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Students like to chat–it’s a fact of life. In the hallways, during transitions, while lining up: they’ll chat anywhere! Except, of course, when you’re trying to promote healthy student discourse. Isn’t it funny how quickly silence descends upon the classroom when you ask for thoughts on why it’s important to know a variety of strategies to solve the same math problem?
As educators, we want our students to talk in class, but about the right things and at the right time. Healthy, productive student discourse helps us determine what students know, if they have any misunderstandings, and what they still need to learn. In addition, a proper, fruitful discussion helps students to feel motivated and engaged. Just off the top of my head, that’s five benefits to student discourse!
So… What’s the catch? Well, to be frank, student discourse can be tricky. Ultimately, it takes effort to establish in your classroom, and some students are more receptive than others. Sometimes you have shy students that you won’t hear from all year, while other times you have students that know everything and completely dominate every discussion. Then, there are the simply disinterested students–the ones who give you the default response of “I don’t know” in hopes that you’ll leave them alone.
With such a wide variety of students and classroom situations, it’s not possible to provide a simple, one-size-fits-all solution to promote healthy student discourse. That being said, my own research and experience have led me to develop a framework that can be implemented in any classroom as a jumping-off point. Remember that you know your classroom best, so only you can tailor this advice to fit your students’ needs. I’ll build you the house, but it’s up to you to furnish it!
Now, if you’re ready to dive in, then so am I! Let’s take a look at the five essential strategies to develop healthy student discourse in your classroom.
It’s number one on the list for a reason–building a strong, reliable foundation for student discourse is one of the most important things you need to do in your classroom. For instance, when you start a new school year, you don’t immediately jump into teaching content. You take the time to create a foundation with your class. You establish expectations, guidelines, and a sense of community. After all, if you’re going to share the same room with the same people for eight hours a day, you want everyone to feel comfortable with one another!
Similarly, you’ll want to establish a sense of community for developing healthy discussions, too. Building community for student discourse is a bit different than getting to know each other on the first day of school, however. When you are building community for student discourse, you are creating norms–whether they are talked about or not. You are helping students understand that everyone can contribute and that everyone is valued. It is SO incredibly important that students feel that the classroom is an emotionally safe environment.
In that same vein, students should be made to understand that mistakes are okay! Mistakes are inevitable. Show them that even you, an adult and their teacher, make mistakes too; no one is infallible. Demonstrate for students that your reaction to a mistake and how you choose to proceed is more important than the mistake itself. In doing so, you can facilitate an environment for acceptance and growth. In fact, you’ll find that many of the tenets of an environment for healthy student discourse tie in nicely with a growth-mindset-oriented classroom!
In addition, your established foundation should include encouragement for active listening. Students should hear one another’s ideas and build on them. Rather than everyone throwing ideas onto a pile, students should figure out how their unique ideas relate and can fit into each other, like building a castle out of LegoTM bricks!
When you and your classroom are just starting out with these discussions, it can feel ambiguous at first. It may take a few sessions before student discourse starts to come more naturally. In the meantime, it is beneficial to set aside a chunk of time dedicated to discussions either before, after, or even during a lesson that you feel would foster the most growth (such as a math or science lesson). You should plan these blocks often enough to where they become an expectation for your classroom.
As these sessions become the norm, students will learn to participate as they gradually become more comfortable with the routine. Before long, students may even begin sharing their (on-task) ideas without prompting! Isn’t that the dream? Students having scholarly, academic discussions and mature discourse with one another without needing you to intervene and keep them on task? It sounds far-fetched, but maybe that dream is closer than you think!
However, for these discussion blocks to be fully effective, there are a couple things you should provide. First, make sure you give students an ample amount of time to listen and respond, especially when you’re just starting out–their brains aren’t in “critical-thinking mode” yet! They need a moment or two to process others’ ideas and respond in kind.
Second, you should provide a variety of resources related to the lesson you’re discussing, such as visual aids or hands-on activities. As we know, every student is different. That’s why we differentiate! If students don’t quite understand the topic at hand, they won’t be able to participate in a discussion as well as a student who does understand. In addition, a student who is feeling embarrassed or self-conscious about not understanding is definitely not going to speak up in front of their peers!
Even outside your specific discussion blocks, try to get in the habit of posing open-ended questions to your classroom. Encouraging critical thinking is a core tenet of healthy student discourse, and it is a lifelong skill that students will need as they emerge into the real world. Make sure to iterate to students that these sorts of questions have no right or wrong answers–any response is valid so long as the student can explain their reasoning.
In addition, aim for using academic language, and encourage your students to mirror this behavior. Model the correct usage of precise language and request that your students follow suit. Using on-topic academic language ensures that students can give clear and concise explanations for their ideas. Keep in mind that academic language is not limited to only verbal communication–you can mix it up! There are multiple different ways to communicate, such as speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
By now, I’m sure we’ve all come to understand scaffolding and the significance of scaffolding, rather than rescuing our students. Even so, scaffolding discussions is so important to maintaining a healthy student discourse that I feel it should make the list! When you scaffold discussions, you provide support to your students. You establish that you are still nearby, guiding them; they may have to swim on their own, but you won’t let them drown. Students are reassured by your support!
When you scaffold discussions, you model appropriate discussion techniques (such as the importance of academic language mentioned above). You provide students with an example to follow in their own discourse. In addition, you guide students through discussion protocol–that is, you show what is and what isn’t appropriate for healthy discussions, such as listening to respond versus listening to understand.
You may also provide students with sentence stems, prompts, open-ended questions, and similar discussion starters in order to get the ball rolling or to help guide a student down a train of thought. In this manner, you are providing students with the tools for healthy discourse–and isn’t that what scaffolding is all about?
Okay, this may seem contradictory with the second item on the list, but hear me out!
You should strive to maintain an environment to foster discussion. Students should always feel comfortable sharing their (relevant) ideas. Critical thinking time should not be limited to your planned discussion block. If students are only engaging their critical-thinking-modes when the teacher says so, then… Well, that’s not very helpful at all, is it?
Similarly, mistakes and active listening should both be celebrated at all times. Try to recognize instances of students recovering from mistakes in a healthy, growth-mindset-oriented manner or actively listening to other students! Encourage students to think deeper at all times, not just when you plan for it.
Finally, don’t be afraid to mix it up! From whole-class discussions to small groups to partner talks, there are plenty of ways to keep discourse from getting stale and predictable. As students grow familiar with healthy discourse and with critical thinking, they will become more comfortable and eventually be willing to take on bigger challenges.
Remember, every student and every classroom is different. What worked last year may need some tweaking this year, and what works for one student may not be optimal for another. We want our students to keep an open mind for healthy student discourse, so it’s important to keep our minds open as teachers, too! With these five tips combined with your insider knowledge of your classroom, I have no doubt that you can facilitate an optimal environment for healthy student discourse for your kiddos.
Thanks for reading–now get out there and grow some critical thinkers!
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