Planning talk structures into your lessons is important if you want to help your pupils learn through talk.
One structure is Good Idea / Bad Idea. Look out for opportunities where you can use this to engage pupils and get them thinking in different subjects. For example:
Wandering through a forest – good idea / bad idea? (English – Goldilocks)
Eating only seasonal fruit & veg – good idea / bad idea? (DT – Cooking)
Living in the Stone Age – good idea / bad idea? (History)
Being an explorer – good idea / bad idea? (Geography)
Always using column subtraction – good idea / bad idea? (Maths)
Genetic modification – good idea / bad idea? (Science)
Remember that the point is to ask an opinion or thinking question, which any pupil could respond to. (It should not be a question which has a correct answer.)
