Cultivating Classroom Conversation: Strategies and Activities That Build Student Dialogue Into Standards-Based Lessons

Face-to-face communication is evidencing a decline in both the home and school environments as more interaction is directed to the digital world. Many students are entering school with decreased oral language development compared to generations in the past, due to a decrease in conversation within the home. This classroom resource book will provide teachers with strategies and activities that infuse Common Core/standards-based lessons with purposeful student-to-student dialogue and discussion of content across curricular areas. The activities are low-prep, high-impact approaches that encourage student talk about the content, allowing the teacher to be a true classroom facilitator. The strategies offered are designed to address the 21st Century Skills of creative problem solving, collaboration, communication and critical thinking, as well as to develop empathy among classmates.