The doughnut technique is useful for the generation of ideas, perhaps before an individual brainstorm. It is also useful for recalling information, sharing anecdotes or offering opinions. 3. Talk tokens Talk partners can be one of the easiest and most useful tools you have as a teacher. Plan when to use them. Use open-ended questions. Change your talk partners often. Involve yourself in the discussions and praise, praise, praise. The jigsaw strategy is one which can be employed when students need to explore a range of materials or texts. When participating in this strategy, a topic is divided into sub topics.

The use of talk tokens should be considered a scaffolding measure, which is put in place to help students manage their talk and removed once students conduct dialogic discussions with some independence. 4. Jigsaw expert groupsIn pairs, discuss 3 new things you have learnt or what you found easy or difficult or something you would like to learn in the future. Why use it Thankfully, “talk partners” is ​a fantastically self-explanatory term. It’s when children partner up (though it can be more than just two) and discuss a topic. Reading Logs: Focused on Reading Comprehension and Strategies (14 different reading logs each with 3 different leveled worksheets). Perfect for differentiated homework. One pupil might be too dominant in the pair which negates some of the positive effects for the other​.​ You need to monitor your talk partners as they work together. Their conversations should be balanced and constructive. If they aren’t, change them.

This activity may become easier and more spontaneous if repeated throughout the modules/the sessions Other resources

Digital tools that might be used

Secondly, how you choose to use the strategy can hinder more than it helps. For instance, you might plan to use the strategy at the wrong time or let the talking go on too long. These were both problems I encountered when I first started using the approach in the classroom. The intervention was highly regarded by headteachers, mentors, and teachers who thought that the Dialogic Teaching approach had positive effects on pupil confidence and engagement. For example: Groups of four students are formed. A Level 2 study of minibeasts may be divided into sub topics of insects, arachnids, molluscs and annelids. EEF will explore options for testing the approach using amodel that could be made available to alarge number of schools.

Who goes with who is arguably the most important thing when it comes to using the talk partners strategy. There’s many different ways you can pair the children in your class – you know them best.

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Please build in preparation time if you split students in pairs/small groups as they will need to get to know each other.

Try: “Artem, I saw you were really listening to Anna while she was talking because you were looking at her and asking questions. Great work.” There are two main challenges that can arise with talk partners. First, the relationships between children. Partners can get stale, and some children don’t like talking to ​particular​ children.

Sharing with the class

Children sharing their ideas with the class is just as important as talking about them with their partner. There’s a few different ways you can do this: