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Framing the Narrative

Dear Teachers,


It’s illuminating to facilitate the first class discussion of the year.

 

You find out which students like to grandstand without actually answering the question, which students simply repeat what another student shared to “earn” participation points, which students directly comment on the person contributing, and which students say nothing at all.


The purpose of these Discussion Frames, created by the innovative team at the UC Davis History Project, is to encourage students to (1) provide dynamic starters for students to effectively participate in small group and class discussions, (2) reinforce active listening skills, and (3) emphasize the practice of commenting on ideas shared, rather than on the person sharing.


Feel free to display them in your classroom or print pocket guides for student notebooks. View PDF

                                                                                                                    

Discussion Frames

 

Paraphrasing
  • If I understand you correctly, you think…
  • Let me see if I got this right. You are saying…
  • So, in your opinion…
  • In other words, what you believe...

Expressing an Opinion
  • I think/believe that…
  • In my opinion…
  • It seems to me that…
  • Not everyone will agree with me, and… 

Asking for Clarification 
  • I have a question about… 
  • In other words, are you saying…?
  • So you think that…
  • Could you please…
    • Repeat that?
    • Explain what ___ means?
    • Give me an example? 
    • Say more about that?
    • Explain that in more detail? 
    • Would you mind…
      • Defining ___? 
      • Going over that again more slowly? 
      • Explaining that in another way? 
    • I don’t think I understand that word/question/remark/idea.

Offering a Suggestion 
  • What if you/we…?
  • Maybe you/we could…?
  • Here’s something that you/we might try…

Talking about Evidence 
  • My document is about…
  • My answer to the question is…
  • The evidence that supports my answer is…
  • Tell me more about…
  • What evidence do you have? 
  • How did you come to that conclusion? 
  • Document ___ seems to support the ideas in document ___; for example; 
  • Document ___ does not seem to fit with the other documents because…
  • Document ___ seems more credible than document ___ because…
  • I agree/disagree with what ___ said because..
  • Could you summarize your main point again? 

Politely Disagreeing 
  • I don’t quite agree with your point about…
  • I have another way of looking at this.
  • My idea is slightly different.
  • I hear what you are saying, and I see it another way.
  • I went about it somewhat differently.   
                                                                                                                    

Stay Tuned, 
Author: Erika Hillstead