The document provides guidance for teachers on creating an academic environment and routines to promote academic talk in the classroom. It addresses arranging the physical space, establishing social norms, teaching language objectives and structures, signaling discussion times, and having students reflect on their discussions.

1. Guiding Questions for Creating a Culture of Academic Talk
Physical Environment
• How will I arrange my desks so that students are facing each other?
• Are my seating arrangements flexible enough so that students can move easily from
whole group to small group or even partner discussions?
• What information should be posted in my room to facilitate academic talk?
Word Walls
Sentence Frames
Discussion Procedures
Noise Meters
Social Environment
• How will I model and establish the expectation of mutual respect?
• How can I lower my students’ affective filter so that they feel safe enough to speak in a
group setting?
• How will I teach students to support one another?
• How will I give feedback to students who succeed or struggle with social environment of
talk?
Expectations of Student Use of Academic Talk
• What language structures or vocabulary will students need to use to discuss the
content?
• How will I teach, model and scaffold the language structures and academic vocabulary
students need to discuss the content?
• How will I assess students’ use of academic talk?
• What collaborative activity best fits with my content and language objectives for the
lesson?
• How will I communicate the language objective to my students?
See Language Objective Handout
Joni Allison Rugby Middle School www.rug.henderson.k12.nc.us

2.
Routines for Talk
• How will I teach my students the routines for academic talk?
• How will I signal to students when it is time to talk to their peers?
• How will I signal to students when it is NOT time to talk to peers or that talk time has
ended?
Reflection on Talk
• How will students reflect on their academic talk activities?
• How will I help students understand that academic talk helps their learning?
Resource:
Content‐Area Conversations: How to Plan Discussion‐Based Lessons for Diverse Language
Learners by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and Carol Rothenberg (2008)
Joni Allison Rugby Middle School www.rug.henderson.k12.nc.us

3. How to Write
Language Objectives
Based on the WIDA Standards

4. How to Think about Language
Objectives
Decide what Decide what Decide what
content you language the support the
are teaching. students need students need.
in order to talk
about the
content.
Joni Allison Rugby Middle School
www.rug.henderson.k12.nc.us

5. How to Write a Language Objective
Start with the Add the content of the Add the support the
language verb. lesson. student needs to
complete the task.
(Think Bloom’s.)
Think about a graphic
organizer, a partner or
small group,
vocabulary or
sentence structure you
Language Objective Example want the student to
use.
Today I will:
Discuss the problem of the main character using my plot Flow
Map with a partner.