Welcome to another edition of Formatives in 5.
Chalk talks / Placemats are a great way to engage kids and even adults in reflective discussion. This formative check makes thinking visible in your classroom and provides an opportunity for everyone to be heard and encourages students to consider others' viewpoints.
Your Turn: In the comments share your Ah-Ha's and connections relating to chalk talks as a formative.
Every 2 weeks we will draw from those of you who commented and one winner will receive a free resource book.
I have just recently heard about the use of "chalk talk" at a math cadre training. My first thought was how well this would work in a reading block. I haven't gotten a chance to try it yet in my room, but I am excited to try this out during small groups.
ReplyDelete-Brittany Mion
It is a great strategy in small group when kids get to respond to each other about what they are reading...then they are getting to do some leaving tracks of their thinking, but also writing knowing that someone else will read it. If you try it out let me know how it goes. It does work great too for math problems and seeing how classmates worked something out. :)
DeleteI've heard of this before but have totally forgotten about it. My first graders would enjoy doing this activity. What a great way to check for understanding after a read aloud and or a lesson! I like how the question was posted in the middle of the poster. This way, the kids wont be asking me over and over again. Also, the extension to have the kids read each other's posts and then they can comment is a great idea! I will definitely be trying this next week! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYes, it is one of those things that is easily implemented but we forget about these things we already know sometimes with all that we have to do. Let me know how it goes. It is a great way to extend our students by allowing them to respond to their classmates vs. always responding to us, or to their own reading.
DeleteI have never heard of this activity. I just had my evaluation and it was mentioned I need to allow the kids to converse and work more together. This is one way I could do that. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYes, definitely, this is a great way to get kids collaborating...sometimes without even talking...they can discuss with writing first and then after responding to classmates get the chance to chat about what they wrote.
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ReplyDeleteThe visual thinking and peer interaction is evident. I love how the students can pose a question or a thought and their peers can reply and add to their thinking. This could be utilized in so many content, etc areas.
ReplyDeleteYes, I love that the thinking is visible for students and they know that they all have something important to share about the topic. Everyone's response is valuable.
DeleteI've tried this in math, posing a word problem in the center of the paper. It is a great way to differentiate learning too. I might give a variety of different leveled problems. The ability to demonstrate different strategies is also evident. I forget that it would be a versatile way to quickly assess and generate great discussions. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteOne of the first places I saw this was as a math formative assessment and it works so great for math. Kids get the opportunity to see how others solved the same problem and respond to their thinking which they don't always get to do. :) Let me know if you try it for literacy at some time in small group or as a whole group.
DeleteI LOVE this idea! I have been around a LONG time and this is new to me. I guess my big fear is coming up with a higer level question. I'll let you know how it goes.
ReplyDeleteThis is Kristina Scheppele...Not sure how to make it show up.
DeleteComing up with those questions is sometimes tricky. Using a question that will require some reflective thinking is what gets kids interested in the response. A good resource for asking questions is Doug Fisher's book Text Dependent Questions: Pathways to Close and Critical Reading in case you need a good resource for this :) Let me know how it goes trying this in your classroom.
DeleteI like the written discussion aspect of this activity. It can be hard to take notes on a class discussion because it is hard to remember who said what and of course many students don't participate. This is a great way for everyone to participate in a discussion and then for the teacher to have a record of it.
ReplyDeleteYes, the mere visibility of this formative is so powerful when it comes to observation of what students know about the topic. It is definitely a challenge to try to take every kind of anecdotal note when students discuss or think/pair share, and yes this way everyone is accountable for their portion of their discussion.
DeleteIn kindergarten, I can see this being such fun in math to teach the procedure of a "chalk talk" or "placemat". I will try this with math for modeling way to make a given number and simple word problems once we get back. From there, I can see using this to work on showing comprehension after listening to a story or some other targeted skill the teacher is focusing on. I am going to try this in a couple of weeks with story elements and each day do a different element (characters, setting, problem, solution). What a great spring board for writing ideas! I think the conversation between the students will be rich and it will be fun to listen to them explain thinking to each other! A HUGE plus will be they all have a chance to voice/express their ideas this way.....after all it is so not cool when your teacher does not call on you each time! Wink! Wink!
ReplyDeleteYes Julie! This conversation is a great way to get to those students who don't always have a "hand up" when asked a question. I have been curious how it would go in Kinder. I think the story elements is a great springboard for this. Doing some math practice with this would be such a great opportunity to see what they are thinking as well. I would love to come and see as I didn't get the chance to test this out in kinder :)
DeleteI enjoy the use of Chalk Talks as it allows for students to take part in a discussion like format with the opportunity to collect their thoughts. I used this formative assessment this week as I was teaching the students how to do book clubs. The students saw the importance of making a clear statement that everyone could understand as well as how to respond to someones comment in order to add to the understanding of the entire group. Thank you for the reminder of a great assessment!
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