Col2 explaining the chain conversations.mp4

Col2 part 2 whole class.mp4

Direct Instruction

At the latest CoL meeting, Jannie Van Hees talked about chain linking conversations. I had never heard of it before but felt excited to give it a go. A big idea with chain-linked conversations is that person 2 replies to person 1 said by adding on new information about something they had said, rather than only agreeing or asking a question. Therefore, both parties gain new information about each other.

As a class, we practiced having conversations, then we discussed what was actually happening while we were talking (video 1).

To try it as a whole class, we used our inquiry topic to ensure students had something to 'add on' (video 2). Although this is not a conversation per se, it was our first practice at having a chain-linked dialogue.

Extended plan here.

Reflection on the video clip

This lesson was very teacher-directed, as it was the first time introducing the idea of chain linking conversations. I could have gotten students to do a lot more talking, especially think pair share. A good time to do so would have been in the first clip, when I asked what happened during the conversation. They could have talked together before one or two people telling me. It would have been a lot richer for them than sitting and listen to me talk for ages.
I loved that every person could add something to our whole-class links. We chose a topic that everyone knew something about to encourage this to happen.
At one point, a student added on to what I had said about the sun, but we had moved onto talking about the moon by then. I loved that moment because another student, rather than myself, reminded the first student that they had to add-on to the last thing that was said, so talking about the moon wasn't relevant anymore.

Chain-linked story we came up with

The sun is the centre of the solar system.
The sun is surrounded by 8 planets.
The 8 planets orbit the sun.
Venus is the hottest planet.
Earth is the only planet with organic life.
Earth has one moon.
The other name for the moon is lunar and it has 8 phases.
The moon orits the Earth.
The moons light is a reflection of the suns light.
The sun gives us light and heat.
Solar energy gives us power.
The solar energy gives us power to use on lights.
The sun gives us heat and warmth.
The sun gives us solar energy so we can power electric cars.
Electric cars don't need gas.
Petrol is a kind of gas.
Another kind of gas is Hydrogen.
The sun is made of Hydrogen and Helium.
The sun is the biggest part of our solar system.
The sun gives us heat and light.
The second name for the sun is Sol.
The sun is a dawrf star.
The sun is not a planet.
Neptune is the coldest planet.
Mars has the highest mountain.

Chain linking information.

My blog post from this CoL meeting - click here.

Karen Ferguson (CoL for Tamaki College) - blog post

Learner Generated Content

Hiria and Vina

Click here

Railey and Leon

Click here

Syraiah-Lee and Waiari

Click here

Report abuse