strategy 13:
Grand Conversations
What is it? These are child-centered conversations, where the children do most of the talking, giving their opinions or supporting their points of view with examples from the story. Purpose? A grand conversation is a discussion about stories in which children explore the big ideas, deepend their comprehension, and reflect on their feelings. Implementation: Grand conversations have two parts. The first part is open-ended. The children talk about their reactions to the book, and then their comments determine the direction of the conversation. The teacher can ask questions or share information. The second part is when the teacher focuses the children’s attention on one or two topics that they didn’t talk about in the first part of the conversation. Steps 1. Read the book. Children read a story or part of a story, or they listen to the teacher read it aloud. 2. Think about the story. Children think individually about the story, gathering ideas to share by drawing pictures or writing in their reading logs. 3. Begin the conversation. Children get in a circle and the teacher asks who wants to begin. One child will make a comment and then classmates take turns talking about the idea that was introduced by the first child. 4. Continue the conversation as children introduce new ideas and ask questions about the story. To ensure that everyone participates the teacher can ask that no one make more than three comments until everyone has spoken at least twice. 5. Teachers will ask questions to direct children to aspects of the story that they have missed, or they might focus on an element of story structure or they may ask children to compare the book to others. 6. After all ideas have been explored the teacher can end the conversation by summarizing and drawing conclusions about the story. |
Illustration or Example:
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