CCRA.SL.1: Preparing for and Taking Part in Collaborative Discussions

Overview

Lesson Procedure

55-60 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5 minutes
2. Direct Instruction15 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15-20 minutes
5. Closure5 minutes

1. Warm-Up5 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Three students are choosing a class field trip. Student A: 'I think we should go to the science museum, because the class just finished the unit on electricity and the museum has a whole floor on it.' Student B: 'The aquarium is better.' Student C: 'Yeah.' What is missing from this conversation? Rewrite Student B's line so that it answers Student A's reason."

   Take two or three rewrites. Student A gave a reason; Student B ignored it and Student C added nothing, so the talk cannot move. A strong rewrite answers the reason: "The electricity floor is a good point, but the aquarium has a lab on water pollution, which is our next unit." Point out the two skills students just used, building on an idea and expressing a view with a reason, and name the other two the anchor adds: preparing beforehand and participating effectively.

2. Direct Instruction15 minutes

   Terms for the whole period.

   • Collaborative discussion: a conversation in which the speakers work toward a shared goal, such as understanding a text or making a decision, rather than each trying to win.
   • Prepare: read or research the material beforehand and bring marked evidence and questions.
   • Build on: respond to what a speaker just said by extending it, asking about it, paraphrasing it or qualifying it, so the talk moves forward.
   • Qualify: limit a claim to where it is true ("vegetables need daily water in hot weather, not all year").
   • Diverse partners: people whose views, knowledge and experience differ from one's own; the standard expects students to work well with all of them, not only with friends.
   • Range of conversations: one-on-one, small-group and teacher-led discussions, and collaborations such as planning a project together.

   How the anchor grows. Each grade-level standard below has four parts (a-d in the official text): preparation, rules and roles, questions and responses, and responding to other perspectives. The table paraphrases what each band adds.

   Progression of CCRA.SL.1 in grades 6-12

   Grade-level standard	Band	What this band adds
   SL.6.1	Grade 6	Come prepared and refer to evidence; follow discussion rules, set goals and deadlines, and define roles; pose and answer specific questions with detail; review key ideas and paraphrase other perspectives
   SL.7.1	Grade 7	Track progress toward goals; ask questions that draw out elaboration and bring the talk back on topic; acknowledge new information and change one's view when warranted
   SL.8.1	Grade 8	Add decision-making; pose questions that connect several speakers' ideas; answer with relevant evidence; qualify or justify one's view in light of the evidence
   SL.9-10.1	Grades 9-10	Come prepared from reading and research; set rules for collegial discussion and decision-making (such as informal consensus or votes); relate the talk to broader themes; bring others in; clarify, verify or challenge ideas; summarize agreement and disagreement
   SL.11-12.1	Grades 11-12	Promote civil, democratic discussion; ask questions that probe reasoning and evidence; ensure a hearing for a full range of positions; synthesize all sides, resolve contradictions when possible and decide what more research is needed

   Model discussion, grades 6-8. Read the briefing sheet first, as the students in the transcript did. Then read Transcript 1, a discussion among four invented seventh graders. The turns are numbered 1-16. Diagram 1 shows how the four parts of the anchor work together, and Diagram 2 counts the turns in Transcript 1.

   1Oakridge Middle School has been offered Plot 7 in the Elm Street Community Garden for next year. The plot is 4 meters by 6 meters and gets about six hours of sun a day. The seventh-grade science classes will care for it, and each class must recommend one of two plans by March 1. Ms. Ruiz, the science teacher, will count the recommendations.

   2Plan A is a food garden: tomatoes, green beans, lettuce and squash. The Elm Street Food Pantry has said it will take any fresh vegetables the school brings, every Saturday from June to September. Vegetables need watering every day in hot weather, and most of the harvest comes in July and August, when school is closed. Volunteers would have to sign up for summer watering shifts.

   3Plan B is a pollinator garden: native flowers such as coneflower, bee balm and milkweed, which feed bees and butterflies. Once the plants are growing well, they need watering about once a week. They bloom from June to October, so classes could count the insects that visit during the first weeks of school in September.

   4The garden club will donate seeds and plants worth $150 for either plan. The garden rules allow one plan per plot.

   1Priya (facilitator): Our goal is to recommend Plan A or Plan B with two reasons, and we have twelve minutes. Jonah is taking notes. Who wants to start?

   2Marcus: Plan A, easy. Food is more useful than flowers. Flowers just sit there.

   3Elena: Can you say more about "more useful"? Useful to whom?

   4Marcus: To people. The briefing says the food pantry will take anything we bring, every Saturday from June to September. That's real food for real families.

   5Jonah: I'm writing that down. But the briefing also says vegetables need watering every day in hot weather, and the harvest comes when school is closed. Who's going to do that?

   6Marcus: We just make a sign-up sheet. People will do it.

   7Elena: I'm adding to Jonah's point. That's every hot day in July and August. If the volunteers missed a week, the tomatoes could die before the pantry ever got them.

   8Priya: So Jonah and Elena are saying Plan A could help people the most, but only if the summer watering really happens. Is that right?

   9Jonah: Yes, that's what I meant.

   10Marcus: Nobody even likes bees anyway. Bees sting people.

   11Priya: Let's get back to the two plans. Marcus, does the bee worry change which plan you'd pick, or is it a separate question?

   12Marcus: I guess it's separate. I still like the food idea.

   13Elena: I'll make the case for Plan B. The flowers only need water about once a week once they're growing, and they bloom until October, so we could count insects in September, when we're actually here. With Plan A, most of the harvest happens while we're away.

   14Marcus: Huh. I didn't think about that. We'd never even see the tomatoes. I still think the pantry matters, though. What if we planted mostly flowers and a few beans?

   15Priya: The briefing says the rules allow one plan per plot, so a mix probably isn't allowed. We could ask Ms. Ruiz about it. Jonah, can you read back the notes?

   16Jonah: For Plan A: food for the pantry all summer. Against Plan A: daily watering when school is closed. For Plan B: weekly watering, and it blooms into October, when we can study it. Question for Ms. Ruiz: is a mix allowed?

   • Preparation shows up as evidence: turn 4

     In turn 2, Marcus says food is "more useful" than flowers. What does he add in turn 4?

     Result: Marcus adds a detail from the briefing: the pantry "will take anything we bring, every Saturday from June to September." His opinion becomes a reason others can test. Preparation is not only reading beforehand; it is bringing the reading into the talk when a claim needs support.

   • Building on an idea: turn 7

     Jonah raises the summer watering problem in turn 5. How does Elena's turn 7 build on it rather than repeat it?

     Result: She names her move ("I'm adding to Jonah's point") and extends it with a consequence: "If the volunteers missed a week, the tomatoes could die before the pantry ever got them." Jonah raised a question; Elena shows why it matters for the decision.

   • A weak move and a repair: turns 10-11

     Marcus says, "Nobody even likes bees anyway. Bees sting people." Why is this weak, and what does Priya do?

     Result: It is a sweeping claim ("nobody") with no support, and it pulls the talk away from the two plans. Priya does not scold him. She redirects with a question that lets him connect the worry to the decision or set it aside: "does the bee worry change which plan you'd pick, or is it a separate question?" A facilitator's question can repair a weak move.

   • Changing a view with new information: turn 14 (grades 7-8)

     After Elena's case for Plan B, what does Marcus do with his view?

     Result: He acknowledges the new point ("I didn't think about that. We'd never even see the tomatoes."), keeps what he still believes ("I still think the pantry matters") and proposes a new option. That is the grade 7 and 8 move: acknowledge new information and, when warranted, modify or qualify a view.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   A seminar, grades 9-12. Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was an English lawyer, statesman and philosopher. His short essay "Of Discourse" gives advice about conversation. The excerpt below comes from an 1884 American edition, which keeps Bacon's older English: questioneth means "questions," ere means "before," poser means "an examiner," and a galliard was a lively dance. The 1884 editor glosses "to give the occasion" as "to start the subject." All students read the essay; grades 6-8 work with the four sentences the teacher marks (the one on giving the occasion, the one on questions, the one on leaving others their turns and the one on discretion), and grades 9-12 read it all. Then pairs read Transcript 2, an invented eleventh-grade seminar on the essay, with the turns numbered 1-14.

   Some in their discourse desire rather commendation of wit, in being able to hold all arguments, than of judgment, in discerning what is true; as if it were a praise to know what might be said and not what should be thought. Some have certain commonplaces and themes, wherein they are good, and want variety; which kind of poverty is for the most part tedious, and, when it is once perceived, ridiculous. The honorablest part of talk is to give the occasion, and again to moderate and pass to somewhat else; for then a man leads the dance. It is good in discourse, and speech of conversation, to vary and intermingle speech of the present occasion with arguments, tales with reasons, asking of questions with telling of opinions, and jest with earnest; for it is a dull thing to tire, and, as we say now, to jade any thing too far. As for jest, there be certain things which ought to be privileged from it; namely, religion, matters of state, great persons, any man’s present business of importance, and any case that deserveth pity; yet there be some that think their wits have been asleep, except they dart out somewhat that is piquant, and to the quick; that is a vein which would be bridled:—

   [...]

   And, generally, men ought to find the difference between saltness and bitterness. Certainly, he that hath a satirical vein, as he maketh others afraid of his wit, so he had need be afraid of others’ memory. He that questioneth much, shall learn much, and content much, but especially if he apply his questions to the skill of the persons whom he asketh: for he shall give them occasion to please themselves in speaking, and himself shall continually gather knowledge; but let his questions not be troublesome, for that is fit for a poser. And let him be sure to leave other men their turns to speak; nay, if there be any that would reign and take up all the time, let him find means to take them off, and to bring others on, as musicians used to do with those that dance too long galliards. If you dissemble sometimes your knowledge of that you are thought to know, you shall be thought, another time, to know that you know not. Speech of a man’s self ought to be seldom, and well chosen. I knew one was wont to say in scorn, “He must needs be a wise man, he speaks so much of himself;” and there is but one case wherein a man may commend himself with good grace, and that is in commending virtue in another, especially if it be such a virtue whereunto himself pretendeth. Speech of touch towards others should be sparingly used; for discourse ought to be as a field, without coming home to any man. [...] Discretion of speech is more than eloquence; and to speak agreeably to him with whom we deal, is more than to speak in good words, or in good order. A good continued speech, without a good speech of interlocution, shows slowness; and a good reply, or second speech, without a good settled speech, showeth shallowness and weakness. As we see in beasts, that those that are weakest in the course, are yet nimblest in the turn; as it is betwixt the greyhound and the hare. To use too many circumstances, ere one come to the matter, is wearisome; to use none at all, is blunt.

   1Mr. Abernathy: Our question comes from near the end of the essay: "Discretion of speech is more than eloquence." Do you agree? Point us to the words you marked while you prepared.

   2Dev: I agree. Bacon's first sentence criticizes people who want "commendation of wit, in being able to hold all arguments" more than "judgment, in discerning what is true." That's eloquence without discretion. You can argue any side, but you aren't trying to find out what is true.

   3Lucia: I want to push on that. Is being able to argue every side really a fault? In debate we're assigned sides, and it makes you understand the other view.

   4Dev: Fair. But Bacon's word is "desire." He's criticizing people who want to be praised for it. Debate is practice, so I don't think he's talking about that.

   5Theo: Yeah, I agree with Dev. Showing off is bad. Also, Bacon is really old, so a lot of this doesn't apply anymore.

   6Lucia: Which part doesn't apply? Can you point to a line?

   7Theo: I mean the language, mostly. Galliards and all that.

   8Sam: The galliard line is my favorite, actually. He says if someone "would reign and take up all the time," you should "find means to take them off, and to bring others on," the way musicians do with dancers who dance too long. That's what a facilitator does now. So the words are old, but the idea isn't.

   9Mr. Abernathy: Hana, you marked the sentence about questions. How does it connect to what Sam just said?

   10Hana: Bacon says, "He that questioneth much, shall learn much," especially if he asks people about their own skill, but "let his questions not be troublesome." So asking a quiet person a question is one way of bringing them on, as long as it doesn't feel like a test. I'd call that discretion too: knowing what to ask, and whom.

   11Lucia: That changes my answer a little. I came in thinking eloquence matters more, because a well-built speech persuades people. But if discretion includes knowing when to ask and when to stop, then I'd say discretion matters more in a conversation and eloquence matters more in a speech.

   12Dev: That's close to Bacon's own point at the end: "A good continued speech, without a good speech of interlocution, shows slowness." Interlocution means the back-and-forth. He wants both.

   13Mr. Abernathy: Where are we, then? Someone sum up what we agree on and what we don't.

   14Sam: We agree that discretion matters most in conversation. We don't agree yet on whether being able to argue every side is a fault. Lucia sees it as useful practice, and Dev thinks Bacon means showing off. To settle it, we'd need to know how people argued in Bacon's time, and none of us looked that up.

   1. Opening the seminar: turns 1-2. Ask: "How does Mr. Abernathy's opening make preparation count?" Teacher note: he asks for "the words you marked while you prepared," so students must arrive with evidence. Dev answers with two quotations from Bacon's first sentence and then says what they mean for the question.
   2. Challenge and response: turns 3-4. Ask: "Is Lucia being rude when she says 'I want to push on that'?" Teacher note: no. She challenges the idea, not Dev, and gives a reason from experience with debate. Dev concedes part of it ("Fair") and answers with a closer reading of one word. A challenge followed by a reasoned reply is what the grades 9-10 standard calls clarifying, verifying or challenging ideas.
   3. Back to the text: turn 12. Ask: "What does Dev add in turn 12?" Teacher note: he ties the point under discussion to a sentence near the end of the essay and defines the hard word interlocution (the back-and-forth of conversation), so the group's idea is now tied to Bacon's own words.
   4. Hold the rest for the quiz. Students analyze the other turns of both transcripts on their own in the quiz, so stop after turn 12 here.
4. Independent Practice15-20 minutes

   Students hold their own discussion in groups of four, using Activity 1 (the fishbowl and talk tracker) or Activity 3 (the decision meeting). Grades 6-8 discuss the Plot 7 question from the briefing sheet; grades 9-12 discuss Mr. Abernathy's question about "Of Discourse," or a new one from the essay. Before talking, each student writes one piece of evidence and one question on an index card (Activity 2 gives the card format). Groups set a goal and a time limit, choose a facilitator and a note-taker, and end with a two-sentence summary of what they agree on and what they don't.

   Afterward, each student writes three sentences: one naming a turn in which someone built on their idea or they built on someone else's, one naming a view that changed (theirs or another speaker's) and why, and one naming what the group would need to know to go further.

5. Closure5 minutes

   Exit ticket: Write one sentence that builds on something a classmate said today. Start with their idea in your own words, then add a reason, a question or a limit.

   Teacher notes. All three transcripts and the briefing sheet are invented for this page, and so are the students, the teachers and the town; they are models, not records of real classes. Some turns are weak on purpose and are named as weak on this page: Marcus's turns 2, 6 and 10 in Transcript 1 and Theo's turns 5 and 7 in Transcript 2. Bacon's essay is quoted word for word from the 1884 edition, with two marked cuts: a one-line Latin quotation and a short anecdote about two noblemen. Bacon writes of "men" and "a man," as writers of his time did; his advice applies to every speaker.

   For homework: students read Transcript 3 below, an invented planning meeting among three partners. The turns are numbered 1-12.

   1Ava: Okay, the history fair is in three weeks. We need a topic for our display.

   2Kofi: The covered bridge on Mill Road. The historical society has a box of photos of it from before the 1927 flood.

   3Ren: Or the old train station.

   4Ava: The bridge is better. Let's do the bridge.

   5Ren: Wait, why is it better? I said the station because the public library has the station's old ticket books, so we'd have real records with dates and numbers in them.

   6Kofi: That's a good point. Records would make our display more than pictures. But the photos show what the bridge looked like, and at a fair people look at pictures first. What if we found both kinds of sources for one topic? Does the library have anything about the bridge?

   7Ren: I could check. If the library has records on the bridge too, I'd pick the bridge.

   8Ava: Fine. So who does what?

   9Kofi: I'll ask the historical society if we can scan the photos.

   10Ava: And I'll make the board.

   11Ren: And I'll go to the library. When do we meet again?

   12Ava: Whenever. We'll figure it out.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In CCRA.SL.1, what does it mean to build on another speaker's idea?

   ATo repeat the idea in the same words so everyone hears it twice BTo respond to the idea by extending, questioning or qualifying it CTo wait until the speaker finishes and then start a new topic DTo agree with the idea so the discussion can end more quickly

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What does Priya do in turn 1 of Transcript 1 that helps the group participate effectively?

   AShe gives her own view on the plans first so the others can respond to it BShe reads the briefing sheet aloud so that no one has to prepare in advance CShe assigns each member one of the plans to argue for during the meeting DShe states the goal and the time limit and names who will take the notes

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In turn 3, Elena asks, "Can you say more about 'more useful'? Useful to whom?" What does her question do?

   AIt asks Marcus to explain and support the claim he just made BIt moves the group away from Plan A and on to a new plan CIt shows the group that she already agrees with Marcus DIt closes the discussion of Plan A before anyone answers

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which detail in Jonah's turn 5 shows that he prepared by reading the briefing?

   AHe offers to take the notes for the group BHe says that Plan B costs less than Plan A CHe notes that the harvest comes when school is closed DHe reports how many families use the food pantry each week

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In turn 8, Priya says, "So Jonah and Elena are saying Plan A could help people the most, but only if the summer watering really happens. Is that right?" Which discussion move is this?

   AGiving a new reason in favor of Plan B BParaphrasing two speakers and checking her understanding CChallenging the pantry evidence that Marcus gave in turn 4 DEnding the discussion by calling for a vote

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why is Elena's turn 13 more persuasive than Marcus's turn 2?

   AIt gives reasons drawn from the briefing, not only an opinion BIt is a longer turn, and longer turns are always more convincing CIt repeats the same claim several times so that no one forgets it DIt agrees with every other member of the group at the same time

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In turn 15, how does Priya use the briefing?

   AShe uses it to prove that Plan B is the better choice BShe reads the cost of each plan aloud to the group CShe tells Marcus that his idea is off topic DShe checks Marcus's idea against the garden rules

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Priya sets the group's goal in turn 1. Which part of that goal has the group NOT yet met by turn 16?

   ANaming a note-taker BFinding reasons for Plan A CRecommending one plan DFinding reasons for Plan B

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why is Theo's turn 5 in Transcript 2 a weak contribution to the seminar?

   AHe agrees and makes a broad claim without pointing to the text BHe disagrees with Dev without giving any reason for his view CHe quotes so many lines that the others cannot keep up with him DHe asks a question that has nothing to do with the seminar topic

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    How does Sam's turn 8 respond to Theo's claim that a lot of the essay "doesn't apply anymore"?

    AHe agrees that the old language makes the whole essay useless today BHe uses Theo's own example, the galliard line, to show the idea still applies CHe changes the subject to how school debate teams assign sides to their members DHe asks the teacher to decide whether Theo or Lucia is right about it

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    In turn 11, how does Lucia change her view?

    AShe drops it completely and agrees with everything Dev said BShe keeps it exactly as it was and repeats her first reason CShe reverses it and argues that eloquence never matters in any setting at all DShe qualifies it: discretion matters more in talk, eloquence in a speech

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    What does Sam's summary in turn 14 say the group would need in order to settle its disagreement?

    AA vote on which speaker made the best point BA second, closer reading of the first sentence CResearch on how people argued in Bacon's time DA new seminar question from Mr. Abernathy

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Bacon writes, "let him be sure to leave other men their turns to speak." Which move in Transcript 2 follows this advice most directly?

    AMr. Abernathy asks Hana to connect her marked sentence to Sam's point (turn 9) BDev points out that Bacon's own word is "desire" in the first sentence (turn 4) CTheo says the essay is too old for much of it to apply today (turn 5) DSam sums up what the group agrees on and what it does not (turn 14)

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Bacon writes, "To use too many circumstances, ere one come to the matter, is wearisome; to use none at all, is blunt." What does this advise a speaker in a discussion?

    AAlways give as much detail as you can before your point BGive some background, but get to your point without delay CNever give background, because it wastes the group's time DLet the other speakers supply the details for your point

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    In Transcript 1, Marcus says in turn 2, "Food is more useful than flowers." Write a reply of one or two sentences that builds on his idea instead of simply agreeing or disagreeing, then explain what makes it a build.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Rewrite Theo's turn 5 in Transcript 2 so that it expresses a view clearly and persuasively. Use a line from "Of Discourse" in your rewrite.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    To prepare for a seminar on "Of Discourse," write two questions you would bring. Tie each one to a specific sentence in the essay, and explain why it would help the group discuss rather than simply answer.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Compare Jonah's notes in Transcript 1 (turn 16) with Sam's summary in Transcript 2 (turn 14). What does Sam's summary do that Jonah's notes do not?

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Bacon advises a speaker to "apply his questions to the skill of the persons whom he asketh." Suppose one member of the Plot 7 group has worked in a vegetable garden and another has never grown anything. Write one question for each partner that follows Bacon's advice, and explain your choices.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Grades 9-12: Write an opening statement of four or five sentences for a seminar on Bacon's claim that "Discretion of speech is more than eloquence." State your position, cite one sentence from the essay and end with a question for the group.

    Show model answer

These are the grade-level standards that carry anchor CCRA.SL.1 in grades 6-12, plus closely related anchors.

Standard text: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.