Name: Shioban Soto
Chapter 3: From Exploratory Talk to Critical Conversations
1. What are the characteristics of ‘critical conversation’, and what is its educational
significance?
Critical conversations support meaning making and address critical issues.
Students use this type of talk to critique and take thoughtful new action. Having
students build on one another’s ideas and create meaning together is the essence
of critical conversations. Teachers can create spaces for critical conversations
about issues of equity and social justice. These discussions about power and
privilege help students to critically think about the world and their place in it.
2. List some of the strategies that Pierce and Gilles (and their collaborator Jean
Dickinson) have found useful in setting up ‘critical’ versions of exploratory talk
and in establishing ‘a culture of talk’.
Both teachers begin each year by using talk to help students learn more
about their fellow classmates. They begin partner work and small groups early on
in the year. Both teachers make their expectations clear and explain how talk
works in groups. They regularly call upon students to reflect on their use of talk,
to consider the ways that talk supports their learning, and to document the ways
ideas have built up over time through exploratory talk with classmates.
Establishing a culture of talk in the classroom encourages exploratory and
critical talk. Students must feel comfortable enough to push the boundaries of
what they know and understand, and to not have all the right answers
immediately. Trust is an essential component when students are challenging their
own and others’ viewpoints. Students must trust that their viewpoints will be
respected, even if others do not agree.
The strategies that Pierce and Gilles use include making talk visible, moving
across sign systems, and taking ideas to a larger audience. They also recognize
four important ways in which they could increase the likelihood that critical talk
would take place with greater regularity in their classrooms: sustaining and
strengthening community, developing new protocols for discussing difficult
issues, create a supportive curricular context, and highlight cycles of meaning.
3. What conceptions of the purposes of schooling seem to be implicit in Jean
Dickinson’s chart of classroom talk (Figure 3.1, page 44)?
The conceptions of the purposes of schooling that seem to be implicit are
academic achievement, character/mindset development, socialization, and
political/civic purposes. Each student is invested in their personal academic
achievement when participating in these kinds of class discussions.
Character/mindset development is exemplified by how they talk about why
characters do what they do. This also plays into the socialization aspect, where
students talk to each other about how things make them feel, they learn the ideas
of others, and they see other’s perspectives. We can see the Political/civic
purposes of schooling through deciding what is right/wrong and learning about
life lessons. Dickinson creates a culture of talk in her classroom where students
are free to voice their opinions, and she values those opinions by writing them
down on a talk chart.
4. Describe and evaluate the understandings and insights displayed by Kathryn
Pierce’s middle school students in their remarks about racial discrimination and
the Civil Rights Movement (pages 48 to 51).
Sam begins the conversation by drawing attention to the injustice of black
people not having the same rights (singing) as white people. She also highlights
the hope that her character gives to other people of color who wish to do the
same. Sam understands that rights should be universal, and not based on the
color of one’s skin. Jordan then goes on to discuss how immigrants are not given
the same opportunities as American citizens. Tom gives a more current approach,
offering a suggestion of persevering against prejudice, to keep our country from
taking a step backwards. Jordan added to Tom’s point by giving the example of
Dr. Martin Luther King persevering through jail multiple times.
Colin then joins the conversation and adds that in the 1800s and through the
civil war, people were promised a land of tolerance and respected rights. Even
though only white men benefitted from these promises, America felt this was just.
Jordan explained that this country was only advertising promises to entice
immigrants to take jobs, but once they arrived it didn’t meet expectations, and the
immigrants had no choice but to stay. Sam and Jordan discuss false advertising,
and Sam recognizes that the American economy was built on this immigrant
work. At the end of the conversation, Tom circles back to highlight both his and
Jordan’s points from earlier in the conversation.
Overall, the students were able to identify the injustices related to the Jim
Crow laws, and connect this to their discussion of immigration. They critiqued the
US immigration practices of bringing in immigrants to support the economy, then
denying them basic rights. The author also highlights touchstone events that
connect students to one another and allow them to recall particular
conversations in order to make connections to a current discussion topic (p.50).
5. What value might teachers find in being aware of the five different kinds of talk
discussed under the heading ‘Our Beliefs about How Talk Supports Learning’?
The five different kinds of talk discussed are social talk, exploratory talk,
presentational talk, meta-talk, and critical talk. Teachers should be aware of the
different kinds of talk and try to use each in their classrooms, as they work
interdependently and concurrently in a classroom focused on making and sharing
meaning. Each form of talk is important for creating meaning, as well as for
creating the action to bring about change. As teacher researchers, we must try to
be current in our practices in order to ensure that our students are receiving the
best education possible.
