"The person doing the talking is doing the learning"

We've all have been in a classroom with a teacher who talks and talks and talks. I've been that teacher (and that principal 😒) spending far too much time giving instructions, repeating instructions, adding information, talking, and telling and blabbing on and on about how students are doing instead of creating a situation where they reflect on their own learning.  Lots of teacher talk time (TTT) feels like we're doing our jobs, but after 15 min. of teacher gab student faces reflect blank stares of boredom and confusion.  

Research tells us a good bit about how children process, evaluate, retain and utilize information.  John Hattie's analyses of classroom observations reveal that the average teacher talks about 80% of the time and poses about 200 questions per day.  However, in effective classrooms with the highest levels of learning, students are talking with their classmates about the topic much more than the teacher is talking. They are posing questions, talking about concepts and responding to one another's ideas.  In fact, student talk is possibly the most easily implemented means of improving student learning.  

What is the teacher doing when kids are talking?  The teacher is walking around, sitting next to, and listening to students with the purpose of gathering information to inform the next instructional moves.  He or she is asking questions to steer the conversation and to scaffold learning.  This approach makes it possible to offer timely feedback and just-in-time instruction that supports learning.  This is the opportunity to deepen student understanding by helping them see things from various perspectives. 

What if students don't want to talk?  It's been estimated that we spend about 80% of our waking hours in some form of communication.  (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00220671.1950.10881817)  If that's true (it probably is, a Google search will take you to quite a bit of research on the topic) then we need to teach kids how to communicate.  They will likely give us feedback that they'd rather just sit there while we talk.  However, the fact that they think they can't participate in an academic conversation really just tells us that they need to learn how to have these conversations.  So our job is to teach them how to engage in accountable, academic thinking and talk. 

Mapping classroom conversation:  Imagine if you were to map the flow of student and teacher talk.  In a traditional classroom, it would look like ping pong.  The teacher serves the question, a student pings back a question.  Imagine the map being more like volleyball with the students playing off of each other's responses creating a web.

 Check out this resource for ideas to reduce TTT and increase learning: https://pz.harvard.edu/thinking-routines

Challenges.  Try one of these challenges:  

• Video yourself for a lesson and track your conversations. What percentage of the time is TTT, what percentage is STT (Student talk time).  
• Implement a thinking routine to allow students to process and talk about their thinking.  
• Implement the workshop model (ch.4 Phenomenal Teaching) for as many lessons as possible (it could be every lesson)   This model makes it easier to minimize TTT.

For the Week of October 9
Bus Duty: Doering and Cooley
Monday: Non Work Day  
Tuesday: Kaiser out  Mantz and Mires are principal designees
Wednesday:  PSAT day  
Thursday: Extended Learning
Friday: Wellness, Trent visiting Venture

For the Week of October 16
Bus Duty: Smith and Hook
Monday: Non Work Day:  
Tuesday: m
Wednesday: 
Thursday: Extended Learning
Friday: Wellness

For the Week of October 23
Bus Duty: Vaughan,  Fuller
Monday: Certified PD day
Tuesday: 
Wednesday:  
Thursday: Extended Learning Picture Make up day
Friday: Wellness; Trent visiting Venture;  Halloween BBQ

For the Week of October 30
Bus Duty: Wilson and Penske
Monday: Non Work Day
Tuesday: 
Wednesday: 
Thursday: Extended Learning Picture Make up day
Friday: Wellness; Trent visiting Venture

For the Week of November 6
Bus Duty: Gonzalez and Mazhan
Monday: Certified PD day
Tuesday: 
Wednesday:  
Thursday: Extended Learning 
Friday: Staff Work Day, day off for veterans to thank them for their service