Evaluating and practising discussion skills
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can use a success criteria to have an effective discussion and use it to provide specific feedback.
Key learning points
- A specific success criteria enables you to evaluate how effective a discussion is.
- When giving feedback, it is important to be specific and refer to the success criteria.
- Taking a few moments to mind map the discussion question or topic can help you to make relevant and developed comments.
Keywords
Evaluate - to examine something closely and make a judgement about its effectiveness
Criteria - the rules or guidelines used to judge or decide something
Specific - clearly defined, precise or exact
Relevant - closely connected or directly related to what is being discussed
Common misconception
Evaluating is about simply identifying whether something is good or bad.
The best evaluation will involve looking closely at something, thinking about its strengths and weaknesses, and explaining why it works well or not. It’s about making a thoughtful judgement based on evidence, not just a simple 'good' or 'bad' label.
Teacher tip
You can adapt the discussion topics in Task B to suit the interests or curriuclum focus of your pupils.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Which of these are key spoken language skills needed for a productive discussion?
Q2.Which of these describe good ways to demonstrate active listening?
Q3.Which of these words is an antonym for the word 'respectful'?
Q4.Which word means 'to examine something closely and make a judgement about its effectiveness'?
Q5.Match the type of evidence that can be used to develop discussions to the correct description.
Q6.Which definition best describes the word 'tentative'?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What should you consider doing before starting a discussion?
Q2.Which of the following is not a key skill needed for effective discussions?
Q3.Which definition best describes the word 'evaluate'?
Q4.What is the purpose of using positive body language during discussions?
Q5.What does WWW stand for when self-assessing a discussion?
Q6.Which word beginning with 's' can be described as meaning 'clearly defined, precise or exact'?
To help you plan your 7 English lesson on: Evaluating and practising discussion skills, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 7 English lesson on: Evaluating and practising discussion skills, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 3 English lessons from the The fundamentals of effective discussion unit, dive into the full secondary English curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.