Hands Down Conversations – building community in the classroom

Hands down, a great way to engage student voices

At Taylor, we’ve been working hard to bring our instructional vision to life. We know our students thrive when they have opportunities for active learning, including collaboration, choice, and meaningful discussions while engaging in complex tasks and questions. One way we foster this is through Hands Down Conversations.

Ms. Rachlin’s first grade class participates in a Hands Down Conversation related to a math topic. The teacher takes anecdotal notes while a student share his thoughts and his classmates look at the problem on the board.

In a Hands Down Conversation, students sit in a circle and take turns speaking without raising their hands. This approach builds a strong sense of community, enhances critical thinking, and shifts the classroom dynamics to prioritize student ideas and thinking.

The concept for this practice comes from the book  “Hands Down, Speak Out: Listening and Talking Across Literacy and Math” by Kassia Omohundro Wedekind and Christy Hermann Thompson. Taylor’s third grade team implemented the practice this year after reading the book and meeting with Wedekind, the book’s co-author and Arlington resident. So far, Hands Down Conversations are being used across all grade levels at Taylor.

Students from Ms. Ring’s fifth grade class engage in a Hands Down Conversation.

A Hands Down Conversation is a student-led discussion with students sitting in a circle and the teacher outside of the circle, jotting down notes about what the students are saying. This puts the students in charge of facilitating their conversation and reinforces the idea that they are responsible for collaborating with one another and don’t need to look to the teacher for “permission” to speak.

Students are given a discussion topic and one person from the group is chosen to begin the conversation.  The technique gives students the opportunity to actively listen to their classmates, build off of each other’s ideas, and agree or disagree with each other.  While they may still talk over each other, they learn how to create and respect the space for all voices to be heard and how to advocate for themselves when they are not done speaking, notes Katy DeKraai, Taylor’s third grade teacher who spearheaded these community-building exercises at the school.

“This shift in dynamic has allowed for more student voices to be heard, more meaningful discussions, and students are learning and applying conversational skills to real world situations,” says Dekraai.

Fourth graders take part in a “turn and talk” exercise, part of the Hands Down Conversation practice.

Hands Down Conversations can be used across all subject areas, says Dekraai. “Providing students the opportunity to have autonomy over their thoughts and ideas has created a strong classroom community focused on respect and trust with one another,” she said. Dekraai notes that throughout this school year, while utilizing Hands Down Conversations, she noticed so much more engagement during lessons, eagerness to learn and share ideas, and more purposeful and productive discussions.

“Having Hands Down Conversations in the classroom has been transformational for lifting student voice,” said Charlotte Hoffer, another of Taylor’s third grade teaching team. “The book was spot on when it said if your class can sit in a circle, they’re ready for a Hands Down Conversation!  I realized how much students are craving to engage with each other in a dialogue setting.”  It also provides valuable information about their true depth of knowledge and understanding with the topics we are studying in class, says Hoffer.

Students in Ms. Pardi’s fourth grade class start their day with a peer-to-peer discussion session.

“Hands Down Conversations has completely changed the way I teach and view students engaging with each other’s voices and ideas. It has been amazing watching students grow and collaborate with each other everyday. I am so proud of them and cannot wait to keep watching them do amazing things!” Dekraai said.