Review: Strategies to Engage All Students in Academic Conversations

By Linda Biondi

The Language of Learning: Teaching Students Core Thinking, Listening and Speaking Skills by Margaret Berry Wilson is a book that cannot be read all at once, but needs to be tasted, savored, and read over a period of time.

This book comes at a very opportune time. Speaking and listening skills are one fifth of the Common Core Standards for ELA. They represent the know-how our students need to interact in intelligent conversations with others.

In the Common Core, every grade level, K-5, includes the speaking and listening standard of “having collaborative conversations about grade level topics and texts…with peers and adults in small and larger groups.” The desired outcome is to have our students engaging in rich academic conversations and presentations that deepen and challenge each other’s ideas.

Each chapter of The Language of Learning (Responsive Classroom, 2014) helps teachers craft lessons that teach children how to have academic conversations that are clear and coherent, purposeful and well reasoned, conveying curiosity, open-mindedness and respect. The book is well documented and well explained with anecdotes and call-out boxes that highlight questions or comments. It’s also peppered with easy to use sample activities, guidelines, and hints.

Take time for interactive modeling

Margaret Berry Wilson teaches the whys behind the strategies she shares and stresses the importance of interactive modeling. Teachers model how to write a paragraph or solve a math problem. We also need to model how to think, listen and speak. You may say that this comes naturally because our students know how to think and listen, and definitely how to speak. Perhaps you will reconsider as you learn how this book can assist teachers in helping our students master higher thinking strategies, listen more effectively and communicate clearly.

I am sure your first thought is “how and when.” How and when am I going to fit this into my already busy schedule? I know that was my first thought. However, as I was reading the book, I realized the skills, strategies and activities are not meant to be taught separately but are naturally woven into most any lesson and can be applied to any class. The time is there; we need to change how we use some of it.

A core resource & a real page-turner

After I read a chapter or two, I had to fight the urge to skim and scan the next chapter. After some reflection, I decided that the best reading strategy for me was to use sticky notes and flags to mark important information. Before long, my book began to look like the United Nations as I jotted ideas I wanted to implement and studies I wanted to research.

The strategies are realistic and detailed, supported by examples, tips that address the standards, and by sample letters that can help promote parental support. Easy to read, exciting to apply, a real “page turner,” this book will exceed the reader’s expectations.

Since each chapter follows the same structure, the reader will feel comfortable as he or she begins to learn about a new concept or area to implement the standards. The chapters (Listening Essentials; Speaking Essentials; Asking and Answering Questions; Crafting an Argument; The Art of Agreeing and Disagreeing; Letting Students Shine) follow the format:

  • Common Core connections
  • How to Teach the Skills
  • Giving Meaningful Feedback
  • Addressing Common Mistakes
  • Essential Skills at a Glance
  • Sample Letter to Parents

The book concludes with an appendix offering a Quick Guide to Teaching Techniques; plus a Suggested Timeline and Further Resources

The Language of Learning by Margaret Berry Wilson is a book I envision teachers pulling from the shelf, sharing with others, and using over and over again. This timely book could and should be in the hands of all teachers so they can make an even greater difference in the lives of their students.

Fourth grade teacher Linda Biondi reviews professional books about teaching and learning for MiddleWeb.com. She is a teacher consultant with the National Writing Project and a member of the NJ Department of Education Teacher Advisory Panel.

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