A Chalk Talk is a silent activity where students reflect and share their ideas anonymously in writing on a large sheet of paper in response to a prompt. It allows all students, including introverts, to participate equally. Students build on each other's ideas, which can help change or expand their thinking. Chalk Talks are useful for engaging all learners, promoting independent thinking, exposing students to different perspectives, and encouraging reflection and problem-solving. The teacher can use Chalk Talks to assess understanding before or after a topic.

1. Chalk Talk Thinking Routine
A Chalk Talk is a silent activity that provides all students the opportunity to reflect on what
they know, and then share their thinking and wonderings while connecting to the thoughts
of their classmates.
With this thinking routine students are asked to think about ideas presented to them, make
connections to others' responses and then question the ideas and responses of their peers.
It allows all learners to be part of the conversation anonymously. Students are not asked to
sign their name to their comments in order to encourage risk-taking in their thinking. Chalk
Talks provide a forum for introverted or hesitant students to share their ideas with peers.
It is great for increasing comprehension of a topic by having students present ideas,
question those ideas, and then build upon the ideas of others. Students change or expand
their thinking after seeing their classmates' ideas.
Why are Chalk Talks useful?
Chalk Talks work very well to:
 Engage all learners
 Promote independent thinking
 Allow all students to have an equal say
 Expose students to different ideas and perspectives
 Start conversations
 Generate ideas and prompt questions
 Help students to make connections to different ideas
 Encourage problem-solving
 Promote reflective thinking

2. Additionally, they help the teacher to:
 Assess knowledge before a topic is introduced
 Check on understanding in the middle or at the end of a unit
How do you do a Chalk Talk?
All you need is a prompt or question, a sheet of paper, and something for students to write
with.
Before the Chalk Talk
Prepare the paper(s) for the activity (it is advisable to do the activity in small groups). In the
middle of a large sheet of paper write or glue a question or statement to which you want
students to respond.
You can display this sheet:

3. When it's time to begin, students head to their assigned centre with a pencil or a marker.
During the Chalk Talk
Students write their thoughts and ideas about the question or prompt on the paper. The
teacher watches how SS are interacting with the questions and the ideas other students
have written down.
After the Chalk Talk
Afterwards, we gather once again to debrief our findings. This is a good time to:
 Discuss new ideas and surprises
 Provide clarifications
 Correct misconceptions
 Try to answer questions that were left unanswered
You can hang the posters up for students to see. They can act as living documents that
children visit to make additions to or even to cross out something they wrote when they
learn new information that contradicts their original thought.

4. Here are some examples:
Another way of doing this activity is using a Chalk Talk Graphic Organizer with this
structure:

5. It can be used as a poster, laminating it in order to be used throughout the year, writing on
it with dry-erase markers. You can also make copies of the graphic organizer to give to
students as a note-taking sheet where they can capture their ideas before writing them on
the class poster.
It's a joy to see all students, from the meekest to the most extroverted, simultaneously
sharing their thoughts and ideas in perfect harmony.
The Chalk Talk thinking routine can be used in almost any subject area, and on a wide
variety of topics. It can be used prior to covering a topic (brainstorming) or as a reflection at
the end of a lesson or unit, ever for assessment.