Output Processes: How we share what we know.
We are constantly asking students to demonstrate what they have learned. It's how we judge if they have responded to the instruction. But some students can have problems sharing what they know, especially on demand.
There are two basic types of communication language situations, spontaneous language and demand language. Many students are fine with spontaneous language because they are communicating what their brain is processing at that time. But those students may have real problems communicating what they know on demand because their brain needs time to recall the information (memory) and then to organize what they have recalled (integration) in a way that can be verbalized or written. Sometimes they may share something completely off topic because that is what their brain has processed so that is what they have to say.
You can use the tools and strategies from the integration and memory sections to help students prepare for on demand language situations. If the student has been using visual tools such as graphic organizers to visually process what they have been learning and has been keeping those tools and reviewing them on a regular basis to help remember what they have learned, then those same tools now become prompts to help share what they have learned verbally, in writing, or in other media.
Strategies for supporting output processes.
- Use discussion guides, graphic organizers, or outlines ahead of time that support the organization of main ideas to share, then use them as prompts when sharing with others.
- Prepare fact cue cards prior to sharing.
- Prepare vocabulary cue cards or lists prior to sharing.
- Review text mark-ups and notes on facts, questions, and reactions to the text prior to sharing.
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Resources
Example Lesson Activity Elementary - Conversation_about_Informational_Text.pdf
Example speech organizer - speech organizer.pdf
Tip - Use graphic organizers, outliners, or basic word processors on mobile devices as speaking and sharing teleprompters.
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