Discourse Disco
This simple 30-second instructional move allows every student to process an idea before sharing with the whole group.
What is Turn and Talk
This type of lesson component is designed to be "fast and snappy," typically lasting only 5 to 7 minutes.
What is a mini-lesson
Research suggests that the person doing the most talking in the classroom is also the person doing the most of this?
What is learning.
You are reading a picture book and reach a climax. Instead of reading through, you should pause and do this.
What is pause for a "turn and talk"
Instead of saying "The students weren't engaged," a reflective teacher asks, "How did I _________ for engagement?
What is plan/design?
Instead of just showing the cover of a new book and asking, "What do you see?", a teacher can ask students to do this with a partner to increase participation.
What is make a prediction and share it with a neighbor.
A teacher waits for 5 minutes of total silence before moving to the next step, believing "quiet" equals "learning." In reality, this often steals time from this essential peer-to-peer process.
What is student discourse?
This is the maximum (range) recommended percentage of a lesson that should be "Teacher Talk" in a student-centered classroom?
What is 30-40%
Before starting a lesson, this must be clearly defined to ensure student success.
What is learning goal/standard/objective?
This is the practice of recording yourself teaching or looking at a transcript of your lesson to see who spoke the most.
What is video/audio recording?
A teacher asks a deep inference question and calls on the one student with their hand up. Name the missing step that would have allowed 100% of students to engage.
What is planned discourse time?
This essential piece of preparation ensures a teacher never has to wonder "what comes next," allowing the lesson to flow seamlessly from one engagement point to another.
What is lesson planning?
This specific type of question usually results in a one-word answer and kills student discourse immediately.
What is a close-ended question?
Students have been instructed to work quietly, and they do remain quiet, but majority is staring at the wall. This is the term for when a classroom is "well-behaved" and quiet, but no actual student-led processing or thinking is taking place.
What is quiet disengagement?
When a lesson doesn't go as planned, a reflective teacher looks at this "Internal Clock" to see where they over-invested time.
What is pacing?
This is the ideal physical setup for students during a Turn and Talk to ensure eye contact and active listening.
What is "knee-to-Knee" or "Eye-to-Eye"
These are set to prevent downtime and manage the flow of the lesson, preventing "ticking time bombs" of behavior.
What are routines and procedures?
This strategy involves a teacher staying silent for, at least, 3–5 seconds after asking a question to allow for deeper thinking.
What is "Wait Time"?
A teacher says, "My kids don't know how to talk to each other." This is the tool they should use to provide the "sentence starters" students need.
What are accountable Talk Stems?
This is the mindset shift from "I taught it" to "They __________ it.
What is learned it/mastered it?
To ensure all students speak, a teacher can assign these two roles—one person starts, and the other person summarizes.
What is Partner A and Partner B?
When a teacher spends 20 minutes on a 5-minute fluency task or over-explains directions, they are inadvertently doing this—which tells students their own voices and time aren't the priority.
What is a teacher-centered lesson?
To increase participation rates, this tool uses randomized names to ensure all students are called on.
What are equity sticks?
Students finish a task and sit in silence for 3 minutes while the teacher looks for the next slide or pulls up a website. This "lost time" often leads to behavioral issues and is known as a lack of this.
What is instructional urgency?
If a lesson fails, a teacher may respond like this:
How can I change the... this?
What things should I shift