Importance and Implementation of Talk moves

Utilizing various Talk moves is the key to initiate, build and maintain a productive conversation. I feel talk moves can help to make the transition from a simple conversation or discussion to critical thinking/accountable talk conversation. The moves allow this transition to happen in a structured and organized way. The various talk moves are generic and applicable to various settings. These moves are practical and easy to try. In a classroom setting these moves can be mutually beneficial to the students and the teacher. On implementing these talk moves; the teacher will get satisfaction and sense of achievement of making the students understand the concepts thoroughly and students will feel confident about their learning’s. The scope of student learning and student participation both is widened in this manner. Talk moves ensure that students are paying attention to what is being discussed. They feel responsible to listen to what others are saying and build the conversation. While pursuing a course on Accountable Talk I learnt the various talk moves in depth and I could also devise some talk moves to apply in my learning community.

• Marking:

Marking is a way of appreciating a student's contribution and drawing other student’s attention to it. The student whose statement was marked by the teacher will feel more confident and be enthusiastic to contribute his views the next time. It will also encourage the other students to pool in their views and ideas. 

• Challenging a student’s statement:

Challenging a student’s statement will allow him/her to clarify his ideas in detail using justifications based on facts and theories. It will promote deep thinking rather than just stating opinions. It will be instrumental in clearing misconceptions or wrong notions.  

• Revoicing:

Revoicing can enable a teacher to add important concepts or scientific terminology to what has already been said.  It can help to engage the students and ensure that they are all on the same page.

• Restating:

Asking a student to restate another student’s contribution in a discussion in his/her words will provide entry point for students who are unable to initiate or contribute to a conversation on their own. It also gives the student the opportunity to reflect and build on ideas discussed so far in the conversation.

• Merging:

Merging the various contributions helps to interconnect the different valid ideas.  It will establish a logical thread in the discussion and be instrumental in deriving a conclusion.

• Recapping:

Recapping helps to summarize the learning and create understanding of the concept. It helps to connect and link various important concepts together and emphasize on the key learning’s.

• Elaborating:

Asking a student to elaborate his/her statement will allow the student to explain his ideas in detail using examples or citing references or facts that formed the basis of the statement. The students can probe each other and ask for explanations in order to better interpret the ideas.

• Agree/Disagree:

Asking students whether they agree or disagree will help them to challenge each other’s ideas and counter statements using facts. They can agree and build on common ideas,  also disagree respectfully by validating contributions made by each other.

Lecture– Pros and cons

Most of us are familiar with the format of a lecture. It is the most common format or teaching method used in schools and universities. The instructor or teacher teaches orally to a group of students. Teachers usually read out a text from a book or a projector and sometimes write the keywords, important points on the board. The duration of a lecture may be 30 minutes or an hour.

Majority of my learning as a student was via lectures and only on rare occasions I had an opportunity to participate in group discussions, debates or presentations. During my college days, I remember that I and my friends would attend lectures only for the sake of attendance. The professors would come to class and read out texts from reference books. There was hardly any interaction between the professor and us. We would by busy noting down the important points or trying to understand the key words and sometimes lose track of what was being said. We would easily get distracted by commotion outside the classroom or whispers and comments passed by fellow students. There was no effective learning happening in the classroom. There was no specific method or time allotted for us to raise our doubts, rectify misconceptions or provide feedback for the lecture. Whenever we needed a clarification, we would raise our hands and pose our query. The response from the teacher would not be very encouraging, and in most cases we would not get satisfactory answers or our questions were left unanswered.

Many years later when I decided to become a teacher, I pondered over my experiences with my teachers and my expectations as a student. I made a small list of the pros and cons of the lecture format.

Pros

• It is an economical way to deliver information to large number of students.
• Lectures can be used to convey theories, ideas, facts and information to students.
• Information from various sources with latest developments, current statistics can be delivered in an organized and structured way.
• Gives the instructor/teacher the liberty to design the content, the pace and the aim of the lecture.
• The teacher is in full control of the class..

Cons

• Students do not get an opportunity to raise questions, or seek clarifications.
• There is hardly any dialogue or interaction between the students and the teacher, it usually one way communication
• Students are busy in jotting down the points and do not reflect on what is being said.
• The lecture must be carefully designed to cater to the students based on the requirements and understanding level of the students.
• Sometimes students do not find any relevance and get distracted and hence lose track of the lecture.
• It is difficult to track if the students are actually paying attention.
•  It is does not provide a medium to check the students understanding of the topic.

I vowed not to make these mistakes or follow the typical tried and tested method. I made a conscious effort to implement various formats such as group discussions, student presentations, role reversals, fish bowl along with the traditional format of lectures. The students took some time to get used to these various formats but eventually I realized that there was more enthusiasm in the classroom and the students began to enjoy the sessions. The students are now eager to learn and willingly participate in various methods and activities and to facilitate learning. The novelty factor is maintained as different formats are used and reused in different ways. I now use these formats more often than the lectures and am very pleased and contented with the positive outcomes.

Conflict between your personal values and institutional values

All of us have certain beliefs, values that are inherent. Some values have been inculcated in us ever since our childhood. These values defer depending on our nationality, religion, race, cast and creed. These values have such a deep impact on our mind and we tend to behave accordingly. In order to change our existing values or accept other values, we need to make a conscious effort. There are some values such as non-violence, truthfulness, tolerance and respect for human life that are universal so it may seem that these values may be shared by everyone. All of us have some personal values and beliefs which we developed based on our education, experiences, learning’s and community.

 As a teacher or a trainer I am sure most of us have faced a situation wherein we experience a conflict between our personal values and institutional values. I experienced a similar situation last year when I was training MBA students. Usually in colleges or institutions, the management is always under pressure regarding the performance of the students. They expect good and consistent results from their students in order to market the current students performances, achievements and  gain more admissions the following year. They are unwilling to be patient and try various approaches to obtain such results. In such a situation no one wants to pay attention to the slow learners and try to improve their performance. They focus primarily on the brighter students and cater to their needs and ignore or humiliate the others.

 I believed in motivating students in order to improve their performance in class whereas the head of department believed in humiliating them. According to her, if such students were humiliated and made to feel that others in class can do better than them and they will make efforts to improve themselves. I tried to explain to her that humiliating, embarrassing students will have a negative impact on them. They may go into a shell and refrain from making efforts. They will avoid participating in the class activities and eventually lose interest in the subject. They may even stop attending classes and their performance will further decline. I persuaded the HOD to let me follow my belief try my method of motivation.

 I began with appreciating even the smallest effort taken by such students. I started asking more open ended questions to begin my sessions, I initiated discussions, organized debates. I tried  to encourage the non performing students to participate and contribute in the classroom activities, discussions. I made them feel important and valued their contribution. I would  help them to elaborate the points they stated in discussions. Later while summarizing the discussion, I would link the key the points and emphasize the ones made by the so called weak students. Gradually these students began taking more interest in class and began participating in the classroom discussions. Eventually their grades and  performance improved. I am glad that I stood by my belief and proved my point and hence helped to extirpate a redundant belief that proved hindrance to students’ progress.