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Instructional Strategy

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INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY

Talking Points

Grade:

3-5, 6-8, 9-12

Type:

Discuss & Collaborate
/ Question & Inquire
20-30

Minutes

When:

Before, during, and after reading

Materials:

Four prepared questions, Talking Points graphic organizer, whiteboard or display, writing utensils
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Description

Two hands reach toward yellow speech bubbles reading Talking Points.
© accogliente/stock.adobe.com, photo illustration Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
The Talking Points strategy uses four scaffolded questions that build on each other. Students work through these questions to activate prior knowledge, refine their thinking, and share their viewpoints. This structured discussion routine works well at any point in a lesson. It helps students explain their reasoning while giving teachers valuable formative feedback.
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Procedure

1
Identify your learning target by deciding on the specific goal for the activity (e.g., sparking curiosity, checking comprehension, correcting misconceptions, or synthesizing learning). Then prepare four questions that inspire reflection or analysis based on your lesson or unit topic. Design each question to build on the previous one, progressing in depth and complexity to support your learning target.
2
Establish participation expectations by setting guidelines for respectful discussion and equal speaking opportunities.
3
Distribute the Talking Points graphic organizer, and display all four questions, inviting students to record them on their organizers. Allow independent thinking time for students to consider each question, and provide them time to record their responses on their graphic organizer independently before any discussion begins.
4
Guide students to use specific historical or present-day examples to support their viewpoints as they develop their responses.
5
Facilitate structured sharing by having students exchange ideas in pairs or small groups first, and then conduct whole-class share-outs to capture diverse viewpoints and highlight key insights.
6
Conduct a whole-class debrief by highlighting common themes across responses and noting any lingering questions that could inform future lessons or units.
7
Wrap up by connecting students’ insights to your unit’s essential question, asking students to synthesize how their discussion relates to broader learning goals. If applicable, close with an essential question and ask students to connect their ideas to it.
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Differentiation

One-at-a-Time Questioning: Instead of showing all four questions at once, present each question individually. This allows students to focus deeply on one idea before moving to the next. It also builds anticipation and keeps engagement high, as students won’t know the next question until it is revealed.
Tiered Question Complexity: Adjust the complexity of the questions for different groups of students to ensure that all students engage at a challenging but accessible level. Some students may work with questions that emphasize concrete examples, while others might explore more abstract or evaluative questions.

Multilingual Learning Support

Beginning Proficiency: Provide simplified versions of the four Talking Points questions with visuals, gestures, or key vocabulary lists in both English and students’ home languages. Provide students with simple sentence starters (e.g., “I believe…,” “I notice…”) in both languages. Invite them to communicate their ideas using a mix of spoken English, familiar home-language words, gestures, or quick sketches to make their meaning clear. Pair students with supportive peers who can help translate or clarify concepts during discussion.
Intermediate Proficiency: Strengthen students’ higher-level discussion abilities by introducing academic sentence starters that promote deeper thinking and elaboration. Offer the original questions with highlighted key terms and sentence starters (e.g., “One reason is…” or “This is because…”). Additionally, supply sentence frames for adding to a peer’s idea or for expressing disagreement (e.g., “I agree with your point about…because…,” “I disagree with…because…,” or “I have a different perspective on…because…”). Adjust pacing so that students have enough time to process and respond in either English or their home languages.
Advanced Proficiency: Provide a bilingual or visually supported list of reflective sentence starters that promote synthesis, such as connecting past learning to current discussion. Challenge students to build a connected, evolving line of thought across all four Talking Points questions, using advanced transition phrases to show how their ideas develop from one response to the next (e.g., “Building on my earlier point…,” “In contrast to what I said before…”). Encourage students to revisit their responses to refine or expand their thinking, creating a clear progression of ideas in their home languages or in English.
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Variations

Silent Discussion: Post each Talking Points question on chart paper in different areas of the room (stations). Have students rotate through the stations, reading the questions and writing their responses directly on their Talking Points graphic organizers. Once students have visited all stations, bring the class together for a brief reflection to discuss recurring ideas, surprising insights, and emerging themes. This format gives all students an equal opportunity to contribute and encourages thoughtful processing.
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