Dear Mosaic-ers, > My name is Felicity Buxton. I teach third grade in Oakland, CA. Our school > district is very into academic discussions across content areas. Here is my > review of Intentional Talk. It's for K-5 classrooms. The classroom examples > were mostly from the third and fourth grade. I could see the discussion > structures being modified for higher grades. > > Intentional Talk, Elham Kazemi and Allison Hintz, Stenhouse, 2014 > > I enjoyed reading through Intentional Talk. Overall, I liked its > organization, tone, and general assumption that we teachers know what we are > doing! I appreciated its descriptions of classroom teachers' instruction, > planning, and thought processes. It was helpful to see other teachers' > thinking and instructional decision-making. > > As I read it over the summer, I tried to think about how I would > use it in the classroom during the year. This is where I found the book's > organization helpful. In the first and last chapters, the ideas described in > the book are introduced, explained in depth, and justified. There are six > "discussion structures." Each has its own chapter. The first is the Open > Strategy Discussion structure. Targeted Discussion structures follow: > Compare and Connect, Why? Let's Justify, What's Best and Why?, Define and > Clarify, and Troubleshoot and Revise. Each chapter begins with a description > of the structure, what students will be asked to do, what the achievable goal > is, and when the structure is helpful to use. Some of these descriptions > were quick and to the point, and others were long. Of course, the quick > descriptions will be easier to read and understand when needed. At the end > of each of these chapters were questions for reflection. This will be a nice > reminder as it' s often difficult to remember to reflect. It's always go-go-go!!! > > Included throughout the book were classroom vignettes, pictures > of students and teachers, drawings, and charts. These were helpful in > understanding how I could use exit tickets, math journals, visualization > strategies, modeling, etc., during discussions. The appendices A-F were > templates that were nice to look at, but I am not sure how helpful they'd be > working day to day. They might be more helpful as a tool for reflection and > further planning. The other appendices included routines and resources, > including online clips. On page 132, more specific guidance is given in > planning a unit's open and targeted discussions. It's only about a page long > and very helpful. > > I look forward to using this book throughout the year. It > provides a process to plan and modify instruction. It gives me a model to > strive for! _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org
Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive
