Let the Whole Child Sparkle!: Accountable Talk Questions & Charts!

Ideas on building students' vocabulary and accountable talk in their speaking, listening, AND writing! Here are some examples of great charts!

Accountable Talk Question Stems

Adapted from Institute for Learning, 2003

Agreement
 “I agree with _____ because _____.”
 “I like what _____ said because _____.”
 “I agree with _____; but on the other hand, _____.”

Disagreement
 “I disagree with _____ because _____.”
 “I’m not sure I agree with what _____ said because _____.”
 “I can see that _____; however, I disagree with (or can’t see) _____.”

Clarifications
 “Could you please repeat that for me?”
 Paraphrase what you heard and ask, “Could you explain a bit more, please?”
 “I’m not sure I understood you when you said _____. Could you say more about that?”
 “What’s your evidence?”
 “How does that support our work/mission at _____?”

Confirmation
 “I think _____.”
 “I believe _____.”

Confusion
 “I don’t understand _____.”
 “I am confused about _____.”
Extension
 “I was thinking about what _____ said, and I was wondering what if _____.”
 “This makes me think _____.”
 “I want to know more about _____.”
 “Now I am wondering _____.”
 “Can you tell me more about _____?”

Review
 “I want to go back to what _____ said.” Adapted fromInstitute for Learning, 2003
Features ofAccountable Talk

Accountability to the Learning Community
a. Careful listening to each other
b. Using and building on each other’s ideas
c. Paraphrasing and seeking clarification
d. Respectful disagreement
e. Using sentence stems

Accountability to Accurate Knowledge
f. Being as specific and accurate as possible
g. Resisting the urge to say just “anything that comes to mind.”
h. Getting the facts straight
i. Challenging questions that demand evidence for claims

Accountability to Rigorous Thinking
j. Building arguments
k. Linking claims and evidence in logical ways
l. Working to make statements clear
m. Checking the quality of claims and arguments