Transcript Dialogic teaching- harnessing the power of talk Derval

Dialogic teaching- harnessing the power of talk
Derval Carey-Jenkins- May 2014.
DC-J. Dialogic Teaching May 2014
What is dialogic teaching?
 Take a few moments to jot some key words
/themes/concepts relating to what you understand
dialogic teaching to be – talk with your colleagues on
your table and be prepared to shared your findings.
 Where are you on the continuum-
DC-J. Dialogic Teaching May 2014
Dialogic teaching is not just …
“speaking and listening “
“communication skills”
“a single set method of teaching”
“question and answer”
“listen and tell”
DC-J. Dialogic Teaching May 2014
Words as tools for thinking
 ‘Real concepts are impossible without words, and
thinking in concepts does not exist beyond verbal
thinking. That is why the central moment in concept
formation …is a specific use of words as functional
tools.’
Vygotsky (1978)
DC-J. Dialogic Teaching May 2014
 It is a teaching methodology , a professional outlook, one
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that empowers the student for lifelong learning and active
citizenship
It enables teachers to precisely diagnose learning needs ,
frame learning tasks and assess learners’ progress
It is a comprehensive approach to talk in teaching and
learning across the whole curriculum
It is grounded in evidence and principles
It draws on a broad repertoire of strategies and techniques
Alexander (2008)
DC-J. Dialogic Teaching May 2014
MOST IMPORTANTLY …
 It is grounded in research on the relationship
between language , learning thinking and
understanding , and in observational evidence on
what makes for truly effective teaching .
DC-J. Dialogic Teaching May 2014
The Effective Provision of Pre-School, Primary and
Secondary Education (EPPSE 3-16)project
 Year 5 teachers in excellent schools (defined as those which are
academically effective with good quality pedagogy):
 There is a ‘bundle’ of behaviours that, taken together, can make a
difference to children’s development and progress and therefore their
later life chances…
 Use dialogic teaching and learning. Children work collaboratively,
take part instructional conversations in Literacy, have opportunities to
receive evaluative feedback and spend more time learning and
performing analysis. In Maths, these teachers use analysis and maths
discourse, share maths ‘authority’2 with the children and their pupils
have greater depth of knowledge and understanding
Siraj-Blatchford et al (2011)
DC-J. Dialogic Teaching May 2014
Principles of dialogic teaching embedded in the curriculum –
some examples
 English
 Maths
 Computing
DC-J. Dialogic Teaching May 2014
Who is Robin Alexander ?
 He is a Cambridge Professor of Education.
 He is one of the most respected academics in the field
of Education both here and across the world.
 He pioneered dialogic teaching.
 He led the seminal Cambridge Primary
Review(2009).
 He is a teacher.
DC-J. Dialogic Teaching May 2014
Key underpinning principles
 * collective: teachers and children address learning tasks together, as a group
or as a class;
 * reciprocal: teachers and children listen to each other, share ideas and
consider alternative viewpoints;
 * supportive: children articulate their ideas freely, without fear of
embarrassment over "wrong" answers; and they help each other to reach
common understandings;
 * cumulative: teachers and children build on their own and each other's ideas
and chain them into coherent lines of thinking and enquiry;
 * purposeful: teachers plan and steer classroom talk with specific educational
goals.
 http://www.schoolsworld.tv/node/1864
DC-J. Dialogic Teaching May 2014
Key requirements
 interactions which encourage students to think, and to think in different
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ways
questions which invite much more than simple recall
answers which are justified, followed up and built upon rather than
merely received
feedback which informs and leads thinking forward as well as
encourages
contributions which are extended rather than fragmented
exchanges which chain together into coherent and deepening lines of
enquiry
discussion and argumentation which probe and challenge rather than
unquestioningly accept
professional engagement with subject matter which liberates classroom
discourse from the safe and conventional
classroom organisation, climate and relationships which make all this
possible.
DC-J. Dialogic Teaching May 2014
Dialogic teaching and teacher training
 For our trainees to fully respond to the demands
of 21st Century learning and teaching they need
 “versions of pedagogy (teaching and learning) which
aim at strengthening pupils’ capabilities for learning”
(Bereiter, 2002)
She argues that many teachers lack…
 “the skills necessary for planning effective whole class
dialogue , and as a result …
 the pedagogic potential of learning through dialogic
teaching is minimised …
DC-J. Dialogic Teaching May 2014
Some useful texts …
Mercer and
Hodgkinson
(2008)
Alexander (2008)
Mercer and
Littleton (2007)
DC-J. Dialogic Teaching May 2014
Beauchamp (2012)
Chapter 2
References and further reading
 Alexander, R.J. (2008) Towards Dialogic Teaching: rethinking
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classroom talk (4th edition), Dialogos.
Alexander, R.J. (2008) Essays on Pedagogy. London: Routledge.
Bereiter, C. (2002) Education and Mind in the Knowledge Age.
NJ, Lawrence Erlbaum).
Mercer, N. and Hodgkinson, S. (2008) Exploring Talk in School.
London: Sage.
Mercer, N. & Littleton, K. (2007). Dialogue and the development
of children’s thinking. London:Routledge.
Mercer, N. (2000) Words and Minds: How we use language to
think together. London: Routledge.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978) in: Cole, M. V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner &
Souberman, (Eds) Mind in Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press
DC-J. Dialogic Teaching May 2014