Session 3: High Quality Discussion on the Meaning of Text

Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade Practice Guide:

Recommendation 3: Guide students through focused, high-quality discussion on the meaning of text.

  • Structure the discussion to complement the text, the instructional purpose, and the readers’ ability and grade level.
  • Develop discussion questions that require students to think deeply about text.
  • Ask follow-up questions to encourage and facilitate discussion.
  • Have students lead structured small-group discussions.

 

Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention Practices:

Recommendation 3: Provide opportunities for extended discussion of text meaning and interpretation.

  • Carefully prepare or the discussion by selecting engaging materials and developing stimulating questions.
  • Ask follow-up questions that help provide continuity and extend the discussion.
  • Provide a task or discussion format that students can follow when they discuss text in small groups.

 

Materials

 

Define Session Goals

Before we discuss today’s session goals, let’s discuss the reflection questions from Activity 2.2: Reflect and Next Steps for Text Structure. Ask volunteers to share their reflections.

  1. Which text structure did you teach? Which book did you use to teach it? Did you teach the think aloud as planned? If not, describe any adjustments you made and why you made them.
  2. How did your students respond to your instruction? Which scaffolds were effective? Which scaffolds did you use for English learners?
  3. How did you (or will you) determine if students can independently use the text structure you introduced through the think aloud?

Thank you for sharing your reflections. Now, let’s review today’s session goals.

  • Understand how to structure the discussion to complement the text, the instructional purpose, and the readers’ ability and grade level.
  • Understand how to develop discussion questions that require students to think deeply about text.
  • Understand how to develop and ask follow-up questions to encourage and facilitate discussion.
  • Explore how to provide opportunities for students lead structured small-group discussions.

 

Learn About the Recommendation and How-to Steps

Recommendations from the practice guides for grades K-3 and adolescents are similar, and Recommendation 3 from the Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention practice guide support Recommendation 3 from the Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade. This session will address the “how-to” steps from Recommendation 3 of the K-3 practice guide. Activities apply to grades K-12. You may wish to review pages 21-25 of the Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention Practices with teachers of older students.

1. Structure the discussion to complement the text, the instructional purpose, and the readers’ ability and grade level.

We’ve all had conversations with someone or a discussion in the classroom that were surface level. To support students’ comprehension, teachers need to plan and facilitate focused, high-quality discussions on the meaning of what they read. Deep discussions about a text help students go beyond asking and answering surface-level questions to a more meaningful exploration of the text. With guidance from you, students are capable of engaging in meaningful discussions about a text.

Facilitating a high-quality discussion about a text takes intentional planning, including selecting the text, determining the instructional purpose, and considering your students’ ability and grade level. Read the first how-to step for this recommendation on pages 24-26 of the Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade Practice Guide. Allow 5 minutes for participants to read and then facilitate a discussion. Use a think-pair-share with a larger group. Use whole group discussion for a smaller group.

  • Why is the text used for deep discussion so important? In other words, what does the text affect? (Answers may vary but should include that the text will affect the goals of the discussion, the extent to which students are interested in the discussion, and the questions teachers use to stimulate a discussion.)
  • What should text discussions be “grounded” in? (Florida’s B.E.S.T. ELA Standards.)
  • List and describe three categories of comprehension that can be used to frame a discussion about a text. (Locate and Recall, Integrate and Interpret, Critique and Evaluate. See Table 7 on page 25 for brief description.)
  • What are some adaptations that could be made for younger students? (Answers may vary and may include explicitly model how to think about the questions and take a greater role by asking more questions. More adaptations are in the blue boxes on pages 25-26.)
  • What adaptations might you make for English learner students? (Answers may very but could include some examples described for younger students as well as pairing an English learner student with a student who is more proficient at English when students discuss the text in pairs.)

Let’s look at Activity 3.1: High-Quality Discussion About Text. We will use this activity throughout today’s session. Confirm that everyone has this activity in front of them. The four steps to guide a high-quality discussion about text are listed at the top. Steps 1 and 2 are related to planning. Steps 3 and 4 are related to sustaining and expanding the discussion. The steps are:

  1. Structure the discussion to complement the text, the instructional purpose, and the readers’ ability and grade level.
  2. Develop discussion questions that require students to think deeply about a text.
  3. Ask follow-up questions to encourage and facilitate discussion.
  4. Have students lead structured small-group discussions.

We just read about and discussed Step 1. We will use the Four Steps to Guide a High-Quality Discussion About a Text and the text you brought to today’s session to complete this activity. This activity is designed to guide the development of a lesson plan for facilitating a high-quality discussion about a text. We will discuss each step one at a time and then you will analyze your text and record information in the third column of the table.

The first step in the process to facilitate a deep discussion about a text is to select the text based on your instructional purpose and your students. Locate the text you brought that you plan to read and discuss with your students. Determine an instructional purpose for that text related to your Florida ELA Standards. Standards could be from the Reading and the Communication strands.

Consider whether you are reading the text to your students or if the students are reading the text independently. The goal is for all students to read on grade-level so the more support provided while reading, the more challenging the text should be. For example, if you are going to conduct a read-aloud, the text should be much more challenging for the students than if they were expected to read the text independently. Consider the questions related to Step 1 in the second column of the activity. Analyze your text and record answers to questions in the third column. Discuss your answers with a colleague. Allow 5-10 minutes for this step of the activity. Then, ask for a couple of volunteers to share what they recorded.

2. Develop discussion questions that require students to think deeply about text.

The second step in the process to facilitate a high-quality discussion about a text is to develop the discussion questions about the text. Discussions and questions should be grounded in Florida’s B.E.S.T. ELA Standards. For example, questions can be developed based on standards that are focused on central ideas and relevant details. It’s important to ask higher-order questions that encourage students to think deeply about what the text means as opposed to simply recalling details. Look at Step 2 on the activity for examples of higher-order questions:

  • Why did _______?
  • What do you think __________?
  • If you were the author _________?
  • Can you defend the characters position about ________?
  • What does _______ remind you of and why?

The questions you develop to facilitate the discussion should support the instructional goal. Also, consider the best time to present each question: before, during, or after reading. Finally, for questions asked during reading, determine where in the text they will be asked. Write the question on a sticky note and place it at the exact location within the text to help facilitate a smooth discussion.

Review Step 2 on Activity 3.1. Analyze your text and create high-order questions that you will ask before, during, and after reading the text. Write questions that will be asked during reading on a sticky note and place them on the appropriate page. Discuss your questions with a colleague. Allow 5 minutes for this step of the activity. Then, ask for a couple of volunteers to share the discussion questions they recorded.

3. Ask follow-up questions to encourage and facilitate discussion.

Let’s discuss Step 3. Follow-up questions are the ways in which you respond to students’ answers to initial questions. Examples of follow-up questions include: Why do you think that happened? How can you build on what _______ just said? Do you agree with ______’s answer? Why or why not? What happened in the text that makes you think that?

What often happens in classrooms is the teacher asks a question, one student answers the question, the teacher evaluates the student’s response, and the teacher asks another unrelated question and calls on a different student to respond. The goal is to move away from this surface-level, ask-answer-evaluate cycle. By preparing and asking high-order questions and follow-up questions, a more collaborative discussion can occur to allow students to build meaning from the text. Because this discussion format may be new to students, it is important to model and guide students in responding to questions while keeping them focused on the meaning of the text.

Review the sample discussion and the example follow-up questions in Table 8 on page 26. Allow 2 minutes for participants to review page 26. What is the purpose of asking follow-up questions while discussing a text? (Answers may vary and could include: Follow-up questions can be a type of scaffold if students’ thinking about a concept gets off track. Asking follow-up questions can lead students to think about and elaborate on their answers and the meaning of the text. Answering follow-up questions can help students learn to think about the text more actively and to support their opinions with evidence from the text.)

Although you can plan follow-up questions in advance, many follow-up questions are a form of scaffolding and determined on the spot in response to students’ responses. Review Step 3 on your activity. Create follow-up questions for your text. Discuss your follow-up questions with a colleague. Allow 5 minutes for this step of the activity. Then, ask for a couple of volunteers to share the follow-up questions they recorded.

4. Have students lead structured small-group discussions.

Step 4 in guiding students through focused, high-quality discussion on the meaning of text is to have students lead structured small-group discussions. However, peer-led discussions are implemented only after extensive modeling, practice, and scaffolding. There are a variety of structures and techniques that you can use to facilitate peer-led discussions. For example, you could describe and assign a role to each student to ensure all students participate in the discussion. You could also provide students with higher-order questions, graphics, or pictures, and ask them to discuss the materials with a partner. Whichever structure you use, it is important to teach the activity and its rules using the gradual release of responsibility.

There are simple tools you can use to encourage students to participate fully and fairly. For example, provide students with a chart of rules (include picture clues for younger students) to remind them of appropriate behavior during peer-led discussions. You may also consider setting a rule that no one can talk more than three times until everyone has spoken once. For English learners, additional supports may be needed, including modeled sentence starters, visual cues, and pairing English learners with students with native English speakers or students who demonstrate greater linguistic competency.

Review Step 4 on your activity. There are several examples of peer-led structures and techniques for implementation as well as examples of tools to encourage participation. Use these examples to spark ideas of how you will have students lead small-group discussions and record your ideas in the third column. Discuss your plans with a colleague. Allow 5 minutes for this step of the activity. Then, ask for a couple of volunteers to share their plans for having students lead structured small-group discussions.

 

Collaborate

Let’s review Activity 3.2: Text Discussion Lesson Plan. Synthesize your notes from the third column of Activity 3.1 to create a text discussion lesson plan using the lesson plan template. Allow 5 minutes for participants to complete the lesson plan.

Now, talk with a colleague about the process we engaged in for Activities 3.1 and 3.2.

  • How is this process the same and how is it different from how you typically plan for high-quality discussions about a text?
  • Based on this process, is there anything you plan to change or add to your lesson planning for discussions about text?

Allow 3 minutes for paired discussion. Then, ask for volunteers to share with the whole group a summary of their paired discussion.

 

Reflect and Next Steps

Let’s review Activity 3.3: Reflect and Next Steps for Text Discussion. With your students, implement the lesson plan you developed during today’s session (Activity 3.2 Text Discussion Lesson Plan). Then answer the reflection questions on Activity 3.3. We will discuss your reflections at our next session.

  1. Did you implement the discussion questions and follow-up questions as planned? If not, describe any adjustments you made and why you made them.
  2. How did your students respond to your text discussion? Which scaffolds were effective?
  3. Were the student-led structured small-group discussions effective? What would you change for next time?

Keep in mind that you will develop and deliver a series of lessons as a culminating project at the end of this course. Consider including what we have discussed today in your lessons. Your instruction will demonstrate the knowledge and skills gained from our PLC sessions.

Thank you for participating in today’s PLC session about high-quality discussions on the meaning of text!