. These techniques make learning more interactive andenjoyable and ensure students actively engage with the content, enhancing theirunderstanding and retention of new information.