Teaching Strategies

The teacher's role...

• Focuses on a few topics rather than many.

• Allows students time to think before asking for responses.

• Guides discourse so it is coherent and has continuity.

• Asks higher order thinking questions.

• Talks with students rather than to students.

• Asks students to clarify or justify their assertions

• Clarifies or adds new information to facilitate the discussion.

• Communicates a valuing of studentsí ideas

• Models reflective thinking about powerful and complex ideas.

• Encourages students to generate original and unconventional ideas.

• Ensures that the classroom is a safe place to express and challenge ideas.

Facilitating Discourse

• Teach social skills for classroom discourse.

• Remain silent during the discussion.

• Questions/statements to facilitate discourse

                    Tell me more about that; what do you mean?

                    Can you give some examples?

                    I wonder what would happen if...

                    I was thinking that...

                    Is this what you mean (restate what you think the student said)?
Add new information to the discussion
 

For More Information  Teaching for Understanding Classroom Discourse