To emphasize the importance of public speaking and provide regular opportunities for students to talk about their ideas as part of the learning process in a variety of contexts.
Outcome
Students will develop oracy skills through academic conversation.
Action Steps
Set guidelines and norms for what encompasses strong discussion. Model and/or provide exemplars and non-exemplars of strong discussion.
Option 1:
Assign roles of Clarifier, Challenger, and Summarizer in each group
Clarifier: Acts like a commentator
Challenger: Provocates, questions, challenges
Summarizer: Acts like a referee and judge of the arguments
Make use of Talking Points – controversial statements to initiate discussion that can be used in any subject. Talking Points encourage discussion by navigating away from yes or no responses to questions, introducing students to a format on how to carry out the conversation.
Option 2:
Have students prepare to debate/discuss by giving them the prompt beforehand and assign them three points and a counterpoint.
Keep groups small (no more than five) and watch them discuss. This is a good option for students that have things to say but need to prepare beforehand.
