Talk it through
Talk stems
Talk stems give pupils the opening words for each way of talking in a discussion, such as agreeing, building on and challenging, so they can join in and reason together.
The real slide Chalk makes, in the Classroom look. Every word is written for your lesson when you use it.
How to run it
- Model one stem of each kind with the question.
- Pupils discuss in groups, using a stem each time they speak.
- Ask which stems moved the discussion on, and why.
Why it works
Stems give pupils the words to build on and challenge each other, which is what turns talk into shared reasoning.
In other subjects
Science: which material is best?Maths: which method is quickest?
Use in Slides
Chalk plans a deck with this task in it, written for your lesson.
Make it in Oracy Sentence StemsThe Chalk tool this task comes from, for a printable or interactive version.
Read about the idea behind it