2nd Grade Conversation Example
Context: Second grade English language arts lesson; read a book aloud about a girl who made a special sponge cake
while working at her grandparents’ bakery. Two times prior during the story (i.e. at the beginning and
middle), students had stopped to review the sequence of the events that happened with their partner.
Objective: Students will be able to sequence story details.
Conversation Prompt: And that’s the end. Turn and tell your partner what happened at the end.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
Student A: A little girl named Rebecca came in with her dad. They got the Sophie’s cake for her third
birthday.
Student B: No, it was for her fifth birthday.
Student A: I know; she had a party or something so they needed a cake.
Student B: Yummmy cake. I like cake! (Pats her stomach)
Student A: Yummy cake. I have cupcake for my birthday. It was good.
Student B: Yeah?
Student A: But it was tiny tiny.
Student B: Did you get any presents? Dimension 0 (Optional): Students take appropriate turns to construct a conversation.
Formative assessment level
Rationale
Dimension 1: Turns build on previous turns to build up an idea.
Formative assessment level
Rationale
Dimension 2: Turns focus on the knowledge or skills of the lesson’s objectives
Formative assessment level
Rationale
DIMENSION 0 (OPTIONAL): Students take appropriate turns to construct a conversation.
Strong evidence
Students appropriately* start and stop their conversational turns throughout the interaction, and
they contribute more or less equally.
Inconsistent evidence Students engage in some appropriate conversational turns, but at times either student might
interrupt, pause mid-turn, not talk when appropriate, talk too much during one or several turns,
or display other awkward behaviors.
Attempting interaction Students rarely start and stop their conversational turns appropriately, or one student talks too
much during most turns.
No attempt
Students do not take conversational turns during the interaction.
*In this case, “appropriately” means speaking one at a time, not interrupting, etc.
DIMENSION 1: Turns build on previous turns to build up an idea
Strong Evidence
Half or more of the turns build on previous turns to effectively build up a clear and complete idea
2015 | Hakuta, Zwiers, Rutherford-Quach | Constructive Classroom Conversations MOOC
Inconsistent Evidence
Attempting Interaction
No Evidence
Half or more of the turns build on previous turns to adequately build up an idea, which may
be incomplete or lack clarity
Few turns build on previous turns to build up an idea
Turns are not used to build up an idea
DIMENSION 2: Turns focus on the knowledge or skills of the lesson’s objectives
Strong Evidence
Half or more of the turns effectively focus on the lesson’s objectives and show depth or
fostering of the intended learning
Inconsistent Evidence
Half or more of the turns sufficiently focus on the lesson’s objectives, but this focus may
be superficial or lack clarity
Attempting Interaction Few turns focus on the lesson’s objectives
No Evidence
Turns do not focus on the lesson’s objectives
2015 | Hakuta, Zwiers, Rutherford-Quach | Constructive Classroom Conversations MOOC