I totally agree with the ideas that students must be engaged for true learning to occur. It can be very difficult to find the right level and expectations for all students in a class and these talking techniques are a good way for students to work with one another and not have anyone feel like they cannot do an assignment. Practicing the same vocabulary throughtout a course is a very good idea for not having that slump that was discussed.
I learned about the success and value in having students engage in discussions with one another about what they are learning, and grading that discussion rather than giving quizzes. What struck me most was that if you focus on formative assessments/productive talk, then students are forming those connections to the material rather than being stuck on the "correct answer." One activity that came to mind, was when working on a project and having students pair and share their progess, one success and one challenge for 30s.
I agree that engagement is the key for students to remain focused. The they need to know the answers to the 3 questions:
Am I interested?, Can I do this?, Does it matter?
If we design our lessons with these questions in mind then student engagement will increase, once this happens then using productive talk and modeling metacognition will increase retention of the information.
I have learn that prodcutive talk leads to learning. Engagement is the key to remain focused on the student perspective. I also learn that the teachermusy encourage metacognition through molding it, explaining their thoought process when introducung content information, and teach the students to label their knowledge and that of their classmates during discussion.
