Public schools will not serve as the great equalizer of opportunity until they provide all students with the chance to acquire the critical listening, reasoning, argumentation, and communication skills developed through classroom discourse and required for future success in any discipline. Children with abundant opportunities for adult-child discussions have an undeniable academic advantage. But that inequality can be significantly narrowed if we routinely provide school experiences that give every student a voice and an opportunity to hone the ability to use that voice effectively in the discussion of ideas. This presentation provides an overview of these concepts and some initiatives that have been employed to support academically productive talk in middle and high schools. 

Resources

In PP:

For your colleagues in elementary literacy:

- Philosophy for children:  as early as preschool  https://p4c.com/

- Nell Duke (2006): Authentic Literacy Activities for Developing Comprehension and Writing, The Reading Teacher 60(4):344-355. DOI: 10.1598/RT.60.4.4

- WordGen Elementary (4th and 5th grades) https://www.serp.link/

For adolescents:

- STARI (Strategic Adolescent Literacy Initiative):  for struggling adolescent readers https://www.serpinstitute.org/stari/packets

- https://www.serpinstitute.org/stari/remote-learning-resources

Word Generation:  https://www.serp.link/

- WordGen Weeklies (6th-8th grades)

- SoGen (6th-8th grades)

- SciGen (6th-9th grades and growing)

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https://www.serpinstitute.org/wordgen-elementary/academically-productive-talk

In chat

- Good relevant resource. Michaels, S., & O’Connor, C. (2012). Talk science primer. Cambridge, MA: TERC. http://searkscience.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/67803311/18-TalkScience_PrimerArticle.pdf

- www.perusall.com (integrates with canvas. collaborative annotation app)