Turn+and+Talk


 * Talking Partners and Turn and Talk**

I assign my students talking partners at the beginning of the year. These students always sit next to each other on the carpet during reading mini-lessons and class read-alouds. Whenever I ask students to "turn and talk" during the active engagement part of a mini-lesson, they can quickly position themselves knee-to-knee with this person and have a quick conversation about whatever I ask them to discuss. Unlike reading partners who need to be at a similar reading level in order to actually read common texts, talking partners can be at different levels of reading ability. I do not like to change talking partners more than four times a year because I want the partners to build a level of comfort and trust with each other so that their discussions can be open and honest. Assigning talking partners is a great management strategy because it saves a great deal of time during a mini-lesson or read-aloud. There is no confusion about who to turn and talk with, as students are able to quickly turn to their talking partner without hesitation.

From Reading Workshop: What it Looks Like in My Classroom by Beth Newingham http://blogs.scholastic.com/top_teaching/2009/10/reading-workshop.html