What's a talking partner?
Even if the question a teacher asks is a basic recall question, a more effective approach than rapid fire Q&A is to ask the question, then ask students to talk to the person next to them (their talking partner) for, say 30 seconds, to determine the answer. Then answers are then gathered, with no hands up, from a number of pairs (with one student acting as spokesperson^ each time) until a full definition is compiled. When asking open questions ("What might be the reasons for this?"), it is often useful to ask students to raise their hands if their partner had a good idea that they could tell the class. This technique also has the benefit of students feeling authentically proud of what they've done in class. Having 'talking partners' as a regular feature of lessons allows students to think, to articulate, and therefore to extend their learning.
^who should be the spokesperson? Kevin Feldman would say that the teacher should choose the weaker student when it's an important academic task. Too often, the weaker student sits on the sideline while the stronger student practices thinking and speaking.
(mostly from Shirley Clark, Formative Assessment in the Secondary Classroom)
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