Reading in the Content Areas

     In this chapter, Probst writes about discussion and how to get students to have meaningful conversations. He lists five dimensions of talk: storytelling, agenda setting, problem solving, brainstorming, and decision making. These are five ways that can help set a goal for a conversation. Probst also discusses ways to foster meaningful conversations in students. He suggests having students annotate the text they read and come up with their own questions, to which the teacher can link their own questions. Another technique is to have students freewrite after reading a text, which can help students translate their thinking into questions. As students move towards independence, a dialogue booklet can give students discussion starters to choose from or progress through. Finally, Probst discusses how to determine if a question is "good" by evaluating how interesting it is.      I agree with the strategies Probst includes in this chapter for formulating meani...