Children in the early grades benefit from participating in rich, structured conversation in response to books that are read aloud by an adult or an older, more fluent reader. Meaning-making is enhanced when teachers talk about text and provide students with opportunities to share their thinking, questions, and feelings.
Although research shows higher-achieving students "spent 70 percent of their instructional time reading passages and discussing or responding to questions about the material they read, lower achieving readers spent roughly 37 percent of their instructional time on these activities. The majority of their time was spent on word-identification, letter-sound activities, spelling and penmanship" (Allington, 2001, p. 25).
Student-led discussions in the early grades offer pairs or triads of readers the opportunity to engage in conversations about, deepen their understanding of, and share their interpretations of texts. So, are these early learners capable of having student-led discussions about text?
In short, yes! They are absolutely capable of beginning conversations about text read aloud by the teacher or from books appropriate to their reading level. In the early grades, students will be most successful when they begin this work in pairs.
Laying Groundwork
To help these students get started, text frames and anchor charts are structures they need to grow their conversation skills. Student-led discussions require a great deal of teacher support at the beginning, but with careful planning and explicit instruction, students can become more independent in this work. In the beginning, the teacher often selects texts that will be of interest to students and that allow them the ability to apply an appropriate comprehension strategy from the focus lesson.
In the primary grades, students who will be working together should read the same texts. As students become more skilled, they can be encouraged to read and discuss books by the same author or books that are based on a common topic. Since picture books and early chapter books are generally short in length, children typically read the whole book before they have a discussion rather than reading shorter sections and having several discussions (i.e., like older students who read longer books).
What do early readers talk about when they begin working independently in pairs and triads? The focus of their discussions can be on sharing new information they learned; describing things they liked (or didn't like) about the book; asking questions they had before, during, or after reading; sharing new reading strategies; discussing the notes they took while reading to keep track of their thinking and questions; or using charts and mind maps to compare characters and ideas.
Questioning Scaffold
In a 1st grade classroom, the teacher can provide a focus lesson on asking and answering questions while he or she reads a story. Students draw pictures, write keywords, or write full questions (if able) on sticky notes as they generate their questions about the text. When they finish, they reread their questions and silently use their sticky notes as a guide. Later, in pairs, the partners ask and answer each other's questions without assistance from the teacher.
You might be thinking to yourself that this is not an example of discussion. And you're right! Conversation is much more than simply talking and listening; it requires incremental steps, explicit instruction, and lots of practice to get all students willingly engaged in deep, meaningful conversations about text. In the previous example, the incremental steps include having students write questions on sticky notes, practice the questions on their own, and then ask their questions to a partner. By writing down their questions as they read, students are better able to organize their thoughts before sharing them with a partner. In this particular lesson, these 1st grade students participate in collaborative conversations by listening to others with care, speaking one at a time, and asking and answering questions with a partner in order to gather additional information or clarify something.
After several lessons aimed at guiding students' developmental progress, they receive explicit instruction on how to compare and contrast two texts and engage in a conversation on their own. Again, the first time they practice on their own does not result in a true "conversation." One student mentions something about one text, and the other student responds by noting a similarity or difference in the other text. However, these beginning lessons and opportunities to practice are crucial to students' success as they develop their independence.
Compare and Contrast Scaffold
Let's consider another example. A 2nd grade teacher sets the following learning target for a lesson: identify one similarity and one difference between two stories. She begins the gradual release of responsibility model by having students compare and contrast a soccer and basketball. They construct a Venn diagram and work in groups to identify and add similarities and differences. The focus lesson takes about 20 minutes for the teacher to provide direction, for students to generate similarities and differences on chart paper, and for students to share their ideas. Although students might have opportunities to practice writing questions and answers, it's more than likely that they do not have similar opportunities to be part of productive conversations with one another.
The day before, the teacher read a traditional version of the Little Red Riding Hood tale along with a much different interpretation—Honestly, Red Riding Hood Was Rotten: The Story of Little Red Riding Hood as told by the Wolf (Shaskan & Guerlais, 2011). After the teacher finished reading, students listed one similarity and one difference between the two stories on sticky notes. Finally, the teacher had the students share their ideas. This lesson was taught to lead up to the work students would do to compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story by different authors (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.9).
After several focus lessons and opportunities to discuss texts, students are set to work independently to compare and contrast different texts and have a conversation about the similarities and differences. In both examples, students can be asked to use the information they placed on their graphic organizers to have a conversation about the two versions of the folktale they read. Remember that it's critical for the teacher to model a good conversation and remind students of the qualities of a good conversation. When students are engaged in these conversations, the teacher walks around with a list of indicators (shared and discussed with students earlier), noting specific examples he or she will share with students later in the lesson. This type of data collection and feedback should be given at the end of each lesson for students to make necessary adjustments in how they conduct and interact during discussions.
Independence Through Structure
Even though all students may not be able to meet the various mandated standards at a proficient level, many experience great growth and success when they are afforded opportunities to practice strategies independently. In addition, their communication skills can only develop through structured practice with specific feedback from the teacher. Most importantly, their love of reading increases with each opportunity to practice and communicate about high-quality, rich literature.