Creating Dialogue

I’ve never really learned how to incorporate dialogue in narrative stories and I’ve definitely never mastered dialogue punctuation…So I was excited when I discovered that one of this week’s articles focused on teaching dialogue! Not only did I learn some techniques and tips for teaching this in the classroom, but I also learned/refreshed my memory on a lot of the basic info. about dialogue in general!

Takeaways about teaching dialogue:

·       First make the students realize why you need dialogue to begin with (underline examples in a text then ask why specific lines are important, what losing them would take away from the storyline, etc.

·       Make the distinction between INternal MONO-LOGUE and DIaLOGUE

·       Introduce dialogue in the dramatic form before narrative style

·       Set the scene (stage directions)

·       Some great prompts for dialogue creation are included in the article

It never fails to amaze me that the assigned readings for class ALWAYS explain how to teach a specific subject in the classroom in an innovative way AND also models every single other thing you’re taught in education classes. Which is why the articles get published and people read them I guess…

Takeaways about teaching anything:

·       Up-Take: facilitation/discussion technique in which you make the subject of what a student says the subject of further discussion; this emphasizes students’ contributions and makes them feel more involved/invested in discussion

o   This seems like common sense but I’ve never encountered the term before and have never had anyone explicitly say this is useful in the classroom!

·       Scaffolding: introduce concept & discuss as a class, then work through an example as a class, and then assign scenes to small groups

·       If you think you need more time tomorrow, write more time on the bottom of your paper!!!

·       Review student work and determine future lesson plans based upon their performance and needs (not only on the topic being covered but just in general such as how the author suggested an oral reading inventory for students who struggle to read aloud)

·       Standard English vs. Black English vernacular (all of page 64 is just fantastic)

·       Add to ongoing projects/assignments as new information is introduced (added stage directions to dialogue)

·       Encourage students to support/praise one another