Using Interactive Pedagogy

Laying the foundation for productive, student-driven discussions begins long before the discussion itself and requires a supportive classroom environment.

Teachers can also prepare for class discussions by:

• Creating agreements specifically for discussion. Similar to classroom shared agreements, these agreements focus on communication skills and ensure all students feel safe to engage in dialogue. These may include:
  • One person speaks at a time.
  • Track the speaker.
  • Challenge the idea and not the person.
• Setting the tone. The teacher’s verbal and non-verbal responses set the tone for engagement. Through modeling, teachers can promote intellectual risk-taking and participation. For example:
  • Practice patience when students take time to formulate ideas.
  • Respond to errors by validating confusion and asking scaffolded questions.
  • Encourage students to challenge your ideas or ask for clarification.
• Explaining that making mistakes is a part of learning. For many students, engagement feels threatening. They want to protect themselves from being exposed as “not knowing the answer.” Disarm this anxiety by noting that mistakes are how we learn and honoring productive struggle. Teachers can do this by asking students to share their thinking, especially when they are not sure (e.g.,“Is there anyone who isn’t completely sure about their answer? I’d love to see your process and I bet it will help others out, too.”) and by framing mistakes as learning opportunities (e.g.,“I’m really glad that you shared that mistake, Alex. It is common to multiply here, and I bet others did it, too. Who can tell me why it seems like you should multiply, even though the problem actually calls for division?”).

Like any skill, building communication skills requires a scaffolded approach.

The following techniques offer ways to get conversations started and build communication skills:

• Provide opportunities for rehearsal—Have students do a quick jot or partner share before sharing out with the class. This gives them a chance to process and revise ideas before sharing widely.
• Use sentence starters—At the beginning of the year, provide sentence starters, such as “I agree with Anthony about X, but want to add Y” or “I disagree that X, because in the text it says Y.” These frames help build students’ communication skills. The complexity and number of frames may differ depending on the age group.
• Think aloud—Verbalize your inner thoughts to model problem-solving. For example: “Hmmmm. I’m not sure what the author means by ‘The girl’s actions, while unintentional, were still beneficial.’ Unintentional means ‘not on purpose,’ but what does ‘beneficial’ mean? I remember that the root is ‘bene.’ What other words have that root? Oh yeah—benefit! That’s positive and helpful. So maybe even though the girl didn’t set out to be helpful, the things that she did still ended up helping the boy.”
• Allow for wait time—After asking a question, pause for 10 seconds before calling on anyone. This allows everyone to think before the discussion begins. Also pause before responding to a question to allow learners time to think.

• Have students turn and talk or take a few minutes to write out their ideas before sharing with the class. This allows them to practice communication skills in a supported way.
• Pre-teach content or vocabulary in advance of class discussions. This helps students to enter discussions feeling more confident and makes it more likely they will take the risks required to practice communication skills.
• As with the broader class, be sure to explicitly call out the value of academic risk-taking (e.g., “Let’s hear from a couple of people who can challenge my idea?” or “Thank you for your willingness to ask that question, Paul. It will help our whole class to better understand mitosis.”) This strategy helps to build a culture where mistakes are viewed as an important part of the learning process and alleviates pressure around speaking for both ELs and other students.

Mr. Greene is excited to engage his students in cooperative learning, but the last time he tried it, some students seemed to do most of the work, while others were disengaged. It felt like whenever he went to support a group of students, another group across the room would begin to goof off. He started to wonder if the students had the self-awareness or self-management to engage with the tasks productively. “But if I don’t give them the chance to practice,” he mused, “how can I expect them to get better?!”

This time, Mr. Greene decides he will set his students up for success. He facilitates a discussion about how relationships skills–including the ability to work together– helps in school and career. He then works with students to establish norms for group work by asking what it will look like, sound like, and feel like to collaborate effectively. Next, he asks students to come up and model ways to handle potential encounters in their group; for example, one student moving forward too quickly, or a classmate who is disengaged.

As students rehearse responses to potential challenges, Mr. Greene asks them to think about the relationship skills they have learned in explicit instruction, including how to give feedback and listen actively. He frequently reinforces that the goal of group work is that all members learn the material, not merely that the work gets completed.

After giving clear instructions and checking for understanding, Mr. Greene moves throughout the classroom as the students work. He stops by each group to pose a question that will push their thinking forward, or to make an observation about what he notices in their group collaboration, but he doesn’t stay with any one group for too long. At the halfway point, he pulls the class together to share out their thinking and reflect on how their collaboration is going.

Afterwards, each group has an opportunity to share out their big ideas. Students also have a chance to reflect on how they did both as a group and as individual team members. He points out strengths he observed and asks students to reflect on what they could do differently.

• Plan carefully before introducing the task to students.  Just as with direct instruction, plan what you want students to know, understand, or explore. Then, determine how to structure the activity meaningfully and assess whether students have reached the objectives. Plan to include tools such as graphic organizers to support all learners.
• Introduce students to strong systems to build independence and support effective group work (e.g., students collaborate, contribute equitably and resolve conflicts effectively). It can be helpful to include:
  • Student roles (summarizer, spokesperson, timekeeper, questioner).
  • The order of tasks.
  • Communication signals for when the group needs assistance.
  • Norms around using materials and equipment.

• Ask students to help you model what cooperation in this task will look like.
• Keep group sizes small (six or fewer) to keep the group cohesive.
• Pre-teach some of the vocabulary and concepts to help students who may struggle with the material to participate fully.

• Numbered Heads Together. Ask students to number off in their teams from one to four. Announce a question and a time limit for developing an answer. When time’s up, call a number and ask all students with that number to stand and answer the question. Recognize correct responses and elaborate through rich discussions (Kagan, 2009). As students discuss their perspectives on questions, they have the opportunity to practice communication skills and social-awareness.
• Team Jigsaw. Assign each student in a team one-fourth of a topic to investigate. Each student completes the assignment and then teaches the others in their group or helps to put together a team product. This builds self-efficacy and awareness of personal strengths as each student plays a valuable role in the group’s learning.
• Categorizing. Ask students to analyze and classify objects based on specific criteria (e.g., categorizing new vocabulary as “adjective, verb, noun”). Categorizing can be used as a discussion starter and doesn’t need to have one correct answer. For example, students can take a list of historical events and categorize their impact as being predominantly “political, economic, religious, military, or social” and then justify their answers.
• Rally Coach. In math, students form pairs to solve problems. Student A solves the first problem, explaining their process aloud as they go. Student B uses self-management and relationship skills to listen and observe, coaching only if needed. Next, the student’s roles are reversed.

• What is one way that you positively contributed to your team?
• What is one thing your team can do better next time?
• What did you learn about yourself as a team member?
• Which competencies did you practice? Which do you want to work on?
• What is one thing from our learning today that surprised you or that you are still wondering about?