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Student-Led Discussion Made Simple

Home » Blog » English Language Arts » Student-Led Discussion Made Simple
Teach students to write thoughtful questions using sentence stems.
Teach students to create text-based questions using sentence stems.

January 5, 2017 //  by Lindsay Ann//  2 Comments

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student-discussionJames Stephens once said, “we get wise by asking questions, and even if these are not answered, we get wise, for a well-packed question carries its answer on its back as a snail carries its shell.” This is what I want for student discussion.

To ask a “well-packed” question…to talk intelligently about a text…that’s what I want my students to know and be able to do.

When facilitating a student-led discussion, students need to be able to keep the momentum going. I’ve found that sentence stems help students add inquiry to their discussions. Follow-up questions are important. Text-based talk is important.

Also, students need to know how to talk about the text. Sentence stems can help with this, too.

But how?

Sentence Stems for Student Discussion

I’ve found that sentence stems for writers can provide a framework for articulating textual analysis, so I decided to try the same approach to the asking of questions.  Sentence stems provide a framework for students’ curiosity.

Sentence stems make discussions richer and more effective?

Yes and yes!

Sentence Stems for Questioning & Analysis

The infographic below is all about getting students to ask intelligent, text-based questions and enter conversations intelligently.  I call them “situated questions,” questions that simultaneously draw discussion into a text (or texts) and push students to extract something from it (or them).

Enjoy!

student-discussion
Teach students to create text-based questions using sentence stems.

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Category: Effective Teaching Strategies, English Language ArtsTag: Classroom Discussion, Infographic, Question Stems, Sentence Stems

About Lindsay Ann

Lindsay has been teaching high school English in the burbs of Chicago for 18 years. She is passionate about helping English teachers find balance in their lives and teaching practice through practical feedback strategies and student-led learning strategies. She also geeks out about literary analysis, inquiry-based learning, and classroom technology integration. When Lindsay is not teaching, she enjoys playing with her two kids, running, and getting lost in a good book.

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  1. Improve Your Classroom Discussions with Questioning Strategies | English Teacher Blog says:
    April 21, 2020 at 10:12 am

    […] we seek to create relevant and authentic lessons shaped by teacher and student questioning, it is important to remember that building teacher student relationships goes hand-in-hand with the […]

    Reply
  2. Backwards Planning Like a Boss | Lindsay Ann Learning says:
    November 9, 2020 at 11:00 am

    […] would need practice with question generation skills, choosing quality textual evidence, and building conversation with their peers (paraphrasing to check for understanding, text-based conversation). We focused on building these […]

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