It’s been a while since classroom talk has felt normal. With masks limiting the ability to communicate effectively, and school and government policies encouraging teachers to limit face-to-face talking, communication in the classroom has been hampered. And that’s not to mention all the time spent communicating through screens during school closures. 

While some people will have understandable concerns about teachers and pupils taking off their masks as restrictions ease, most would agree that communicating in class with half your face covered has not been easy.

In short, talk has taken a beating, but with masks coming off in (most) classrooms, things are set to feel a bit more normal. 

Tips for better classroom talk after the removal of face masks

Here are a few tips for re-engaging learners with talk tasks.

1. Scaffold 

Having had so much disruption to their talking habits, students are going to need additional support to successfully engage in talk tasks. 

Scaffold discussion activities with prompts, vocabulary banks, talk points and prompts. Consider also giving a checklist of how to have an effective discussion as an overview. It may seem rudimentary, but it has been a while since many students will have completed a structured discussion task.

By effectively scaffolding, you’ll help learners to feel more confident.

2. Model

Now, more than ever, the teacher modelling effective talk is crucial.

What’s important is that you demonstrate your expectations explicitly. A simple live-modelling demonstration using a student as a partner can help learners to see what a good discussion looks like.

Another option is to offer a narration over a pair of students demonstrating successful talk, highlighting to the class the strengths of the discussion. This adds a metacognitive factor to the modelling. 

These approaches will be helpful now, but also in the future. Talk tasks should be planned as meticulously as writing tasks...although they rarely are.

4. Be explicit with expectations

Having had restrictions around talking for so long, it means that communication is inevitably going to be lumpy to start with.

To keep things smooth, make your expectations really clear. Consider how long “peak talk time” might last, and plan tasks to be short and snappy. Communicate what you expect to see from the learners and make sure they know what the outcome should be. 

It’s also worth considering how realistic your expectations are prior to teaching. Maybe build up to the more complex discussions and focus on re-embedding effective and efficient talk habits first.

5. Make links visible

Students need to understand that every discussion activity has a point. There’s so much emphasis on writing in the curriculum that learners sometimes need help to see the value of talk.

Linking learning through talk (using talk tasks to connect different elements of learning or different topics) is really powerful and it raises the profile of the spoken word. In short, make the importance of talk explicit so the students understand what it can do for them.

Adam Riches is an assistant principal and senior leader for teaching and learning, specialist leader in education and head of English. He tweets @TeachMrRiches