| Substantive Conversation | Connectedness to the Real World | |
|---|---|---|
| • To what extent is classroom discourse devoted to creating or negotiating understandings of subject matter? | • To what extent is the lesson, activity, or task connected to competencies or concerns beyond the classroom? | |
| Score | no substantive high level conversation 1 2 3 4 5 substantive conversation | no connection 1 2 3 4 5 connected |
| 5 | All features of substantive conversation occur, with at least one example of sustained conversation, and almost all students participate. | Students study or work on a topic, problem or issue that the teacher and students see as connected to their personal experiences or actual contemporary or persistent public issues. Students recognize the connection between classroom knowledge and situations outside the classroom. They explore these connections in ways that create personal meaning and significance for the knowledge. This meaning and significance is strong enough to lead students to become involved in an effort to affect or influence a larger audience beyond their classroom in one of the following ways: by communicating knowledge to others (including within the school), advocating solutions to social problems, providing assistance to people, creating performances or products with utilitarian or aesthetic value. |
| 4 | All features of substantive conversation occur, with at least one example of sustained conversation, and many students participate in some substantive conversation (even if not part of the sustained conversation). | Students study or work on a topic, problem or issue that the teacher and students see as connected to their personal experiences or actual contemporary or persistent public issues. Students recognize the connection between classroom knowledge and situations outside the classroom. They explore these connections in ways that create personal meaning and significance for the knowledge. However, there is no effort to use the knowledge in ways that go beyond the classroom to actually influence a larger audience. |
| 3 | Substantive Conversation Feature # 2 (sharing) and/or #3 (coherent promotion of collective understanding) occur and involve at least one example of sustained conversation (i.e., at least 3 consecutive interchanges). | Students study a topic, problem or issue that the teacher succeeds in connecting to students’ actual experiences or to actual contemporary or persistent public issues. Students recognize some connection between classroom knowledge and situations outside the classroom, but they do not explore the implications of these connections which remain abstract or hypothetical. There is no effort to actually influence a larger audience. |
| 2 | Substantive Conversation Feature # 2 (sharing) and/or # 3 (coherent promotion of collective understanding) occur briefly and involve at least one example of two consecutive interchanges. | Students encounter a topic, problem or issue that the teacher tries to connect to students’ experiences or to actual contemporary or persistent public issues; i.e., the teacher informs students that there is potential value in the knowledge being studied because it relates to the world beyond the classroom. For example, students are told that understanding Middle East history is important for politicians trying to bring peace to the region; however, the connection is weak and there is no evidence that students make the connection. |
| 1 | Virtually no features of substantive conversation occur during the lesson. | Lesson topic and activities have no clear connection to anything beyond itself; the teacher offers no justification beyond the need to perform well in class. |
| Substantive Conversation | Connectedness to the Real World | |
|---|---|---|
| • To what extent is classroom discourse devoted to creating or negotiating understandings of subject matter? | • To what extent is the lesson, activity, or task connected to competencies or concerns beyond the classroom? | |
| 5 | All features of substantive conversation occur, with at least one example of sustained conversation, and almost all students participate. | Students study or work on a topic, problem or issue that the teacher and students see as connected to their personal experiences or actual contemporary or persistent public issues. Students recognize the connection between classroom knowledge and situations outside the classroom. They explore these connections in ways that create personal meaning and significance for the knowledge. This meaning and significance is strong enough to lead students to become involved in an effort to affect or influence a larger audience beyond their classroom in one of the following ways: by communicating knowledge to others (including within the school), advocating solutions to social problems, providing assistance to people, creating performances or products with utilitarian or aesthetic value. |
| 4 | All features of substantive conversation occur, with at least one example of sustained conversation, and many students participate in some substantive conversation (even if not part of the sustained conversation). | Students study or work on a topic, problem or issue that the teacher and students see as connected to their personal experiences or actual contemporary or persistent public issues. Students recognize the connection between classroom knowledge and situations outside the classroom. They explore these connections in ways that create personal meaning and significance for the knowledge. However, there is no effort to use the knowledge in ways that go beyond the classroom to actually influence a larger audience. |
| 3 | Substantive Conversation Feature # 2 (sharing) and/or #3 (coherent promotion of collective understanding) occur and involve at least one example of sustained conversation (i.e., at least 3 consecutive interchanges). | Students study a topic, problem or issue that the teacher succeeds in connecting to students’ actual experiences or to actual contemporary or persistent public issues. Students recognize some connection between classroom knowledge and situations outside the classroom, but they do not explore the implications of these connections which remain abstract or hypothetical. There is no effort to actually influence a larger audience. |
| 2 | Substantive Conversation Feature # 2 (sharing) and/or # 3 (coherent promotion of collective understanding) occur briefly and involve at least one example of two consecutive interchanges. | Students encounter a topic, problem or issue that the teacher tries to connect to students’ experiences or to actual contemporary or persistent public issues; i.e., the teacher informs students that there is potential value in the knowledge being studied because it relates to the world beyond the classroom. For example, students are told that understanding Middle East history is important for politicians trying to bring peace to the region; however, the connection is weak and there is no evidence that students make the connection. |
| 1 | Virtually no features of substantive conversation occur during the lesson. | Lesson topic and activities have no clear connection to anything beyond itself; the teacher offers no justification beyond the need to perform well in class. |