Developing Effective Dialogue to Support Learning Across and Beyond the Curriculum
- 1. Thinking Together: Developing effective dialogue to support learning across and beyond the curriculum Neil Phillipson neil@21stcenturylearners.org.uk @21Clearners
- 2. Session outline… Dialogue in the Curriculum What is ‘effective dialogue’ and in what contexts is it useful? The difficulty of dialogue Why do we need to teach for dialogue as well as through dialogue? Frameworks to support dialogue Thinking Together and the 4Cs Dialogue beyond the curriculum The wider applications of dialogue
- 3. What comes next in this sequence?
- 4. Useful classroom talk? What are the characteristics of this talk that make it effective? In what contexts could this kind of talk be useful in the classroom? Video of three children in Dialogue around Raven’s Reasoning tests, successfully solving the problem on the previous slide.
- 5. The difficulty of dialogue…
- 6. Identifying with dialogue… Professor Ruper Wegerif, ‘Mind-Expanding’
- 8. If only it were that simple… Video of the three children from slide 4 in Dialogue around Raven’s Reasoning tests, before training (unsuccessful dialogue)
- 9. Disputational Talk: trying to ‘beat’ each other, to be the winner (identifying with the self) Cummulative Talk: trying to agree to maintain the harmony of the group (identifying with the group) Common ‘types’ of talk… (taken from research for the Thinking Together project, by Neil Mercer, Lyn Dawes and Rupert Wegerif)
- 10. “We subject learners to group work because it ‘develops the skills needed later in life’; except it really doesn’t.” Ros McMullen (blog – principalprivate) “Group work: I hate the concept as I hate hell, all Montagues and thee. I bite my thumb at it… An efficient way to learn? Not so much.” Tom Bennett (The TES) “Whenever I am asked where the group work is in my lessons, I respond with the same answer. The class have been put into a group of 30, and their group task is to listen to the teacher and to work in silence.” Robert Peal (blog – goodbyemisterhunter) Does group work work? (taken from a Slideshare presentation by James Mannion)
- 11. Frameworks to support dialogue…
- 12. The Thinking Together Project… • Focused on the importance of preparing children to talk in groups by establishing clear ground rules • Provided exemplar ‘talk lessons’ in various curriculum contexts • Led to measurably raised attainment when working in group situations • Led to measurably raised attainment when working individually (internalisation of dialogic skills – of thinking skills)
- 13. Philosophy for Children… • …about helping children to think philosophically • …about children engaging in critical dialogue to reach a better shared understanding of contestable concepts that are important to them • …about the way in which children engage with ‘the other’ • …about developing caring, collaborative, creative and critical thinking
- 14. Caring Critical Collaborative Creative The ‘4 Cs’… Listening, valuing Responding, supporting Questioning, reasoning Connecting, suggesting
- 15. Part 1: Caring Thinking (eliciting groundrules through dramatic exploration of a story) A synthesis – ground rules around the 4Cs framework…
- 16. Caring Critical Collaborative Creative We all try to join in We listen attentively to each other We share our ideas We are ready to give reasons for our ideas We can challenge each other’s ideas We treat others’ ideas with respect We look for and discuss alternative ideas We make decisions based on good reasons We speak one at a time We build on each other’s ideas We look for evidence We try to make connections between ideas We care about the task We try to understand other points of view Help each other to express our ideas We find examples and comparisons
- 17. Shape The importance of conceptual understanding… Form Logic Algorithm Program Design Nutrition Grammar Scale Environment Culture Cause and consequence Pattern MeasureMelodyChemical changeForce Edited version of video by Tim Oates, discussing the importance of key concepts to progress through the curriculum. Full version available at YouTube).
- 18. Three foundational concepts: • Force • Scale • Culture Applying the ground rules in context (circus of activities)…
- 19. Activities to promote talk - Concept Cartoons (S. Naylor)
- 20. Activities to promote talk - Odd One Out
- 21. Activities to promote talk - Talking Points (L. Dawes) Always True Always False It depends Bigger planets have longer days Adverbs end in -ly
- 22. Activities to promote talk - Thinking Maps (TSI)
- 23. Dialogue beyond the curriculum…
- 24. Me You The Other Encounters with the other…
- 25. Qualification Socialisation Subjectification Gaining knowledge, skills, dispositions etc. needed to go on and do something. Becoming part of society – culture and tradition. Becoming more autonomous and independent in thinking and acting. The purposes of education? (Gert Biesta)
- 26. Rhetoric Remaking Communicating Dialectic Challenging Analysing Grammar Learning Remembering The Trivium… (Martin Robinson)
- 29. Human stories…
- 30. British Values…
- 31. “It is hard to be cruel once you permit yourself to enter the mind of your victim. Imagining what it is like to be someone other than yourself is at the core of our humanity. It is the essence of compassion, and it is the beginning of morality. The hijackers used fanatical certainty, misplaced religious faith, and dehumanising hatred to purge themselves of the human instinct for empathy. Among their crimes was a failure of the imagination.” Ian, McEwan 2001 The importance of other perspectives…
- 32. Stay in touch… e: neil@21stcenturylearners.org.uk t: @21Clearners f: / 21Clearners In: Neil Phillipson on LinkedIn
Editor's Notes
- #18: How is this linked to educational purpose – Biesta? Need slide on impacts?