Reducing Teacher talking time

  Reducing Teacher talking time

There are many activities to use that lead to less teacher talking time. These include a Read Aloud, Guided Reading Groups, games, and writing.

 

Guided reading groups are one way I have found to reduce the talking time. Readers can take turns reading aloud with partners or in small groups of 3 or 4. The reader is able to use their voice to express the text. This allows for more students participation than if they were just listening and not participating themselves.

Learning games are another tool. These games help the students to engage in the texts they are reading and less teacher talking time is needed. Teachers can create game boards to facilitate word study, alphabetic concepts, or any other of the many skills teachers have students practicing regularly.

"Write Arounds" are a very useful teaching tool. In a "Write Around," the teacher writes a sentence on the board and then passes it to a different student each time he/she says a word in that sentence. The next student in turn writes a sentence using the same words, but without repeating the ones written before. Each time a word is said, a line is added. Once they have all been used, the students are asked to write their sentence on 3x5 index cards and arrange them in groups. The "Write Around" encourages students to engage in higher level critical thinking (making inferences) and encourages them to use their voice for discourse (discussion of ideas).

Students can also create their own "Guided Reading Groups"

 

One of the most effective tools to reduce teacher talking time is the Read Aloud. This is a great way to teach students about how reading fits into their oral and written language development. This is a great tool for struggling readers as it allows them to use their voice in many different ways.

Students can record themselves reading books or have someone else read books out loud.