Teach Primary 18.8

Feedback Typically, after paired talk, teachers ask children to share what they discussed with the class. Julie makes some small adjustments to this process to avoid the children simply repeating what they have already talked about with their partner, which often slows the pace of the lesson and doesn’t advance the learning. She gathers the class and shares a couple of her observations, making connections between the children’s ideas and presenting contrasts in their thinking. This signals to the class that she is attentive and interested in what they say when talking in pairs or groups. In short, it models listening. Sharing her observations also allows her to advance the learning by selecting those points that move the conversation on; it maintains a good pace in the lesson. Pace in this context www.teachwire.net | 51 doesn’t mean speed; it means maintaining the learning pace rather than letting it drift. Finally, Julie encourages the children to reflect on what they have learned from each other: • Did your partner say anything that surprised you? • Did you have the same ideas as your partner, or were yours different? Let me tell you Another way to avoid show-and-tell is to switch up the paired talk by asking pupils to comment on each other’s work, rather than explain their own. A Year 5 class is reading The Promise by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Laura Carlin. The teacher, Karl, reads the opening sentences, which set the scene for the story. He has withheld the illustrations. After a second reading, the children draw the pictures in their mind’s eye, visualising the setting. When they have had time to complete the task, Karl asks the children to turn to their listening partners. As usual, they assign themselves as partner A or partner B. Rather than show and explain their own ideas, they are going to explain what they understand about each other’s work. So, partner A explains how they think partner B has interpreted the scene and vice versa. If partner A thinks partner B has misinterpreted their ideas or has omitted something important, they have an opportunity to clarify. This small adjustment to the more typical ‘show and tell’ approach keeps both partners active and involved, setting the conditions for active listening. Moving partners Nazreen’s class are reading the Greenling by Levi Pinfold. They have been studying the book for three weeks and are at the end of the teaching sequence. They are considering the statement ‘Greenling is a disruptive influence.’ After clarifying what they understand by the word ‘disruptive’, Nazreen organises the class into two concentric circles. The inner circle faces outwards so that each child faces a partner from the outer circle. Nazreen presents the statement and asks the children to discuss it with their partners. For the first 15 seconds, partner A tells partner B their views and then the roles are switched. After 30 seconds, the inner circle moves to the left so the children have new partners. This is repeated several times before Nazreen asks the inner circle to move around to the right – the children are now talking with a partner they have already spoken with. In reflecting on the process with the class, Nazreen makes listening the focus: Tell me two new ideas that you learnt from different partners . The strength of this approach is that the children carry with them ideas that they have heard expressed by different partners. It particularly supports children with English as an additional language, or special learning needs, allowing them to borrow ideas, practise language, and build understanding sequentially. TP justimagine.co.uk @imaginecentre T E ACH RE AD I NG & WR I T I NG Getting pupils listening • Organise the class so all the children can hear each other. • Have high expectations for clarity and audibility. • Encourage children to speak directly to each other rather than filtering ideas through you. • Avoid repeating what the children say. • Make listening a focus for feedback. • Ensure you are a model of attentive listening. • Change the terminology from ‘talk’ to ‘listen’. Nikki Gamble is the director of Just Imagine and provides consultancy and training in schools in the UK and internationally. Jo Castro is a consultant for Just Imagine and a leadership coach who works with teachers and senior leaders in schools.