Is your class doing exploratory talk?

Photo: Topsy Page

At a session with some Devon teachers that we did recently, Neil Mercer asked them, What might you see or hear if your students are having good discussions?

This is what they said:

• staying on topic

• everyone engaged

• one person at a time

• active listening

• responding to what’s been said

• building on people’s ideas

• disagreeing respectfully

• explaining a thought

• asking someone to repeat something or clarify

Neil agreed, and referring to his research about group work, added a few more to the list:

• giving reasons

• checking understanding

• striving for agreement

He explained ‘striving for agreement’ with real world examples – if in our workplace we’ve been tasked to create something as a team, we can’t just agree to disagree! We have to find a way forward.

Exploratory talk

Talking this way in groups is exploratory talk.

The best way to get your students to do it, is to discuss it with them, create ground rules based on the above list, then give them meaningful opportunities to practise. And review how they are getting on.

This really does work.

Stick at it.