About This Course
Do you want to deepen your instructional practice and set up more effective contexts to support your students’ learning?
Join RBT Consultant and talk expert Dr. Evelyn Ford-Connors in this series of workshops. Together, we’ll explore the roles of teacher talk and classroom discourse as tools to strengthen instruction and actively engage students in learning. We’ll examine ways to use our talk more strategically and analyze a range of teacher “talk moves,” including questioning, wait time and pacing, feedback and “feed forward,” revoicing, and more. We’ll investigate what research has to say about the effects of well-planned classroom discourse on students’ reasoning and learning and look at some grouping options and types of student interaction that deepen students’ thinking and engagement with texts, content, and each other. In addition to lecture and discussion, we’ll use relevant articles, videos, and transcript analysis as resources to help us make more effective use of talk in our own classrooms. Participants will be encouraged to try out some of these ideas, and we’ll meet again in October to share our insights, consider our challenges, and celebrate our successes.
Do you want to deepen your instructional practice and set up more effective contexts to support your students’ learning? |
Goals
Participants will:
- learn specific teacher talk moves that support students’ thinking
- investigate what research has to say about the effects of well-planned classroom discourse on students’ reasoning and learning
- look at some grouping options and types of student interaction that deepen students’ thinking and engagement with texts, content, and each other
- apply strategies and reflect on their impact
Language provides both the context and the vehicle for learning, making classroom discussions a powerful tool available to teachers for promoting student learning. |
Ford-Connors & Robertson, 2017 |
Course Format
This course begins with two in-person sessions followed by two virtual follow-up sessions.
Resources
About Evelyn Ford-Connors
Evelyn Ford-Connors holds both a master’s degree and doctorate in literacy education with expertise in interventions for struggling literacy learners and in classroom discourse. Evelyn taught for over 20 years at Boston University’s School of Education (now the Wheelock College of Education and Human Development). During that time, she was a Senior Lecturer, program director for Literacy Education, and practicum supervisor for graduate students pursuing licensure as Reading Specialists. She also served as Co-Director of the Donald D. Durrell Reading and Writing Clinic which operated as both a practicum site for graduate students in literacy education and a tutoring center for K-12 students experiencing difficulty with some aspect of their literacy learning. Evelyn’s ongoing research and professional development work center on coaching and supporting teachers with their literacy instruction and on helping teachers make effective use of their classroom talk. She has presented on these topics at numerous national and state conferences and has co-authored over twenty articles and book chapters.
There are always opportunities…to reflect on one’s pedagogical practices and to work with students to establish or shift classroom culture. |
Murphy et al, 2022 |
Course Information
Groups of 25 or more: Submit a Service Request to discuss how this workshop could benefit educators in your school or district.
Individuals or less than 25: Fill out our Open Enrollment Interest Form to be notified of the next open enrollment opportunity.