Making Talk a Non-Negotiable + A Freebie.

A Freebie for Making Student Talk a Non-Negotiable 

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If you’ve attended one of my sessions, you’ve probably seen these on the tables, and chances are, someone has asked me:

“Where can I get those mats?”

So today, I’m sharing them with you!

Our Cooperative Learning Mats are one of those simple tools that can make a big difference in how we structure student conversations.

We use them to quickly identify partners, assign turns, create roles, and make sure that participation isn’t left to chance.

Instead of saying, “Talk to someone at your table,” we can be intentional:

Partner 1 shares first. Tell your shoulder partner. Now, explain your thinking to your face partner.

That structure matters because talk is part of the learning.

Students need opportunities to rehearse language, process their thinking aloud, listen and respond to others, and develop the confidence to use their voices. And for multilingual learners, we cannot expect language development without creating consistent opportunities to actually use language.

The goal is to move from:

“Who would like to share?”

to

“Everyone will have an opportunity, and an expectation, to share.”

In our classrooms, talk should be a non-negotiable.

So, because teachers are always asking me for these, I wanted to deliver them directly to your inbox!

Download the Cooperative Learning Mats by clicking the button below.

Print them, laminate them, place them in the center of your tables—and start designing for talk.

I’d love to hear how you use them!

Esmeralda

Link

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