Social Studies Middle School Guide

Collection of Student Talk Strategies & Routines

Constructing Explanations:

Argumentation (Claims, Evidence, Reasoning): ● Write & Pass ● Four Quadrants / Voting Chips ● Claim-Pass ● Read - Generate - Sort - Solve ● Outside-Inside Circle Reading

Group Modeling:

● Round Table ● Write & Pass ● Discussion Diamond ● Idea Carousel ● Vocabulary Buzzwords

● Three Stay, One Stray ● Four Quadrants / Voting Chips

Developing Consensus:

Accountability for Listening: Talking with Many Different Partners:

● Discussion Diamond ● Read - Generate - Sort - Solve ● Outside-Inside Circle Reading ● Snowball Discussion

● Three Way Interview ● Numbered Heads ● Teach-Okay

● Lines of Communication ● Give One, Get One ● Share-Trade / Rumors

Other Strategies:

Sentence Starters and Roles

● Extended Think, Pair, Share (more think or writing time before talking) ● Talking Stick (for larger groups)

● Argumentation starters ● Prompts and starters by purpose ● Crosscutting Concept starters ● Roles from AST

Three Way Interview (Accountability for Listening)

What & How: 1. This structure is much like “think, pair, share”, with the added step of partners reporting out for each other. 2. Pairs interview each other and listen carefully to their partner. 3. Reverse roles. 4. The teacher then calls on partnerships and each reports out their partner’s response to the larger “group.”

Why: ● Interviewing requires students to ask and answer questions that increase the receptive and expressive language load.

This collection has been curated by GUHSD Science. Sources include SDAIE, San Francisco Unified School District’s Multilingua l Pathways Department, STEM Teaching Tools, Ambitious Science Teaching, and New Visions Curriculum Resources.