GEAR UP Alliance 2011 Institute for a College-Going Culture: Drive the dream The Power of Academic Discourse: Questions Lead to Answers Ashley Perkins, NBCT Educational Programs Consultant, CTL

GEAR UP Alliance 2011 Institute for a College-Going Culture: Drive the dream Morning Workshop Select one of the Reader Response prompts from the table tent and respond to the following quote: “Conversation is the laboratory and workshop of the student.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

GEAR UP Alliance 2011 Institute for a College-Going Culture: Drive the dream Standards Build on foundational understanding of academic dialogue as means to support student learning and engagement Promote own and others’ learning through community conversation, collaboration and reflection

GEAR UP Alliance 2011 Institute for a College-Going Culture: Drive the dream Reading Writing Speaking/ Listening

GEAR UP Alliance 2011 Institute for a College-Going Culture: Drive the dream Mini-Lesson Purpose: To increase understanding of textual ideas and values, as well as understanding of self and others. Key Components Choosing the text Preparing the questions Facilitating the dialogue Engaging student participation

GEAR UP Alliance 2011 Institute for a College-Going Culture: Drive the dream Types of Questions Close-Ended: Recalls a fact from the piece. Questions could begin with summarize, retell, who, what, when, where, why, and how. Has a “right” answer. Open-Ended: Requires thinking, discussing and searching in text to support an answer. Questions begin with contrast, compare, explain, defend, predict, infer, etc. Thematic: Considers what the author wanted reader to learn through theme and message. Real-World Connection: Connects text to text, text to self, or text to world.

GEAR UP Alliance 2011 Institute for a College-Going Culture: Drive the dream Scaffolding: Model the Question Writing Process

GEAR UP Alliance 2011 Institute for a College-Going Culture: Drive the dream Close-Ended Question Who helps Cinderella make her ball gown?

GEAR UP Alliance 2011 Institute for a College-Going Culture: Drive the dream Open-Ended Question Defend whether the stepmother is a sympathetic character or not.

GEAR UP Alliance 2011 Institute for a College-Going Culture: Drive the dream Thematic Question Infer the author’s stance on blended families.

GEAR UP Alliance 2011 Institute for a College-Going Culture: Drive the dream Application Question Think about other stories that have a Prince Charming. Do you think a belief in a Prince Charming is healthy or unhealthy for young women?

GEAR UP Alliance 2011 Institute for a College-Going Culture: Drive the dream Scaffolding: Allow Students to Engage with Questions

GEAR UP Alliance 2011 Institute for a College-Going Culture: Drive the dream Applying New Learning At your tables, collectively sort the slips of papers into four categories: close-ended, open-ended, thematic, or real-world. Hint: There are 3 questions for each type of question.

GEAR UP Alliance 2011 Institute for a College-Going Culture: Drive the dream Applying New Learning At your tables, collectively decide on one fairy tale. Using that fairy tale, write a close- ended, open-ended, thematic, and real- world application question. Be prepared to share.

GEAR UP Alliance 2011 Institute for a College-Going Culture: Drive the dream

GEAR UP Alliance 2011 Institute for a College-Going Culture: Drive the dream The following dialogue is a threaded conversation that is happening in an 11 th grade ELA classroom where students are discussing The Grapes of Wrath. Students are applying questioning, defending, and referencing skills to engage in academic discourse Student 1: Do you think the government camps were socialist or democratic in design? (open-ended) Student 2: I actually think they had a more democratic, more than a socialist, system because they were talking about voting people into certain committees where they could decide the laws and stuff. Student 3: I disagree; I think the camp is kind of doomed to fail because it is basically a socialist or communist society and socialism has never succeeded in the history of mankind. Student 4: Yeah. It says on page 288 that Pa is asking him why the place is so great and the book says the washman looked sullen and that just made me suspicious that there is something bad going in this camp. Student 5: To say socialism has failed is true but has anything ever worked? (real-world connection) Teacher: So are you saying these people are doomed to fail regardless of the type of system they create for themselves?

GEAR UP Alliance 2011 Institute for a College-Going Culture: Drive the dream Impact on Student Learning Students follow a collaborative protocol Students question and examine content understanding and conceptual ideas through multiple perspectives Students become reflective thinkers respective of diverse points of view Students develop habits of mind that support critical thinking through focusing on reasoning, perspective, conceptual ideas, and problem solving

GEAR UP Alliance 2011 Institute for a College-Going Culture: Drive the dream What Students Are Saying “The academic dialogue part of Socratic Seminar has always been helpful, especially when several individuals have differing opinions, because I have several perspectives from which to look at the text.” -Dezirae; High School Student, KY “Academic dialogue is used for making the world more exciting and accurate. To converse like a scholar helps us learn better and understand clearer.” –Yang; High School Student, IN

GEAR UP Alliance 2011 Institute for a College-Going Culture: Drive the dream Exit Slip One question going around in my head is…