Guide to Tripod’s 7Cs™ Framework
Confer
Teachers who confer encourage and value students’ ideas and views. They seek and respect students’ thoughts, opinions, and input as part of the learning process.
Message to Students:
“I invite, welcome, and respect your ideas and feedback.”
Sample Student Survey Items
(for different grade levels)
- My teacher is a very good listener when kids talk to her/him.
- My teacher wants us to share our thoughts.
- My teacher gives us time to explain our ideas.
Indicators of an Exemplary Classroom
Teachers effectively confer through practices like these:
Respecting perspectives
The teacher creates a classroom climate in which ideas are treated with respect.
- The teacher and students work together to create a learning environment that welcomes and values diverse views and opinions.
- The teacher models respectful ways of communicating.
Promoting discussion
The teacher engages students in communication and collaboration in support of learning.
- The teacher regularly provides genuine opportunities for students to contribute ideas and opinions as part of the learning process.
- The teacher incorporates interactive practices such as cooperative learning, reciprocal teaching, collaborative problem solving, and peer feedback.
Inviting input
The teacher invites and values students’ input about their learning experiences.
- The teacher gives students voice in determining aspects of what they learn.
- The teacher seeks students’ ideas and feedback about classroom activities and procedures.
Reflection Questions
Consider these questions as you reflect on your classroom practice:
- How often do you invite students to share their ideas and opinions in the context of learning activities?
- How often do you ask students to answer questions or solve problems together and discuss their responses?
- How do you ensure that all students have opportunities to express their views?
- How do you model respect for diverse viewpoints?
- How do you respond when students ask unclear or unexpected questions or share divergent views?
- How often do you provide students with opportunities to share their thoughts about how learning activities should proceed?
- How often do you seek feedback from students about the effectiveness of learning activities?
Sample Strategies
Try implementing teaching strategies like these in your classroom:
- Establish and model expectations for respectful classroom exchanges, especially in the context of disagreement. For example, ask students what respectful communication looks like, sounds like, and feels like.
- Incorporate small group and whole class discussions into learning activities.
- Invite students to share their views about how to structure specific learning activities or how to handle classroom dilemmas.
- Ask students to give each other feedback about how their work meets established criteria.
TEACHING RESOURCES
We’ve curated a set of teaching resources for Confer. As you set goals and pursue professional learning opportunities, use these resource collections to access additional strategies, tools, and examples of effective practices in action.
Confer: Promoting Discussion
Teachers who confer encourage and value students’ ideas and views. They seek and respect students’ thoughts, opinions, and input as part of the learning process. Find resources offering classroom strategies that support the practice of engaging students in communication and collaboration in support of learning.
Dialogue Defibrillators: Jump-Start Classroom Discussions!
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Learn to Listen/Listen to Learn – Developing Deeper Conversations
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How to Increase Higher Order Thinking
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Strategies to enhance peer feedback
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Creating High-Quality Work in EL Education Schools: Multiple Levels of Support | EL Education
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The Who, What, and Why of Models, Critique, and Descriptive Feedback | EL Education
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I Do, We Do, You Do: Scaffolding Reading Comprehension in Social Studies
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What Makes You Say That
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Conversation Management
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Procedures for Classroom Talk
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Adapting Curriculum to Learners’ Needs
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Small Groups, Big Gains
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6 Scaffolding Strategies to Use With Your Students
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Encouraging Students to Persist Through Challenges
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Austin’s Butterfly
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UDL Guideline 8: Provide options for sustaining effort and persistence
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Challenge at the Heart of Deeper Learning: Teaching Channel Deeper Learning Series
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The Doing What Works Library
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Thinking Big About Engagement
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Science Talk: Management in the Active Classroom
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Reciprocal Teaching | Reading Rockets
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ICT Literacy Maps – P21
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Enliven Class Discussions With Gallery Walks
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Big Paper – Building a Silent Conversation
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Assigning Roles for Group Work
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Educational Leadership: Talking and Listening: Talking to Learn
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Save the Last Word for Me
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Fishbowl
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Instruction | Teaching Tolerance – Diversity, Equity and Justice
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Collaborative Culture: Academic Talk | EL Education
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Barometer – Taking a Stand on Controversial Issues
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Educational Leadership: Instruction That Sticks: Making Cooperative Learning Powerful
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Oracy in the Classroom: Strategies for Effective Talk
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Implementing the Writing Process – ReadWriteThink
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Think Pair Share
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Chalk Talk
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Jigsaw
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Kindergarteners as Experts
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Circle of Viewpoints
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Confer: Inviting Input
Teachers who confer encourage and value students’ ideas and views. They seek and respect students’ thoughts, opinions, and input as part of the learning process. Find resources offering classroom strategies that support the practice of inviting and valuing students’ input about their learning experiences.
Student-Led Guidelines for Using Materials and Space | EL Education
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8 Tips and Tricks to Redesign Your Classroom
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Using Gaming Principles to Engage Students
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Encouraging Students to Own Their Work
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Solving Real-World Issues Through Problem-Based Learning
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7 Tips for Building Positive Relationships with English-Language Learners
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The Optimal Seating Plan? Letting Your Students Choose
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Creating Community All Day Long
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UDL Guideline 7: Provide options for recruiting interest
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Small Groups, Big Gains
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5 Ways to Give Your Students More Voice and Choice
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Mindset Kit – Praising the process: See it in action, Praise the Process, Not the Person
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Building a Classroom Culture of Trust and Collaboration
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Challenge at the Heart of Deeper Learning: Teaching Channel Deeper Learning Series
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The Big Ideas of Understanding by Design
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Student Choice Leads to Student Voice
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Thinking Big About Engagement
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ICT Literacy Maps – P21
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Instruction | Teaching Tolerance – Diversity, Equity and Justice
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Personalized Learning: Enabling Student Voice and Choice Through Projects
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Educational Leadership: Getting Personalization Right: Student Engagement: Key to Personalized Learning
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It Takes a Village: Teenagers Use Community Resources to Pen a Guidebook
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Confer: Respecting Perspectives
Teachers who confer encourage and value students’ ideas and views. They seek and respect students’ thoughts, opinions, and input as part of the learning process. Find resources offering classroom strategies that support the practice of creating a classroom climate in which ideas are treated with respect.
Learn to Listen/Listen to Learn – Developing Deeper Conversations
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Talking Circles: For Restorative Justice and Beyond | Teaching Tolerance – Diversity, Equity and Justice
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Contracting
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Critical Practices for Anti-Bias Education: Classroom Culture
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Using Dialogue Circles to Support Classroom Management
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Conversation Management
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Why Restorative Practices Benefit All Students
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Procedures for Classroom Talk
Read More
Small Groups, Big Gains
Read More
Building a Classroom Culture of Trust and Collaboration
Read More
Challenge at the Heart of Deeper Learning: Teaching Channel Deeper Learning Series
Read More
Educational Leadership: Talking and Listening: Talking to Learn
Read More
Save the Last Word for Me
Read More
Fishbowl
Read More
Instruction | Teaching Tolerance – Diversity, Equity and Justice
Read More
Collaborative Culture: Academic Talk | EL Education
Read More
Barometer – Taking a Stand on Controversial Issues
Read More
Analyzing Perspectives through Primary Sources, Part 1 in Core Practices in Action: Laying the Foundation for Deeper Learning with Literacy
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Educational Leadership: Instruction That Sticks: Making Cooperative Learning Powerful
Read More
Oracy in the Classroom: Strategies for Effective Talk
Read More
Think Pair Share
Read More
Jigsaw
Read More
Circle of Viewpoints
Read More