Guide to Tripod’s 7Cs™ Framework
Confer
Teachers who confer encourage and value students’ ideas and views. They seek and respect students’ thoughts, opinions, and input as part of the learning process.
Message to Students:
“I invite, welcome, and respect your ideas and feedback.”
Click Here to Download the Guide Now
Sample Student Survey Items
(for different grade levels)
- My teacher is a very good listener when kids talk to her/him.
- My teacher wants us to share our thoughts.
- My teacher gives us time to explain our ideas.
Indicators of an Exemplary Classroom
Teachers effectively confer through practices like these:
Respecting perspectives
The teacher creates a classroom climate in which ideas are treated with respect.
- The teacher and students work together to create a learning environment that welcomes and values diverse views and opinions.
- The teacher models respectful ways of communicating.
Promoting discussion
The teacher engages students in communication and collaboration in support of learning.
- The teacher regularly provides genuine opportunities for students to contribute ideas and opinions as part of the learning process.
- The teacher incorporates interactive practices such as cooperative learning, reciprocal teaching, collaborative problem solving, and peer feedback.
Inviting input
The teacher invites and values students’ input about their learning experiences.
- The teacher gives students voice in determining aspects of what they learn.
- The teacher seeks students’ ideas and feedback about classroom activities and procedures.
Reflection Questions
Consider these questions as you reflect on your classroom practice:
- How often do you invite students to share their ideas and opinions in the context of learning activities?
- How often do you ask students to answer questions or solve problems together and discuss their responses?
- How do you ensure that all students have opportunities to express their views?
- How do you model respect for diverse viewpoints?
- How do you respond when students ask unclear or unexpected questions or share divergent views?
- How often do you provide students with opportunities to share their thoughts about how learning activities should proceed?
- How often do you seek feedback from students about the effectiveness of learning activities?
Sample Strategies
Try implementing teaching strategies like these in your classroom:
- Establish and model expectations for respectful classroom exchanges, especially in the context of disagreement. For example, ask students what respectful communication looks like, sounds like, and feels like.
- Incorporate small group and whole class discussions into learning activities.
- Invite students to share their views about how to structure specific learning activities or how to handle classroom dilemmas.
- Ask students to give each other feedback about how their work meets established criteria.
TEACHING RESOURCES
We’ve curated a set of teaching resources for Confer. As you set goals and pursue professional learning opportunities, use these resource collections to access additional strategies, tools, and examples of effective practices in action.
Confer: Promoting Discussion
Teachers who confer encourage and value students’ ideas and views. They seek and respect students’ thoughts, opinions, and input as part of the learning process. Find resources offering classroom strategies that support the practice of engaging students in communication and collaboration in support of learning.
Dialogue Defibrillators: Jump-Start Classroom Discussions!
www.edutopia.org/blog/dialogue-defibrillators-jump-start-classroom-discussions-todd-finley This teacher blog post describes eight common reasons why students may not share their thoughts or explain their ideas in class discussions and offers tips for addressing them. These strategies can help teachers encourage students to contribute their unique voices to class discussions and promote dialogue that supports learning …Learn to Listen/Listen to Learn – Developing Deeper Conversations
www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/teaching-strategies/learn-listen-listen-learn This classroom routine, which can be used in a variety of instructional contexts, promotes student discussion and helps to establish a climate of safety and respect. Students journal to clarify their own views about a controversial topic, then discuss their individual views in small groups, listening carefully to each …
How to Increase Higher Order Thinking
www.readingrockets.org/article/how-increase-higher-order-thinking This article explains how to respond to students’ questions in ways that foster higher order thinking, and offers a variety of teaching strategies that can help to develop thinking skills. It describes techniques for explaining clearly, promoting discussion, connecting ideas, and otherwise deepen and expand students’ thinking …Strategies to enhance peer feedback
www.assessmentforlearning.edu.au/professional_learning/peer_feedback/peer_strategies_enhance.html This article provides several strategies to guide students in providing feedback on each other’s work, including use of rubrics and exemplars. Simple feedback protocols offer a variety of ways to support students in framing comments on each other’s work, highlighting both strengths and suggestions for improvement …Creating High-Quality Work in EL Education Schools: Multiple Levels of Support | EL Education
eleducation.org/resources/creating-high-quality-work-multiple-levels-of-support This article offers concrete strategies to support students’ pursuit of high quality work by clarifying criteria for success, analyzing models, focusing instruction, and providing opportunities for feedback on work in progress. These strategies help to ensure that students have the needed instructional support for developing new skills and concepts …The Who, What, and Why of Models, Critique, and Descriptive Feedback | EL Education
eleducation.org/resources/the-who-what-and-why-of-models-critique-and-descriptive-feedback This summary of linked strategies can help teachers build a classroom learning culture in which useful feedback based on clear criteria is viewed by all as a critical part of the learning process. A brief chart outlines a useful process and rationale for clarifying learning targets, establishing success criteria, …I Do, We Do, You Do: Scaffolding Reading Comprehension in Social Studies
dwwlibrary.wested.org/resources/934 In this video, a teacher explains and demonstrates how she scaffolds instruction in order to break down complex tasks and provide instructional support for reading comprehension skills by thinking aloud and using a graphic organizer to illustrate her thought process. She models success by demonstrating the task first, asks …
What Makes You Say That
www.visiblethinkingpz.org/VisibleThinking_html_files/03_ThinkingRoutines/03d_UnderstandingRoutines/WhatMakes/WhatMakes_Routine.html This simple, accessible thinking routine consists of two simple questions that challenge students to think deeply and explain their understanding during any part of a learning experience. It can help to develop a regular practice among students of justifying their ideas, theories, or interpretations with evidence. Whether used in …Conversation Management
www.originsonline.org/educator-help/conversation-management This article articulates methods for cultivating productive classroom conversation and establishing a climate that encourages participation. It offers helpful guidance on establishing and maintaining conversation norms, as well as a variety of practical strategies for managing participation, including what to model and practice for each …
Procedures for Classroom Talk
www.ascd.org/publications/books/108035/chapters/Procedures-for-Classroom-Talk.aspx This article explains the benefits of facilitating classroom discussion and offers a variety of strategies for ensuring that student conversation promotes learning, that everyone participates, and that student perspectives are respected. The authors discuss the importance of classroom talk for English language learners, and they provide practical tips for …Adapting Curriculum to Learners’ Needs
eleducation.org/resources/adapting-curriculum-to-learners-needs The teacher featured in this video demonstrates how she differentiates instruction based on individual students’ learning needs so that everyone can engage in the lesson with confidence, feel supported and challenged, and achieve success. She models and explains how she personalizes instruction during a close reading lesson in ways …Small Groups, Big Gains
www.originsonline.org/newsletters/fall-2009-dd/small-groups-big-gains In this article, a teacher describes how she worked with students to implement, monitor, and adjust procedures to support focused student collaboration in her classroom. She tells the real story of a her efforts over time to help students become more productive in small group work, including bumps in …
6 Scaffolding Strategies to Use With Your Students
www.edutopia.org/blog/scaffolding-lessons-six-strategies-rebecca-alber This article describes strategies for scaffolding instruction to clarify understanding, such as modeling, providing students time to talk, and using graphic organizers or other visual aids. This concise list of effective scaffolding strategies offers practical ideas for teaching new content in ways that facilitate learning and help all students …Encouraging Students to Persist Through Challenges
www.mindsetkit.org/topics/celebrate-mistakes/give-work-encourages-mistakes-see-action The teacher in this video discusses and demonstrates how she reinforces students’ efforts to solve challenging problems, including practices such as inviting them to justify their thinking and encouraging them to try different approaches. She models strategies and language that help her young students tackle challenges, expect difficulties, develop …Austin’s Butterfly
eleducation.org/resources/austins-butterfly This video offers a beautiful example of using models to define criteria and guide student work, engaging students in closely examining each other’s work, and coaching them in providing constructive feedback on progress. It illustrates the power of this strategy to help students raise their standards for high-quality work …UDL Guideline 8: Provide options for sustaining effort and persistence
www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/udlguidelines/principle3#principle3_g8 This well-organized guide to implementing principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) explains why it’s important to help students learn to sustain attention and effort in the face of learning challenges and offers a variety of practical strategies, examples, and resources. For instance, reinforcing goals, differentiating instruction, fostering collaboration, …Challenge at the Heart of Deeper Learning: Teaching Channel Deeper Learning Series
vimeo.com/100358675 This video shows a variety of strategies in action for challenging students to learn and do more than they think they can. Featured teachers encourage students to persist in the face of challenge, embrace learning struggles, explain their thinking, and push themselves and each other toward deeper learning. Educators …The Doing What Works Library
dwwlibrary.wested.org/resources/618 This video includes a helpful overview of higher order questions, why they are important, and how to use them effectively in a variety of contexts. It describes a variety of teaching strategies that focus on using higher-order questions to help students deepen their thinking, develop their understanding, and make …Thinking Big About Engagement
www.edutopia.org/stw-assessment-authentic-student-engagement-video The teacher featured in this video illustrates how he sparks and maintains interest and cultivates curiosity and inquiry through designing a project that engages students actively, creatively, and collaboratively in learning. He clarifies key concepts by highlighting their relevance and their connections to students’ experiences. He invites students to …Science Talk: Management in the Active Classroom
vimeo.com/76178452 In this video, a teacher illustrates how she prepares students for participation in small-group discussions, helping them to document their ideas and supporting evidence in advance. She asks questions that highlight the relevance of important concepts, encourages students to ask and investigate their own questions, and requires them to …Reciprocal Teaching | Reading Rockets
www.readingrockets.org/strategies/reciprocal_teaching This article and video explain how to use designated group roles in order to promote interaction through student-led peer group discussion about a text. Reciprocal teaching is a technique that engages students in reading comprehension strategies including questioning, clarifying, summarizing, and predicting. Accompanying resources support classroom implementation in a …ICT Literacy Maps – P21
www.p21.org/component/content/article/31-ict-literacy-maps These maps offer many illustrative examples of learning tasks that address 21st century skills along with other curriculum standards, providing a variety of ideas for using technology to engage students in learning. The maps suggest a multitude of ways to incorporate digital tools and resources into instruction that help …Enliven Class Discussions With Gallery Walks
www.edutopia.org/blog/enliven-class-discussion-with-gallery-walks-rebecca-alber This teaching strategy, which can be used in a variety of instructional contexts, sparks interest in learning by creating interactive learning experiences for students. The article suggests various ways of challenging students to silently engage with ideas, student work, and other materials around the classroom in order to cultivate …Big Paper – Building a Silent Conversation
www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/teaching-strategies/big-paper-silent-conversation This classroom routine, which can be used in a variety of instructional contexts, promotes discussion by inviting students to engage deeply with a topic through silently writing responses to a stimulus and then reading and responding to their peers’ comments. At the end of the routine, students are invited …Assigning Roles for Group Work
www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/teaching-strategies/assigning-roles-group-work This classroom strategy involves establishing roles within groups in order to focus discussion, manage time effectively, and efficiently guide student learning. Creating roles and routines for group work enables student learning by systematizing classroom procedures, distributing responsibilities for group work products, and creating structures that hold all students accountable …Educational Leadership: Talking and Listening: Talking to Learn
www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/nov14/vol72/num03/Talking-to-Learn.aspx In this article, the author makes a strong case for the value of student-driven discussions and offers helpful guidance about how to cultivate a classroom climate where students feel safe and motivated to participate. She argues for investing time in laying the groundwork for classroom discussion as a prerequisite …Save the Last Word for Me
www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/teaching-strategies/save-last-word-me This simple, accessible classroom routine engages students in learning by inviting silent inquiry and reflection about a text, video, or other instructional materials prior to active participation in discussion. The protocol, which can be adapted for use in a variety of teaching contexts, supports students in contributing their ideas …Fishbowl
www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/teaching-strategies/fishbowl This article articulates several instructional uses for a versatile discussion strategy that facilitates interaction and promotes thinking by providing structured opportunities for students both to speak and to listen to each other as they engage with ideas and materials. It outlines steps for setting up a fishbowl, including establishing …Instruction | Teaching Tolerance – Diversity, Equity and Justice
www.tolerance.org/publication/instruction This resource describes instructional practices and strategies that foster engaging and challenging learning experiences for all students. These practices include promoting discussion, collaboration, and higher order thinking, as well as clarifying expectations and highlighting relevance. Recommendations address the value of incorporating student perspectives and the importance of considering classroom …Collaborative Culture: Academic Talk | EL Education
eleducation.org/resources/collaborative-culture-academic-talk This article with embedded videos offers guidance in facilitating student discussions that promote learning. The article explains the value of norms and protocols in ensuring that academic discussions are respectful and productive. The videos illustrate a variety of examples of teaching strategies that help students effectively engage in academic …Barometer – Taking a Stand on Controversial Issues
www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/teaching-strategies/barometer-taking-stand-controversial-issues This classroom activity, which can be used in a variety of instructional contexts, engages students in broadening and deepening their perspectives by inviting them to literally and figuratively take a stand on a debatable issue, explain their positions, and consider other viewpoints. The routine describes several steps to ensure …Educational Leadership: Instruction That Sticks: Making Cooperative Learning Powerful
www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/oct14/vol72/num02/Making-Cooperative-Learning-Powerful.aspx This article explains the value of cooperative learning and articulates techniques for making it work successfully. The author outlines helpful suggestions for designing lessons that set students up to work together effectively, and he provides practical strategies for ensuring that cooperative learning time is productive and that collaboration promotes …Oracy in the Classroom: Strategies for Effective Talk
www.edutopia.org/practice/oracy-classroom-strategies-effective-talk In this video and accompanying article, educators discuss the importance of speaking in students’ lives and demonstrate how they provide regular opportunities for students to talk about their ideas as part of the learning process in a variety of contexts. They share helpful strategies for engaging students in communication …Implementing the Writing Process – ReadWriteThink
www.readwritethink.org/professional-development/strategy-guides/implementing-writing-process-30386.html This article describes how to use the writing process to help students engage in meaningful writing tasks, deepen their thinking, persist in their efforts, and produce quality work. It explains the value of clarifying expectations and structuring opportunities for students to check their own work, engage in peer review, …Think Pair Share
www.visiblethinkingpz.org/VisibleThinking_html_files/03_ThinkingRoutines/03d_UnderstandingRoutines/ThinkPairShare/ThinkPairShare_Routine.html This thinking routine invites students to confer with each other about an open-ended, higher-order question to clarify and consolidate their ideas. The teacher poses a question and asks students to think about their responses individually, then explain their thinking to their partners, and finally share with the whole class …Chalk Talk
nsrfharmony.org/system/files/protocols/chalk_talk_0.pdf This protocol invites students to silently share their thoughts and ideas about an open-ended prompt with each other through public writing. This powerful classroom routine engages students in sharing their thoughts, making connections, building on each others ideas, and deepening and extending their thinking, all without a sound …Jigsaw
www.readingrockets.org/strategies/jigsaw This cooperative learning strategy actively engages students in conferring with each other in small groups with distributed expertise so that each student’s contribution is essential to consolidating the group’s understanding of a multi-faceted topic. While it requires some prior organization of students and materials, this teaching technique is great …Kindergarteners as Experts
eleducation.org/resources/kindergarteners-as-experts This video features a kindergarten learning expedition about birds that captivates students’ interest, sparks their curiosity, links their inquiries directly to the world outside of school, and actively engages them in producing quality work that they share with the community. Students act as citizen scientists, researchers, and artists, and …Circle of Viewpoints
visiblethinkingpz.org/VisibleThinking_html_files/03_ThinkingRoutines/03e_FairnessRoutines/CircleViewpoints/CircleViewpoints_Routine.html This classroom routine, which can be used in a variety of instructional contexts, supports students in exploring and discussing different viewpoints on a given topic. It invites students to take on different personas and engages them in thinking deeply to understand different perspectives and their implications …Confer: Inviting Input
Teachers who confer encourage and value students’ ideas and views. They seek and respect students’ thoughts, opinions, and input as part of the learning process. Find resources offering classroom strategies that support the practice of inviting and valuing students’ input about their learning experiences.
Student-Led Guidelines for Using Materials and Space | EL Education
eleducation.org/resources/student-led-guidelines-for-using-materials-and-space In this video, teachers engage their students in establishing and implementing classroom guidelines for efficient and productive use of tools, materials, and spaces to optimize learning. These classroom snapshots offer helpful illustrations of the power of engaging students in determining guidelines for thoughtful and productive use of learning materials …8 Tips and Tricks to Redesign Your Classroom
www.edutopia.org/blog/8-tips-and-tricks-redesign-your-classroom This article offers tips for redesigning classroom space that can help teachers strategically customize learning spaces with student input. These ideas can help teachers foster classroom conditions that promote specific modes of learning and allow for smooth and productive learning activities …Using Gaming Principles to Engage Students
www.edutopia.org/blog/using-gaming-principles-engage-students-douglas-kiang This article discusses strategies used by game designers for engaging learners that can be effectively applied in the design of classroom instruction. It distills what makes game-based learning fun and how to transfer those design principles to a variety of classroom learning experiences. For example, building in opportunities for …Encouraging Students to Own Their Work
www.edutopia.org/article/encouraging-students-own-their-work-joshua-block This teacher blog post articulates strategies for personalizing learning, building student ownership, and engaging students in meaningful work. The author argues that students produce higher quality work when they are able to make choices and incorporate their interests, and he offers several examples from his own classroom …Solving Real-World Issues Through Problem-Based Learning
www.edutopia.org/practice/solving-real-world-issues-through-problem-based-learning This video and accompanying article describe and demonstrate how teachers design and facilitate learning experiences that capture students’ interest and engage them in thinking deeply through projects and investigations that address complex, real-world problems. They offer tips for incorporating problem-based learning into teaching, such as inviting students to contribute …7 Tips for Building Positive Relationships with English-Language Learners
www.edutopia.org/blog/building-positive-relationships-ELL-larry-ferlazzo-katie-hull-sypnieski In this blog post, a teacher of English Language Learners (ELLs) recommends several tips for building positive, personalized relationships with students. He describes why learning about students\u2019 interests and background promotes engagement, and why he welcomes student input as part of the learning process. He offers a variety of …The Optimal Seating Plan? Letting Your Students Choose
www.edutopia.org/article/optimal-seating-plan-letting-your-students-choose-emelina-minero This video and accompanying article offer strategies for organizing the classroom in ways that optimize student engagement in learning. The featured teachers explain and model how they use flexible seating to meet a variety of student learning needs. Students use self-management skills and make responsible choices to create seating …Creating Community All Day Long
www.originsonline.org/newsletters/winter-2009-dd-0/creating-community-all-day-long In this article, a teacher recommends several strategies for building relationships with students and inviting their input on classroom activities. She makes a good case for why investing time in developing positive relationships and building community promotes engagement and assists with classroom management, and she shares some practical strategies …UDL Guideline 7: Provide options for recruiting interest
www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/udlguidelines/principle3#principle3_g7 This well-organized guide to implementing principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) explains why it’s important to personalize learning experiences and offers a variety of practical classroom strategies, examples, and resources. For example, providing choices and inviting input, highlighting relevance and value, and minimizing distractions can all contribute to …Small Groups, Big Gains
www.originsonline.org/newsletters/fall-2009-dd/small-groups-big-gains In this article, a teacher describes how she worked with students to implement, monitor, and adjust procedures to support focused student collaboration in her classroom. She tells the real story of a her efforts over time to help students become more productive in small group work, including bumps in …5 Ways to Give Your Students More Voice and Choice
www.edutopia.org/blog/five-strategies-more-voice-choice-students-rebecca-alber In this blog post, a teacher suggests strategies for engaging students by offering them opportunities to provide input and make choices about what they learn and how they communicate their learning. Recommendations include surveys to gauge student understanding as well as interest, invitations to choose topics of study and …Mindset Kit – Praising the process: See it in action, Praise the Process, Not the Person
www.mindsetkit.org/topics/praise-process-not-person/praising-process-see-action This video features a teacher who explains how she encourages a growth mindset by inviting students to set their own specific improvement goals and encouraging them in their efforts to develop the skills they have identified. It’s full of illustrative examples of how she gives specific, personalized feedback on …Building a Classroom Culture of Trust and Collaboration
eleducation.org/resources/building-a-classroom-culture-of-trust-and-collaboration This book excerpt identifies strategies for establishing a classroom culture where students feel intellectually and emotionally safe and view challenges and mistakes as opportunities for learning. It explains how building a safe learning environment is key to cultivating a growth mindset, which helps students persevere to meet learning challenges, …Challenge at the Heart of Deeper Learning: Teaching Channel Deeper Learning Series
vimeo.com/100358675 This video shows a variety of strategies in action for challenging students to learn and do more than they think they can. Featured teachers encourage students to persist in the face of challenge, embrace learning struggles, explain their thinking, and push themselves and each other toward deeper learning. Educators …The Big Ideas of Understanding by Design
www.ascd.org/publications/books/109107/chapters/Module-A.-The-Big-Ideas-of-UbD.aspx This book chapter describes an approach to designing curriculum, instruction, and assessments in which teachers plan backwards from what they want students to understand and be able to do and engage students actively in meaningful learning experiences involving inquiry and application of skills and knowledge in authentic contexts. This …Student Choice Leads to Student Voice
www.edutopia.org/blog/student-choice-leads-to-voice-joshua-block This teacher’s blog post offers a variety of examples of how he and his colleagues have incorporated student choice into the curriculum. They describe a range of projects, including parameters set by each teacher as well as opportunities for students to have a voice in what they learn and …Thinking Big About Engagement
www.edutopia.org/stw-assessment-authentic-student-engagement-video The teacher featured in this video illustrates how he sparks and maintains interest and cultivates curiosity and inquiry through designing a project that engages students actively, creatively, and collaboratively in learning. He clarifies key concepts by highlighting their relevance and their connections to students’ experiences. He invites students to …ICT Literacy Maps – P21
www.p21.org/component/content/article/31-ict-literacy-maps These maps offer many illustrative examples of learning tasks that address 21st century skills along with other curriculum standards, providing a variety of ideas for using technology to engage students in learning. The maps suggest a multitude of ways to incorporate digital tools and resources into instruction that help …Instruction | Teaching Tolerance – Diversity, Equity and Justice
www.tolerance.org/publication/instruction This resource describes instructional practices and strategies that foster engaging and challenging learning experiences for all students. These practices include promoting discussion, collaboration, and higher order thinking, as well as clarifying expectations and highlighting relevance. Recommendations address the value of incorporating student perspectives and the importance of considering classroom …Personalized Learning: Enabling Student Voice and Choice Through Projects
www.edutopia.org/practice/personalized-learning-enabling-student-voice-and-choice-through-projects In this video, several teachers describe and demonstrate how they personalize learning and facilitate active engagement in their classrooms. The video and accompanying article offer useful strategies for designing engaging projects that cultivate curiosity and inquiry, promote interaction, provide choice as well as helpful structure and guidance, and offer …Educational Leadership: Getting Personalization Right: Student Engagement: Key to Personalized Learning
www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar17/vol74/num06/Student-Engagement@-Key-to-Personalized-Learning.aspx This insightful article provides an excellent overview of key elements of intrinsic motivation and explains what teachers can do to cultivate student engagement and agency. It includes strategies for designing learning experiences that promote autonomy, relatedness, competence, and relevance, which empower students to take ownership of their learning within …It Takes a Village: Teenagers Use Community Resources to Pen a Guidebook
www.edutopia.org/it-takes-village This article provides examples of projects that engage students with their communities in meaningful ways.The students featured drive their own learning and are invested in creating quality products. The projects described demonstrate the benefits of designing student learning experiences that result in applications of skills and concepts to solve …Confer: Respecting Perspectives
Teachers who confer encourage and value students’ ideas and views. They seek and respect students’ thoughts, opinions, and input as part of the learning process. Find resources offering classroom strategies that support the practice of creating a classroom climate in which ideas are treated with respect.
Learn to Listen/Listen to Learn – Developing Deeper Conversations
www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/teaching-strategies/learn-listen-listen-learn This classroom routine, which can be used in a variety of instructional contexts, promotes student discussion and helps to establish a climate of safety and respect. Students journal to clarify their own views about a controversial topic, then discuss their individual views in small groups, listening carefully to each …Talking Circles: For Restorative Justice and Beyond | Teaching Tolerance – Diversity, Equity and Justice
www.tolerance.org/blog/talking-circles-restorative-justice-and-beyond This teacher’s blog post explains how she uses Talking Circles in a variety of ways to build relationships, establish a safe and respectful learning environment, and check for understanding. She describes how she establishes norms and how she uses circles weekly in her advisory meeting and during her reading …Contracting
www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/teaching-strategies/contracting This article describes how to create a class contract in order to establish a classroom climate where students feel respected, valued, and emotionally safe when sharing their views and offering differing perspectives. It includes recommendations for engaging students productively and collaboratively in developing shared expectations for a “reflective classroom …Critical Practices for Anti-Bias Education: Classroom Culture
www.tolerance.org/publication/classroom-culture This resource describes teaching practices and strategies that promote a safe and respectful classroom culture in which all students can thrive. These practices include building positive relationships with students as well as establishing and reinforcing shared expectations for student behavior and interactions. Recommendations address the value of building community …Using Dialogue Circles to Support Classroom Management
www.edutopia.org/practice/stw-glenview-practice-dialogue-circles-video In this video, a teacher describes and demonstrates how she uses dialogue circles to cultivate an emotionally safe learning environment and respond to students\u2019 social and emotional needs in order to help them stay focused on achieving their full potential. The accompanying article suggests strategies for using circles to …Conversation Management
www.originsonline.org/educator-help/conversation-management This article articulates methods for cultivating productive classroom conversation and establishing a climate that encourages participation. It offers helpful guidance on establishing and maintaining conversation norms, as well as a variety of practical strategies for managing participation, including what to model and practice for each …Why Restorative Practices Benefit All Students
www.edutopia.org/blog/why-restorative-practices-benefit-all-students-maurice-elias In this brief interview, a research scientist explains the negative impact of stress and punitive disciplinary measures on students and urges teachers to use preventive restorative practices with all students. The approach described helps to foster students’ self-management skills and build a greater sense of community in order to …Procedures for Classroom Talk
www.ascd.org/publications/books/108035/chapters/Procedures-for-Classroom-Talk.aspx This article explains the benefits of facilitating classroom discussion and offers a variety of strategies for ensuring that student conversation promotes learning, that everyone participates, and that student perspectives are respected. The authors discuss the importance of classroom talk for English language learners, and they provide practical tips for …Small Groups, Big Gains
www.originsonline.org/newsletters/fall-2009-dd/small-groups-big-gains In this article, a teacher describes how she worked with students to implement, monitor, and adjust procedures to support focused student collaboration in her classroom. She tells the real story of a her efforts over time to help students become more productive in small group work, including bumps in …Building a Classroom Culture of Trust and Collaboration
eleducation.org/resources/building-a-classroom-culture-of-trust-and-collaboration This book excerpt identifies strategies for establishing a classroom culture where students feel intellectually and emotionally safe and view challenges and mistakes as opportunities for learning. It explains how building a safe learning environment is key to cultivating a growth mindset, which helps students persevere to meet learning challenges, …Challenge at the Heart of Deeper Learning: Teaching Channel Deeper Learning Series
vimeo.com/100358675 This video shows a variety of strategies in action for challenging students to learn and do more than they think they can. Featured teachers encourage students to persist in the face of challenge, embrace learning struggles, explain their thinking, and push themselves and each other toward deeper learning. Educators …Educational Leadership: Talking and Listening: Talking to Learn
www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/nov14/vol72/num03/Talking-to-Learn.aspx In this article, the author makes a strong case for the value of student-driven discussions and offers helpful guidance about how to cultivate a classroom climate where students feel safe and motivated to participate. She argues for investing time in laying the groundwork for classroom discussion as a prerequisite …Save the Last Word for Me
www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/teaching-strategies/save-last-word-me This simple, accessible classroom routine engages students in learning by inviting silent inquiry and reflection about a text, video, or other instructional materials prior to active participation in discussion. The protocol, which can be adapted for use in a variety of teaching contexts, supports students in contributing their ideas …Fishbowl
www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/teaching-strategies/fishbowl This article articulates several instructional uses for a versatile discussion strategy that facilitates interaction and promotes thinking by providing structured opportunities for students both to speak and to listen to each other as they engage with ideas and materials. It outlines steps for setting up a fishbowl, including establishing …