Many schools want students to engage in rich discussions. How do teachers ensure that those discussions are focused, productive, and result in learning for all students? This session trains teachers in the technique of Habits of Discussion. Habits of Discussion has two components:
- Instilling student fundamentals: This section of the Plug and Play equips teachers to teach and reinforce the habits that support students’ ability to listen carefully to one another and develop and refine ideas as a group.
- Leading disciplined discussions: This section reveals the planning that great teachers do before discussion and presents key interventions they make during discussion to ensure all students emerge having reached (or at least moved closer to) a specific understanding.
Through analysis of master teachers’ techniques and deep practice, participants in the session will develop understanding and strengthen skills with:
- Planning disciplined discussions
- Intervening during discussion using two key tools—Strategic Restate and Knowledge Feeding—to guide students towards deeper understanding
- Stamping to ensure all students gain from the discussion
- Teaching and reinforcing fundamentals to help students develop life-long habits for listening, speaking, and developing ideas
READY-TO-USE MATERIALS
Our goal is for you to save time that you would otherwise spend creating a PD session from scratch and dive deep into the small concrete actions that advance your teachers’ skills from good to great. The Plug and Play provides you with:
✓ A fully customizable PowerPoint presentation with embedded videos of Habits of Discussion in action
✓ Facilitator notes for what to say and do for each slide
✓ Detailed analysis of 14 video clips (including 2 montages of teachers at different grade levels and content areas)
✓ Carefully designed practice activities
✓ Participant handouts for interactive note taking
✓ Next steps to ensure what’s learned in the session carries over to classrooms
100 LEVEL: NO PREREQUISITES
This module can be used by any school. It does not require leader experience with or school-wide implementation of Teach Like a Champion techniques.