Kindergarten Matters: Planned, Purposeful and Playful Talk
Webcast: December
5, 2008
Life as a Kindergarten teacher can sometimes be lonely and isolating! But a new style of Kindergarten network focused on improving student achievement through collaborative inquiry is bringing Kindergarten teachers together from one family of schools for both personal support and professional learning.
In this webcast, you will see how the teachers start with the assessed learning needs of their students and then draw on current research to help them study the impact of think-pair-share, repeated interactive read-alouds, and small-group instruction at learning centres. By going into the classrooms of three of the network members, we see first-hand how planned, purposeful, and playful talk promotes oral comprehension and vocabulary development in our youngest learners.
The following questions are intended to promote deep thinking and professional dialogue:
- What aspects of oral language development are essential for young learners to acquire?
- How are these essential aspects reflected in the Kindergarten program and the Oral Language Continuum from A Guide to Effective Instruction in Reading, Kindergarten to Grade 3?
- Classroom routines often represent an expression about one's beliefs about how children learn. What might the routines in place in your Kindergarten program suggest about your beliefs regarding the role of oral language?
- What challenges might one face as one tries to create a more talk-rich Kindergarten environment?
- Sharing in the Kindergarten program has traditionally been linked to describing a product or an event (e.g., Show and Share, Show and Tell). How does the instructional strategy of think-pair-share deepen the sharing and thinking of Kindergarten students?
- What might the words "planned" and "purposeful" mean in terms of the choice of materials, the new vocabulary taught, and the connections made to the classroom experience in a repeated interactive read-aloud?
- In what ways might the work of a network enhance your professional learning and practice?
Segments |
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IntroductionLength: 5 minutes |
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The Importance of Oral LanguageLength: 14 minutes |
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Networked Learning CommunitiesLength: 6 minutes | ||
Network Forming and NormingLength: 8 minutes |
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Analyzing TalkLength: 6 minutes |
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Planned Talk: Teaching Think-Pair-ShareLength: 8 minutes | ||
Planned Talk: Using Think-Pair-ShareLength: 7 minutes |
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Purposeful Talk: Repeated Interactive Read-Alouds – The First ReadingLength: 9 minutes |
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Purposeful Talk: Repeated Interactive Read-Alouds – The Second ReadingLength: 6 minutes |
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Purposeful Talk: Repeated Interactive Read-Alouds – The Third ReadingLength: 9 minutes |
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Playful Talk: Demonstrating Focused Conversations at CentresLength: 11 minutes |
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Playful Talk: Practising Focused Conversations at CentresLength: 3.5 minutes |
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Changing Practice
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Summary RemarksLength: 1 minute |
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Additional Materials
| Resource List PDF Viewer's Guide PDF Getting Started with Networking Network Agenda 1 PDF Network Agenda 2 PDF Network Agenda 3 PDF Sentence Strips PDF Network Agenda 4 PDF Capacity Building Series: Professional Learning Communitites PDF Capacity Building Series: Teacher Moderation PDF What Works? Using Data to Improve Student Achievement PDF |
Oral Language Development A Guide to Effective Instruction in Reading Revised Kindergarten Program Curriculum Document PDF Supporting English Language Learners in Kindergarten PDF Sample Texts for Repeated Interactive Read-Alouds PDF Say Something PDF Think-Pair-Share Anchor Chart PDF Teacher Resources |
Featuring:
Mary Jean Gallagher – Chief Student Achievement Officer, The Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat
Janice Greenberg – Program Manager, The Hanen Centre, www.hanen.org
Rauda Dickinson – Superintendent, Toronto District School Board
Dianne Riehl – Program Co-ordinator, Early Years Department, Toronto District School Board
Glen Watson – Principal, Toronto District School Board
Mark Cosoletto – Kindergarten teacher, Toronto District School Board
Tamara Foster – Kindergarten teacher, Toronto District School Board
Laura Hetherington – Kindergarten teacher, Toronto District School Board
Members of the Kindergarten Network:
Heather Gillman, Toronto District School Board
Amy Goddard, Toronto District School Board
Wing-Yee Hui, Toronto District School Board
Lauren Kofsky, Toronto District School Board
Grace Larter, Toronto District School Board
Joan MacMillan, Toronto District School Board
Rosanna Reutter, Toronto District School Board
Laura Sokol, Toronto District School Board
George Stokes, Toronto District School Board
Lisa Sweetman, Toronto District School Board
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Hosted by the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat in partnership with Curriculum Services Canada