A Presentation by David Irwin
Language Development Opportunities
Academic Conversation: The
“Tight” and “Loose”
Target
Identify and apply the “tight” and “loose” components of academic
conversation
By (Success criterion)
Checking my plan for conversation in my class and writing another one
The tight/loose of AC
• Tight --- the parts that make the car run
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•
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•
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Partners
Norms
Time
Signal
Specific directions for input and chunked
Specific directions for conversations incl frames
• Loose --- the options you add to make the car your own
• How you do each of the “tights” in your room, for your lesson
• Frequency
• Assessment
Partners
• How to break students into
precision partners:
• List students in order from 120 (with 1 being the highest
and the last student being
the lowest in a skill/language
ability)
• Cut the list in half, match the
middle student with the
highest student. The middle
students will be matched
with the lower students.
• Modify as needed
Example Class:
1. Esme (highest) 11.Eduardo
(middle)
2. Rogelio 12. Ben
3. Guillermo
13. Roberto
4. Maria
14. Tomas
5. Roberto 15. Jose
6. Katie
16. Gloria
7. Alex
17. Patrick
8. Ryan
18. Sarah
9. Tina
19. Nikita
10. Teo (middle)
20.Jose
(lowest)
3 Partners
1 & 2 talk
2 & 3 talk
3 checks 1
1 checks 2
3 & 1 talk
2 checks 3
4 Partners
First round:
A & B talk
Tal
k
Check
Check
Tal
k
Alternate:
1 & 2 talk
4 Partners scoring
First round:
1’s talk; 2’s score
Tal
k
1A 1B
Check
Check
2A 2B
Tal
k
Second Round:
A’s talk; B’s score
Norms
• We listen to each other
• We share our own ideas and explain them
• We respect another’s ideas, even if they are different
• We let others finish explaining an idea without
interrupting
• We take turns and share air time
K-1 Norms at Camelot
• Green level voice
• Eyes on the speaker
• Answer the question
• Talk one at a time
• Listen to your partner
• Use silent signals (talk moves)
• Stay on topic
• Retell what you heard
Create norms that fit your class
Time
• Structured at first
• Must talk to your partner for 15 seconds,
then it’s their turn for 15 seconds (30, 40,
etc)
• Stop and check that each partner actually
did talk, and used the language skill
• Looser as your class gets the hang of it
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•
•
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Listen to the tone rather than use a timer
If there’s a good academic buzz, let it continue
When it drifts, do the signal
Check in as to what was discussed
• Partners tell partners
• Numbered heads report out
Signal
Make sure
students know
how you will get
them to stop the
conversation
Audible or
silent?
Chunks
• Measure the input
• Reading
• Draw lines, mentally or physically, at sentences or paragraphs
• Visual
• Stop the video at key points
• Oral
• Plan your oral presentations to students with specific stop and talk points with questions
• GLAD 10/2
• no more than 10 minutes input, 2 minutes conversation
Frames
• Language skills are taught through practice
• Language learners need to practice the skills with specific language at
first
• Post them somehow
• Tents available at www.langdevopps.com/resource
• 27 versions
• Download/modify for your own use
• Frames match the lesson you’re teaching
• You’ll have to make your own  Be creative!
Frequency
• How much is reasonable for your class?
• Sample: Students engaged in academic conversation 2-3 days a week,
3-4 times per period
• AC doesn’t fit every day for every activity. When does it work the best
for you?
Assessment
• Mill around with clipboard tallying skills heard
• Conversation counter
• Class-made rubric
• Video your stars
• Class analyzes the conversation
• Record or video, make a transcript of linguistic structures
• EL shadowing