Written Conversations

Imagine a classroom where students are sharing their ideas, commenting on those of their peers, and building on each others' collective wisdom.  Now imagine that this is all happening in silence.

Discussion is an integral part of making meaning of new information, but out-loud talk is not the only way that this important part of the learning process can be done.  In their book, Comprehension and Collaboration: Inquiry Circles in Action, Harvey “Smokey” Daniels and Stephanie Harvey use written conversations to have students “hold sustained silent discussions” by exchanging a series of one-minute notes that are passed to members of a group.

There are only two rules:

• Students must write for the entire time that they are given.

• Absolutely no talking…even when exchanging papers.  All energy is to be put into the writing process.

 In Lauren’s grade seven French Language Arts class, we are using written conversations to explore some of the key ideas in her historical fiction unit.  Here is what the process looks like:

Step 1:  We create small groups of three or four and have them sit close to one another.

Step 2:  We select an excerpt from the novel and ask the students to write about whether they agree or disagree with the message.  We have also used some of the themes explored in the novel as a discussion points.

Step 3:  We tell the class that they only have a minute or so to respond.  Each student in a discussion group begins writing on his or her own piece of paper, explaining and justifying their point of view- spelling doesn’t count.  Remind them to include their initials at the beginning of their writing so that their thoughts can be identified later.

Step 4:  As the students write, we circulate checking on their progress.  When most students have filled about a quarter of their page, we tell them it is time to pass their paper…remember, no talking!  (We have found that the writing takes more like a couple or three minutes)

Step 5:  The next student reads what the previous student has written and comments on their page noting reactions, questions, or connections.  They can write whether they agree or disagree, or they can even offer a whole new point.

Step 6:  After the given time, students pass one more time.  Students read all entries and may choose to respond to one or all of them.

Step 7:  Repeat this process if necessary.

Step 8:  On the final pass, the person who started the conversation has her original piece of writing returned to her.  She reads all of the comments on her conversation and reflects on what has been written.

Step 9:  Finally, students participate in a class discussion about the original prompt.  Alternatively, students can write a final reflection, noting any changes in their thoughts due to the input of their peers.  

   Student Exemplar

 

Student A begins writing his or her response to the whole-class prompt.

Student B responds to, adds to, reacts to, or connects to the thoughts of the first writer.

Student C responds, adds to, reacts to, or connects to the thoughts of either writer.

 In this example, the paper returned to writer A, where she then had the opportunity to read all of what was written and then write a final reflection.

*I know…it’s in French, but this shows what a conversation could look like*

Once the conversations have stopped, we collect the papers and look for the quality of student responses, overall comprehension, and any conversations that show us that there may have been some confusion.  Armed with the data, we go into the next class to comment on some great points that were raised during the discussion, and we address the areas of confusion before proceeding on in the lesson sequence.  We imagine that these conversations could be used as a summative assessment piece as well, as we look for evidence of critical thinking and the quality of student writing.

So what do the students think of written conversations?  Student response to this strategy has been overwhelmingly positive.   Here's what some of Lauren's students had to say...

“I think the strategy helped because you could see the opinions of other people and they could add to what you said and really help you understand more about the sentence, the phrase.”

“I like it ‘cuz no one was actually talking out loud, and there was no… trying to talk over each other and interrupting.”

One student noted that in written conversations, you could “actually write what you want without getting interrupted.”

“You could give your personal opinions…that you wouldn’t want to say out loud.”

“It helped me, ‘cuz I understood it more, and, like, I understand what’s going on, because I had questions and then we wrote it down and then we read it back after, it’s like oh, that’s what’s going on.”

Here’s what Lauren had to say:

“Often in group conversations, personalities can dictate the sharing of information. In written conversations, students are focused on generating and communicating ideas without the distraction of various verbal and non-verbal signaling from their peers. This activity was a greater time investment than a Think/Pair/Share discussion, but in this scenario I know each child is engaged and participating in the ‘conversation’. It also provides me with a concrete piece I can assess formatively or summatively.”

In the end, written conversations engaged Lauren’s students and they provided an environment where students could really make meaning of the content.  Who would have ever guessed that quality conversation can happen in complete silence!