A tableau is a recreation of a specific moment in time featuring “characters” and may also include inanimate objects. Students draw upon historical evidence and recreate a scene that provides insight into the minds of the characters. 

The tableau consists of a group of “actors” frozen like statues into a scene, each of whom comes to life and expresses the thoughts and feelings of that character or object. 

1. Students choose a specific event or episode from the past. This may be a recreation of a photograph in their textbook, or of a famous painting, or a scene they design based on their knowledge of the event.

2.  After researching their topic, students work together in a group to write dialogue for each character. The dialogue should include the thoughts and feelings the character might experience based on the context and facts about the event.

3. Narration is written to give the audience the context of the scene and introduce the characters.

4. The performance begins with each character “frozen”, holding a pose and unable to speak.

5.  The narrator introduces the scene and the characters. 

6. Each character, according to the script written, “comes alive” and speaks the thoughts and feelings of the character being enacted. Each then “freezes” again before the next character comes to life. 

7. Debrief through questioning and discussion of research.

This cooperative activity provides opportunities for students to read, write, speak, and listen about specific topics before studying an historical event. This helps build background knowledge and interest about topics to be studied.

1. Select four short high-interest texts about one topic. The text should be no more than two pages in length. For example, if teaching the Civil War, you might include a reading about the Lincoln Presidency, military strategy, Andersonville Prison Camp, and the life of a Confederate Soldier 

2. Arrange students in groups of three or four. Assign each student a different topic to read. Students then read their assigned text. 

3. After reading, students return to the text and create a list of important and/or interesting facts to be discussed at the table. 

4. Each student should be given 3 – 5 minutes to explain their notes about their reading, while the others in the group take careful notes. 

5. Each group is given one piece of paper to construct their writing. Begin the writing process with the first reader’s topic.

   1. • Reader #1 writes a topic sentence about their reading 

      • Student #2 adds one sentence about the SAME reading to the paragraph 

      • Student #3 adds another sentence 

      • Student #4 adds another sentence 

6. Continue rotating until time is called or ideas are exhausted. 

7. The writing process continues with student #2 constructing a topic sentence for the second reading. Continue until all four readings have a paragraph.

Think, Ink, Pair, Share, Adapted from http://edservices.aea7.k12.ia.us/framework/strategies/

Real Talk

from Cult of Pedagogy

After completing a reading (chapter of a text, a section of your science or history textbook, a short story, an article), instruct each student to write down six talking points about the text that they want to discuss with their group. These can be in the form of questions, interesting quotes from the text, observations, connections, vocabulary, or stylistic choices the author made. They can write all six on the same sheet of paper.

Next, have each student choose their four strongest talking points and jot them down on sticky notes. As a group, students should quickly look through the sticky notes and group similar ones together, then decide on a logical order to discuss the notes. For example, students could group all the vocabulary-related notes together or all the connection notes together. They may want their notes to roughly follow the sequence of the text (for example, placing a quote of an article’s last line at the end). The possibilities are endless and there is no one right way to do it, but the process helps the group to be thoughtful about the discussion’s focus, organization, and direction.

Students will then slowly talk their way through each talking point/sticky note. It’s important to remind students to discuss and not rush; emphasize that it’s perfectly fine not to make it through all the talking points, as long as the discussion is still focused on their reading.

Crumple & Shoot

from Cult of Pedagogy

Overview

You ask your class a question. In small groups, students agree on an answer and write it on a piece of paper (one paper per group). At your signal, all groups hold up their answers at the same time. Every group that answers correctly sends one student up to the front of the room with their paper. They crumple it up and shoot it into the trash can. If they make it in, their team gets a point. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.

This activity offers an informal writing opportunity for students to identify, question, and complicate ideas they do and do not understand about the content of the course. 

1. At the beginning of class, provide students with a bright-colored sheet of paper. 

2. Direct every student to write a note to another student in the class asking about some aspect of the course content about which they are unclear. 

3. Have students pass their notes to someone sitting near them so that each student has one note that is not their own.

4. Run class as normal but allow students to continue passing these notes back and forth to each other as class continues. 

5. Explain that the notes will be collected at the end, so they must be on topic. 

6. Near the end of the period, ask students what issues came up as they were writing and if anyone was able to respond to their questions satisfactorily. 

7. As a group, you may be able to resolve some of their concerns. 

8. Alternatively, read over the notes later during your prep time so that you can integrate their concerns into later course content.

(from Sarah Brown Wessling)

Conver-Stations is a small-group discussion strategy that gives students exposure to more of their peers’ ideas and prevents the stagnation that can happen when a group doesn’t have the right chemistry. 

• Students are placed into a few groups of 4-6 students each and are given a discussion question to talk about. 

• After sufficient time has passed for the discussion to develop, one or two students from each group rotate to a different group, while the other group members remain where they are. 

• Once in their new group, they will discuss a different, but related question, and they may also share some of the key points from their last group’s conversation. 

• For the next rotation, students who have not rotated before may be chosen to move, resulting in groups that are continually evolving.

• Divide the class into small groups. 

• Ask students to work together to LIST as many examples of a topic or concept they can think of. Each example should be written on a note card, sticky note, small scrap of paper, or within an online collaborative space (e.g. jamboard, Google drawing)

• Instruct students to GROUP their examples. The goal is to sort the examples into a manageable number of groups, each with definable characteristics.

• Students should create a LABEL for each of their groupings that describes the relationship between the examples within.

• Share each group’s labels with the class through discussion or a Gallery Walk.

• Extension: combine the labels of all groups into one master list and reorganize all of the examples within each group

• Engage in discussion or writing, having students respond to the relationships they identified and how the groups work together to define the concept, topic, or idea.

A Human Timeline activity requires students to learn about a particular event and then line up with peers according to their events’ chronology. This strategy uses movement to help students understand and remember the order of events.

Select Timeline’s Content

Establish a context for the chronology you want students to focus on. If you are studying a particular moment in history, such as the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, you would want students to be aware of key events that led up to this moment. Sometimes you also want students to know what occurred after the focal event. You should aim to include enough events on the timeline so that each student, or pairs of students, can be assigned one event.

Prepare Materials

In preparation for this activity, we suggest placing each of the events on an index card or a standard-size sheet of paper, along with the date when it occurred. Rather than distributing the timeline slips randomly, you might want to give certain students easier or more challenging items, depending on their strengths and weaknesses. When students present their timeline events, it is best if they are sitting or standing so that they are able to see and hear each other. This activity often works best if students stand or sit in a U-shaped line rather than in a straight-line formation.

Students Prepare for Presentations

Assign each student one event from the period that you are highlighting. Each event should be described along with the date it occurred. Whether students work individually or in pairs, here is an example of instructions you can provide:

• Read over your timeline event once or twice.

• Rewrite the timeline item in your own words. If you are having trouble writing the statement in your own words, ask for help.

An extension of this activity asks students to create or find an image that corresponds with their event.

Build Your Human Timeline 

Invite students to line up in the order of their events. Then, have students present their events. After each event is presented, students can suggest possible causes of the event and can pose questions about what happened and why. These questions can be posted on the board for students to answer later.

From: https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/human-timeline

DIRECTIONS:

• Find pictures that correlate with your lesson.

• Cut each picture into four pieces (like a puzzle).

• Give a piece to each student as they walk in the door.

• Have the students find the other students with the puzzles pieces that match theirs. They will sit with this group of students.

• Have the students tape the picture together on the back. Then tape it to a large sheet of poster paper. 

• Ask students to write 3-5 higher level questions on the paper below the picture.

• Hang the pictures around the room and have students do a gallery walk to look at the pictures and read the questions.

• If the students do not think that the question is higher level, have them write a higher level question on a post it and put it on the paper. 

• Go over each picture and questions with the class.

To implement the Wraparound strategy, you pose a question or prompt to the class and then have each student share aloud their quick response. This strategy provides an efficient way for all students in a classroom to share their ideas about a question, topic, or text, revealing common themes and ideas in students’ thinking. Wraparound activities can also be provocative discussion starters.

Procedure

1. Provide a Prompt
   Any question could be used as a prompt for a wraparound activity. Fill-in-the-blank statements such as “Justice is...” are especially effective when used with this strategy. Teachers often use the following prompt with the Wraparound strategy as a way to elicit students’ responses to a particular text they have recently read or viewed: “What words or phrases come to mind after seeing/reading this text?” Students should be given a minute or two to think about their responses before being asked to share.

2. Students Share Responses
   One at a time, students share their brief responses. It often works best to have students simply respond in the order in which they are sitting. This way, you do not have to call on students to respond; once their neighbor has had a turn, students know it is their turn to present. In a wraparound activity, all students typically share their ideas, although it is possible to allow students to say “pass.” Be sure to tell students not to say anything except the particular response, because otherwise the activity will lose the desired effect.

3. Listen for Common Themes or Surprises
   After everyone has shared, you can ask students to report back on common themes that have emerged or on something that surprised them.

Variations

Select-a-Sentence: After reading a long text, instruct students to select one sentence that resonates with them or seems to be an important idea. Have students read that sentence aloud. Be sure to tell students to listen for common themes. It is okay if the same sentence is read more than one time. This exercise can also be done at the very beginning of a class, using the previous night’s reading assignment. In this way, everyone will be able to have some ideas about the text, even if they did not do the reading.

(https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/speaking-listening-techniques/)

Whole Brain Teaching is a set of teaching and classroom management methods that has grown in popularity over the past 10 years. One of WBT’s foundational techniques is Teach-OK, a peer teaching strategy.

• The teacher spends a few minutes introducing a concept to the class. 

• Next, the teacher says Teach!

• The class responds with Okay!

• Pairs of students take turns re-teaching the concept to each other. 

It’s a bit like think-pair-share, but faster-paced, it focuses more on re-teaching than general sharing, and students are encouraged to use gestures to animate their discussion. Although WBT is most popular in elementary schools, this video shows the creator of WBT, Chris Biffle, using it successfully with college students. 

Dialogue Journal

(Thoughtful Learning)

In a dialogue journal, partners engage in a written conversation. This type of writing can help students think deeply about a topic, consider someone else's ideas, and get to know a partner better. They might work through a problem, reflect on something they know or learned, or discuss a serious or complex topic. Here's a sample dialogue journal between two students. 

Anthony: The presidential election is happening soon, and I'm not sure how to feel about it. I'm not 18 so I can't vote. I want to get involved, but I don't feel like I have much of a say in the matter. How do you feel about the election? Do you have any ideas about how kids our age might get involved?

Chahna: My mom and dad talk about it a lot. They say it can be tricky to decide which candidate to trust, because so much of what they say is only a little bit true or a straight up lie. That's crazy, right? I want my president to be honest. If I can't trust a person to tell the truth, I don't want them to lead the country. That makes me think about your second question. Is there something we could do to let people know how truthful a candidate is being? 

Anthony: Maybe we could start a class blog that tracks important things each candidate says. Then we could research to see how truthful the statement is. That way we could inform people about it. 

Chahna: Great idea! We could use a star system to rate truthfulness. Five stars means the statement is true. Zero stars means it's a lie. Two or three stars means only half true. We should present this idea to Ms. Langdon.

To help students get started, consider one of these prompts:

• Something I've always wondered about is . . .

• I have a real problem with . . .

• Something I wish I could change is . . .

• Something that really interests me right now is . . .

• Have you noticed that . . .

• I wish I knew more about . . .

Students studying notes on a common topic work collaboratively in groups to generate questions by beginning with “I wonder...” statements about the notes. 

• After allowing group members some time to peruse their notes and ponder, ask the students to proceed around the table sharing their statements while one group member records the responses on paper or digitally. 

• Do not stop to discuss or critique the responses. 

• Allow enough time for groups to go around the table several times. 

• When time is called, students should review the list of “I wonder...” statements and write some questions they would like to discuss about the notes. 

• The questions generated could be used for 

  • discussion in the groups that posed them,

  • they could be switched with other groups,

  • or they could become the questions for a full-class discussion or Socratic Seminar.

Using the I Have, Who Has? strategy, students match up vocabulary words to definitions, creating a loop that repeats.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Identify key terms or vocabulary words that students need to know in order to understand course concepts/ideas. 

2. Organize students into groups of 4-5 and assign each student a color.

3. Create a slide (see template below) with all vocabulary terms in colored boxes matching the colors assigned to students that can be dragged and dropped by students. 

4. Each student finds boxes in their color. All boxes must be used.

5. The student with the box showing, “I have the first box” reads the text aloud to the group and moves the box to the top left part of the slide.

6. The student who has the word that matches the definition connects their arrow to the first box and reads their text aloud.

7. Follow this pattern until everyone has used all of their boxes and the student with the last one reads, “Who has the first box?”.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Identify 3-4 key terms or vocabulary words that students need to know in order to understand course concepts/ideas.

2. Add all vocabulary terms to a spinner (Here is a good one from Wheel of Names)

3. Create a blank Jamboard for Pictionary for each group 

4. Organize students into small groups of 4-5

5. Students click the spinner and follow the link to spin the word wheel.

6. Without talking or making noise, students act out OR draw out the vocabulary term while the rest of the group tries to guess the word.

7. Once the word has been guessed, a new person acts/draws a new word.

8. Continue until everyone in the group has had a turn drawing/acting.

Using the Collaborative Picture strategy, students in small groups will identify images that best represent vocabulary terms and add them to a collaborative slide.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Identify 3-4 key terms or vocabulary words that students need to know in order to understand course concepts/ideas.

2. Organize students into small groups of 4-5 and create one slide with colored boxes for each vocabulary term for each.

3. Each student within the group chooses a different color to represent his/her work on each slide.

4. Students use the search feature on Google Slides to find an image that represents each vocabulary term and enters it into their own colored box.

Word Sneak

Word Sneak is a game invented by Jimmy Fallon that he plays with guests on the Tonight Show. In the game, Jimmy and the guest each get a stack of cards with words on them that they have to work into the conversation naturally (without sounding forced or stilted). It’s hysterical to watch and fun to play. It’s also a great way to learn different ways to approach a word.

In its most basic form, just give kids words, put them in pairs, and have them try to work the words into a natural-sounding conversation in a certain length of time. See an example below of Word Sneak with Jimmy Fallon and Ricky Gervais.

Hexagonal Thinking

from Cult of Pedagogy

When you place an idea on a hexagon, it has six sides where connections could be made to other ideas. When you place many ideas on many hexagons, the discussion about where to connect what will be different every time.  

Students discuss the placement of their terms/hexagons. In the example below, rather than shifting paper hexagons around, they will go into the Google Slide, then drag and drop their terms across the slide and into the web of hexagons as they decide where to place them.

Now that the students have made their connections as they wish, they need to explain their choices. This can take place in many ways: 

• Students could record arguments for one or two connections on a tool like Flipgrid,

• Students could write down their analysis. 

• Groups could collaborate to write explanations for several of their connections or present them back to the class.

• Free copy of the digital hexagonal thinking toolkit here.

• Create your own digital hexagons with PowerPoint or Google Slides by following these instructions:

Talk Text Time

from Teaching Tolerance

Text Talk Time is a whole class discussion that facilitates rich dialogue, active listening and use of textual evidence.

1. Text Talk Time prepares students for structured group discussion of a complex central text. The strategy allows students to practice answering questions verbally about a text that they may later be asked to write about. The strategy encourages them to provide evidence for their answers.

2. Choose the central text.

3. Read the text in class during Close and Critical Reading or assign it as independent reading.

4. Instruct students to prepare two or three text-dependent questions prior to beginning Text Talk Time. Answers to text-dependent questions must require textual evidence. Text-dependent questions might: examine the text's central ideas; analyze how and why individuals, events and ideas developed throughout the text; determine the meaning of important words and phrases in the text; and consider how those word choices affect meaning or tone. Regardless of their questions, remind students that they should examine the text in order to come to a better understanding of what it says or infers.

5. Use the Text Talk Time handout to help students generate questions. Guide students the first few times they generate their questions. As you gradually release more responsibility to students, consider the extent to which parameters for question topics would help.

6. Arrange the classroom for large group discussion.

7. Go over the expectations for Text Talk Time. Establish guidelines for when students can talk and how to signal if they have something to say. Students might raise two fingers to indicate, “I have something to add,” or a thumbs-up to mean, “I have something new to say.”

8. Build “think time” into Talk Text Time to allow students to generate follow-up questions and responses to their classmates' questions and ideas. Facilitate to ensure equal participation and safe discussion behavior and to make sure text references are accurate (page, line, paragraph). Remind students to cite specific textual evidence and quote accurately from the text.

9. To bring the discussion to a close, ask summarizing questions that require students to consider the text as a whole. Pose questions such as, “What does the author seem to think about [insert central text idea here]? How do you know?” "How might you summarize the text's central idea(s)?" To further scaffold this pre-writing opportunity, have students turn and talk with an elbow partner before responding to the whole group.

Virtual Big Paper Activity

From Facing History

A virtual Big Paper can be used to help students explore a topic in-depth, slow down their thinking, and focus on the views of others. In a virtual Big Paper discussion, students respond to a stimulus, such as an interview audio clip or historical document, using a collaborative digital-tool (such as a GoogleDoc, Google Jamboard, Padlet, or VoiceThread).

Students can complete a virtual Big Paper discussion asynchronously during a defined time period, though you may choose to complete the final debrief of the activity during a synchronous session.

The following questions can help you plan to use a virtual Big Paper:

1. What collaborative digital tool(s) do I want to use to create a virtual Big Paper?

2. How am I going to deliver instructions to students about completing the activity?

3. How often am I going to monitor the discussion?

4. If teaching asynchronously, what is the defined time period I want to set for completing the activity?

Procedure

1. Select a Stimulus for Discussion
   Begin by selecting the “stimulus”—the material that students will respond to during the activity. A stimulus might consist of questions, quotations, historical documents, excerpts from novels, poetry, or images. Audio clips and videos also make great stimuli in an online environment. This activity is best done when students work asynchronously for a defined period of time (1-2 days) in small groups. Each group can either be given the same stimulus or a different stimulus related to the same theme.

2. Create the Virtual Big Paper
   Create a virtual Big Paper for each group using a collaborative digital tool (such as a GoogleDoc, Google Jamboard, Padlet, or VoiceThread). On each Big Paper, type, embed, or link the stimulus that will be used to spark the students’ discussion.

3. Prepare Students
   Determine how you want to introduce your students to the activity (for example, through video or written instructions or during a synchronous meeting). You can adapt and share the Instructions for Students. Assign students to small groups.

4. Students Comment on Their Group’s Big Paper
   Share the virtual Big Papers with each group. Ask students to post questions and comments on their Big Paper during a defined time period. If a student poses a question on the Big Paper, another should respond. The conversation must start around the text but can stray wherever the students take it. Depending on the tools you use, students can connect a comment to a particular question by drawing lines or including “@” tags.

5. Students Comment on Other Groups’ Big Papers
   Share each group’s virtual Big Paper with the full class. Still working asynchronously, students read other Big Papers, leaving comments or further questions for thought.

6. Students Return to Their Group’s Big Paper
   Have students return to their group’s Big Paper and look at any new comments left by others. 

7. Debrief
   Finally, debrief the process with students. To debrief asynchronously, create a new virtual discussion space for the whole class. Begin the conversation with a simple prompt such as, “What did you learn from doing this activity?” Use students’ ideas from the Big Papers to draw out students' thoughts and delve deeper into the content.
   You can also debrief the activity during your next synchronous full class meeting.

Town Hall Circle (from Facing History)

Rationale

This teaching strategy mimics the process of a town hall meeting, where community members take the floor to share their perspective on a topic of concern. Using this format, students have the opportunity to share their different perspectives by tapping into and out of the group conversation. Students often come away from this experience with a greater appreciation for how our perspective can limit the facts we have at our disposal and the opinions we hold. By listening to others’ ideas, students broaden their understanding of the world in which they live.

Procedure

1. Select Readings Select four to six readings on the same topic that represent different perspectives.

2. Students Read in Groups Divide the class into four to six groups (depending on the number of readings) and assign each group one of the readings. Give students the opportunity to read. Some groups may prefer to read the text aloud after each student has also had the opportunity to read the text silently. Then have students discuss the reading among themselves, answering questions such as: What is this reading about? What are the main ideas and facts presented? Why are these ideas relevant or important? From whose perspective is this text written? How might that influence the ideas expressed in the text? Students appoint one person in their group to summarize their reading to the class.

3. Town Hall Discussion Part 1: Summaries Arrange chairs in a circle, providing one chair per group. The person assigned to summarize for each group sits in the chair. The other students then form a larger standing circle around the chairs. Make it clear that each student in the class will have an opportunity to be heard. Students can only speak when they have entered the circle and are seated. Then, each representative summarizes the reading assigned to the group. It is important that no analysis or interpretation is allowed at this point—just the facts.

4. Town Hall Discussion Part 2: Comments and Questions After all readings have been summarized, invite students seated in the circle to comment on what they have heard or to ask one of their peers a question. Students in the outer circle are then allowed to enter the conversation by "tapping" the shoulder of someone in their own group and taking their seat. The only way to enter or leave the discussion is by this process.

5. Debrief After the discussion, give students the opportunity to reflect on the following questions in their journals and/or through a class discussion:

   1. What did you learn from this activity?

   2. How did your ideas about the topic change during this activity, if at all? Explain what caused your ideas to change or why you think your ideas did not change.

   3. What does “perspective” mean? Where does our perspective come from? How does our perspective shape the way we see the world? Draw on particular examples from this activity when answering these questions.

• Students write a concept or a sentence/short passage from the text across the top of a  sheet of paper.

• Student #1 responds to the passage in the left-hand column

• Students then exchange papers with a second student responding to Student # l’s comments with her own in the left-hand column.

• Continue this several times until students have exhausted their ideas on the subject

Connect two is a strategy that helps students explore vocabulary of the text before they begin reading. It encourages students to make predictions about the probable meaning of a passage based on what they know or can anticipate about the keywords or concepts. When students begin reading, they have already previewed the major ideas of the text.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Identify 10-15 key concepts or terms in a piece of text. Include terms that are familiar and those that may be challenging or new. All words should relate to the topic or important ideas within the text.

2. Provide students with the words in two columns with unfamiliar or challenging words in column A with related, but more common terms in column B.

3. Students work together to create matching pairs, one from each column.

4. Students then generate one sentence for each pair of words that represents ideas they predict might occur in the text.

5. As students read the text, ask them to pay attention to how the author used the terms.

This discussion technique encourages meaningful classroom conversations by eliciting differing opinions and interpretations of text. Asking students to think about their reading stimulates reflection and helps to develop active and thoughtful readers. Save the Last Word for Me also prompts classroom interaction and cooperative group discussion.

Directions:

• One person reads aloud the quote s/he selected, but does not provide any reasons for the selection

• The rest of the group engages in discussion around this quote

• Once the discussion has come to a close, the person who selected the quote reveals why it resonated with him/her

  • Elementary Video

  • Secondary Video

Instructions:

• Ask students to identify the author’s main idea or central claim.

• Ask them, “To what extent do you agree or disagree with the author’s position?” While they think about their response, label the four corners of the room as follows.

  • I strongly agree

  • I somewhat agree

  • I somewhat disagree 

  • I strongly disagree

• Ask students to go to the corner of the room where the label matching their response is located. (Strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree)

• Once in the appropriate corner, students in that corner share their opinions and come up with a position statement to present to the entire class. One person in the group records that position statement.

• Each corner’s position statement is shared with the entire class, without comments. Students are then allowed to change corners if their opinion has been changed.

• Facilitate a discussion between the different corners allowing students to question and debate one another. Students may move to a different corner any time their opinion changes.

• Debrief both the content and process of the discussion.

Used as a quick processing activity and/or check for understanding; the think/write steps are crucial for giving students time to process their understanding in preparation for sharing.

1. Participants listen to a question, concern, or scenario. 

2. Individuals think and make notes about the question, concern, or scenario. 

3. Individuals pair and discuss their responses. 

4. Pairs join into groups of four and discuss responses. 

5. Foursomes prepare to share their answers/responses with the large group.

Prior to the activity:

• Determine the topic, issue or problem for discussion. One text can be used with different questions for discussion at each station, or multiple texts can be used so that each station uses a different text. 

• Predetermine questions/prompts for each station. Questions should be thought-provoking and lead to analysis and evaluation of problems and solutions related to the topic. If using the same text at each station, each station should have different questions to discuss. 

• Arrange the room with one “station” for each discussion question. Each station should have chart paper and markers. The question or prompt should be attached to or printed on the chart paper.

• To add to the World Café theme and to help create a comfortable environment for conversations, add centerpieces or flowers to each of the stations.

Instructional Steps

• Assign students to their first World Café station. Groups should be no larger than 3–5 students at each station. 

• Ask one student to volunteer to be the group leader for this round. The group leader focuses on the discussion questions and keeps the group on task. 

• Provide students with the text/issue for discussion. 

• Ask groups to read the text and discuss the questions that are posted on their chart paper. The group leader should record their responses and key ideas on the chart paper. Each station discusses different questions. 

• Rotate students through each station with a set amount of time, depending on the text and the topic. Ten minutes is a good amount of time to start with. 

• Ask one student to stay behind to summarize the work that the previous group completed. This student becomes the new group leader. 

• Have students discuss and respond to the questions for their next station. The group leader adds responses to the chart paper. 

• Have students repeat the process until they have rotated through each station or as many stations as time permits. 

• Ask students to process the following questions at the conclusion of their last rotation.

• How might you prioritize the various responses on the chart? How can you summarize the thinking from each group that met at this station? Who else should be involved in the discussion? What are some next steps? 

• Debrief the World Café structure by asking students to write a reflection in their learning log. Possible questions include: Did everyone in the group contribute to the discussion? Did students consider each other’s ideas? What can be done next time to improve the work in the groups? What presentation and speaking skills should be the focus?

Give One, Get One is a collaborative structure intended to encourage critical thinking and collaboration. It is an interactive method for reviewing content, eliciting background knowledge, or processing newly taught information. It challenges students to go through their own metacognitive process as they build knowledge.

Instructional Steps

• Give students a topic or question to independently brainstorm. 

• Have students write down as many of their ideas as possible in a given

• amount of time. 

• After students are finished writing, have them draw a line underneath the last item that they wrote down. 

• Have students move with their list in hand and talk, one-on-one, with as many other students as they can in a period of three to ve minutes. 

• Explain to students that they will each take a turn sharing one of their ideas. 

• Inform students that, below the line that they drew, they should write down the idea that their partner shared with them, along with their partner’s name. 

• Once both partners have shared and recorded each other’s ideas, students should find new partners and continue to add new ideas to their notes. Students will continue this process until time is called. 

• If time permits, ask students to share what they “gave” and what they “got.”

Pairs Check Discussion

Students use the Pairs Check Discussion Strategy to solve problems through inquiry and coaching. This strategy allows students to practice solving any type of problem and provides them the opportunity to get immediate feedback.

Language Function Sentence Frames

Highlighting the language functions that underlie writing (or speech or reading) can guide students through the metacognitive process of “thinking about their thinking.” By design, language functions align with specific knowledge, comprehension, and perspectives on specific topics, content, or theories. Language-function templates support students as they organize their understandings while guiding alignment of the expected outcomes and key points expected to be addressed in their written responses.

Templates like these are tailored to specific content and a specific writing task. Given that need, the templates below are simply examples and are not intended to be used directly with students; rather, they are intended to provide a starting point for thinking and discussion to springboard development of language-function templates authentic to the task and to supporting all students, from emerging students (apprentice) to accelerating students (mastery).

Promoting Rigor Through Higher Level Prompts

Collaborative Study Groups

 AVID’s new Collaborative Study Group (CSG) strategy allows all students in ALL classrooms to gain a deeper understanding of content through collaborative inquiry with their classmates. AVID CSGs are also designed to reinforce important academic behaviors, such as inquiry, note-taking, organization, collaboration, communication, and other skills necessary for college readiness.

3 Steps to Get Started:

• • Access the materials on MyAVID

  • Download and read the CSG Overview

  • Watch the CSG Overview Video

Watch this video for collaborative grouping strategies and ideas

Use all the parts of WICOR and improve the depth of student understanding.

• Check out the AVID Socratic Seminar On Demand Modules (ODM)

• Socratic Seminar resources files.

• Read about Socratic Seminar’s part in making AVID go schoolwide in a schoolwide case study.   

This Reciprocal Teaching Video, geared toward students, shows how to use reciprocal teaching to read and understand a shared text in a small group. 

Roles:

Clarifyer:  Looks for new vocabulary or words that are confusing. Identifies unknown words or concepts.

Questioner:  Creates Costa's Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 questions from the passage/text.  Asks questions about words or concepts that are unclear.

Summarizer:  Creates a brief summary of the main ideas and concepts.  Provides the main idea from the reading.

Visualizer:  Draws the main idea with strong visual cues and images.  Connects the main idea to a shared or common visual.

Additional/Optional Roles:

Predictor:  Makes predictions about the next section of the text or topic.  Justifies predictions from facts.  Checks predictions at the end of the text.

Note-gatherer:  Records the group discussion in words, phrases, and/or visuals.  Each member receives a copy of the record following the discussion for future studying and review.

Using WICOR with Online Technology

This handbook offers writing, inquiry, collaboration, and reading strategies. It provides explanations for how to implement each strategy using both face-to-face and online formats.

One way for students to begin feeling connected with their classmates is through participating in a common experience.  As students begin to progress through the stages of developing relational capacity, AVID Claps can become one of the key elements in establishing a group identity and group unity.

To better understand the content being presented in their core subject areas, it is essential for students to learn to think critically and to ask higher levels of questions. By asking higher-levels questions, students deepen their knowledge of and create connections to the material being presented. Inquiry is an important aspect of the curriculum. Inquiry-based learning focuses on the student as a learner developing and becoming adept with open-ended questioning skills. Being able to recognize different levels of questions is beneficial for all students and areas of learning. 

  Attached you'll find more information about Costa's Levels of Thinking.

Philosophical chairs is a form of discussion, similar to a debate, that encourages students to choose a stance and defend their opinions.  The benefits include the development of students' abilities to give careful attention to other students' comments and to engage in dialogue with one another to gain a greater understanding of the topic being discussed.

• A central statement (typically something controversial) is presented to students.

• Those who agree with the central statement sit on one side of the room and those who disagree sit on the other.

• The teacher remains in the middle of the room as the neutral moderator.

• Someone from the side of the classroom that agrees with the central statement begins the discussion. Next, someone from the other side will respond to the argument.

• In addition to speaking in the discussion, students may express their opinions by moving from one side to the other.  Students may move back and forth throughout the discussion at any time.

• A final reflection at the end allows students to process the discussion and showcase their new learning.

Directions for Cats and Fish

1. Students read a text, take notes and develop their own questions.

2. Prior to the Cats and Fish discussion, students are paired with a "wingman" to discuss their ideas about the text.

3. During the Cats and Fish discussion, half of the class sits in an "inner circle" with their wingmen sitting directly behind them, forming the "outer circle."

4. Each student in the inner circle is given three tokens.

5. Students in the inner circle engage in discussion around the text.

6. Each time a student participates in the discussion, he/she places a token in the middle of the circle.

7. No student may speak a second/third time until every student has had an opportunity to place his/her first/second token in the middle.

8. Periodically, the wingmen in the outer circle will support the students in the inner circle with ideas and information from the text.

9. When all tokens have been placed in the middle, students switch places so the outer circle becomes the inner circle.

10. The discussion continues in the same manner as above.

11. At the end of the discussion, students debrief about their learning and the experience.

Below is a video of VVE 4th Graders in Nicki Le's Class engaging in a Cats and Fish Discussion.

A Fishbowl Speech is an impromptu speech that promotes critical thinking, creativity, and structured communication "on the fly" in a short duration of time.

Set Up:

• Pre-selected topics for speeches, based on the experience and comfort level of students.

• A container to hold the topics, one topic per strip of paper.

• Timer

Instructional Steps:

• A student selects a topic from the container and reads it aloud.

• Allow a short amount of time (30 seconds - 1 minute) for the student to brainstorm the content and delivery of his or her speech.

• Provide one minute for the student to present his or her response to the topic.

• Repeat for as many students as there is time.

• Close the activity with a debrief (verbal or written).

Variations:

• Opposing View Points Group Fishbowl - groups of students collaborate to develop their fishbowl speech on a view point that is in opposition to the other groups.

• Multiple Perspectives Fishbowl - students deliver their speeches from the perspective of someone else (young, old, male, female, parent, soldier, lawyer, scientist, president, doctor, mathematician, musician, etc.) 

Teachers usually set up problems and ask students to provide solutions. Asking students to develop a problem statement will give them practice with both framing and solving problems in connection with your course content.

• After you introduce a new concept, ask students to write out a theoretical or practical problem that the concept might help to solve. 

• Students exchange problems and write out solutions, using conceptual knowledge developed through class activities and readings.

Basic Structure: Give students a broad question or problem that is likely to result in lots of different ideas, such as “What were the impacts of the Great Depresssion?” or “What literary works should every person read?” Have students generate responses by writing ideas on post-it notes (one idea per note) and placing them in no particular arrangement on a wall, whiteboard, or chart paper. Once lots of ideas have been generated, have students begin grouping them into similar categories, then label the categories and discuss why the ideas fit within them, how the categories relate to one another, and so on.

Variations: Some teachers have students do much of this exercise—recording their ideas and arranging them into categories—without talking at first. In other variations, participants are asked to re-combine the ideas into new, different categories after the first round of organization occurs. Often, this activity serves as a good pre-writing exercise, after which students will write some kind of analysis or position paper.

A tableau is a representation of a scene or picture by people posing silently without moving. In a vocabulary tableau, a group of students use their bodies to create a frozen picture of a vocabulary word. This strategy draws on cooperative learning and kinesthetic intelligence to enhance explicit vocabulary instruction.  The novelty of the process increases student engagement and memory of vocabulary words. 

1. Choose vocabulary words from the central text and share the list with the class.

2. Divide the class into heterogeneous groups (up to four students per group) and assign each a word or set of words. Make sure each group gets different words. Groups should not see the words other groups were assigned. 

3. Instruct groups to use common affixes and roots in order to determine the word’s meaning. Then, provide groups with dictionaries in order for them to clarify its meaning and part of speech. 

4. Either provide groups with student-friendly definitions or have them look up definitions.

5. Explain to students they must plan a tableau for each assigned word according to these guidelines:

6. All group members must be a part of every tableau;

   1. Group members should pose at various heights (some standing, others sitting/crouching/kneeling, others lying on the floor);

   2. Group members cannot use sound or movement; and

   3. Group members should use their entire bodies (hands, legs, and facial expressions).

7. One by one, each group should perform for the class, holding each tableau for at least 30 seconds. Ask students in the audience to review their vocabulary lists and deduce which word the group is performing. Have students record their answers and turn in their answer sheets.

8. If possible, photograph each vocabulary tableau and post it in the classroom or create a digital slideshow.

Answer Garden

Answer Garden, a simple but powerful tool that can help generate discussion in a classroom.  It's also great for formative assessment, brainstorming, and more! Answer Garden is a free tool that does not require a login for teachers or students (no registration required). It allows you to instantaneously create word clouds by gathering student feedback. Answers that are entered more often become larger and bolder. An AnswerGarden can be displayed to students so that they are able to quickly self-evaluate or get a feel for what their classmates are thinking. Once an AnswerGarden is created, it can only be accessed and shared with others using a link.

The TQE Process:

1. Students read the assigned reading prior to the discussion

2. Informal, Small Group Discussions as students entered the room (Options for question stems)

3. Students write their top 2 Thoughts, Lingering Questions, or Epiphanies (TQEs) on the board by the end of 15 minutes

4. Class Discussion of TQEs

Tips:

1. "Good" TQEs typically include the author’s name

2. If possible, groups should also provide their best guess for any question

3. Groups should expect follow-up questions about whatever they write on the board

4. Students should record their own TQEs from the Small Group Discussions in one ink color and the Class Discussion in another, all on the same page

Options:

1. Assign the TQEs a number and give them to different groups for a response

2. Have a student volunteer to lead the discussion

3. Class votes on top TQEs and focus only on those

4. TQEs become thesis statements and students complete an outline

Lifting the Text engages all participants in focused discussion of a text and encourages students to search for answers as a community of learners. The strategy turns responsibility for learning over to the students, and creates a safe place for diverse expression, conversation, consensus and shared understanding. Guiding questions encourage students to support their text-dependent discussion with specific phrases or sentences from the text.

1. Select a text for students to read independently, in small groups or as a whole class.

2. Organize students into groups of no more than four and provide each group with chart paper.

3. Frame a question, challenge or problem related to the central text. Ask students to reflect silently on the question, challenge or problem.

4. Have students identify a phrase, sentence or group of sentences from the central text that addresses or responds to the question, challenge or problem.

5. Ask students to discuss their group’s selections and how they address the question, challenge or problem.

6. Have each group designate one student to act as the recorder and write the group’s phrase or sentence on the chart paper.

7. Have one student per group act as the reporter and share out the group’s ideas with the whole class.

8. Before the groups share their lifted texts, remind students to respect the opinions of others and to use appropriate language when expressing their ideas.

9. Ask a reporter from one team to share the phrase or sentence the group chose in response to the question, challenge or problem and why. Have the reporter elaborate using textual evidence to show how the lifted text addresses the question, challenge or problem. 

10. Invite the reporter to call on another reporter to share textual evidence that has not already been shared.

11. Chart the responses throughout the class discussion. Halfway through the discussion, ask students to identify and summarize the points provided by the reporters. Repeat at the end of the discussion.

Artifact Add-on asks students to select and share real-life objects that illustrate concepts and ideas from the central text. Artifact Add-on brings texts to life and establishes speaking and listening norms during class discussions. The strategy allows students to take on a teaching role. Students gain an understanding of themselves and their peers as active learners, and gain insight into the importance of effective speaking and listening norms. The artifacts also provide concrete manipulatives for students to handle during the discussion. The neuron stimulation from physical movement creates Total Physical Responses that help students recall ideas and themes from the text in later discussions.

1. Select a previously read text. Determine what themes, messages, information and facts are being communicated through the text.

2. Establish speaking and listening norms as a class. Post these norms in a visible location.

3. Define “artifact” for students. Discuss how a text could have artifacts associated with the events, characters and themes.

4. Using the familiar central text, as a class brainstorm a list of possible artifact that could accompany the text.

5. Model talking about one of the artifacts from the list (while observing the speaking and listening norms) and identify how it relates to the text. Use specific textual evidence to support your ideas.

6. Ask other members of the class to contribute to the artifact discussion. Prompt students to make specific connections to the text, with references to page numbers.

7. Model this process several times to ensure students have the necessary skills to:

   1. Independently identify artifacts;

   2. Lead a discussion related to the artifacts.

8. Select a new central text for students to read independently, in small groups or as a whole class.

9. Charge students with the task of finding an artifact to connect with the text. If the object a student selects is too large to physically bring to the class (e.g., a vehicle), he can present a picture of the object.

10. Establish a rotation for students to share their artifacts.

11. Instruct each student to facilitate a class discussion about her object and the central text using the established speaking and listening norms. After the initial introduction, pass the object around and allow each student to hold and manipulate it during the discussion. The discussion should include textual evidence with specific references to the text for each object.

12. Help students touch on the following questions during their discussion, and be sure to prompt students to use textual evidence to support their ideas and claims:

    1. How is the object related to the text?

    2. How does the object represent the characters in the text?

    3. How does the object relate to the speaker of the text?

    4. What is the text's message or theme? How can the object help you remember the message or theme of the text?

Text graffiti is an effective way to engage a group of students in talking about a text's theme, plot, or claims while keeping the discussion anchored to the text. Students activate prior knowledge and make predictions about literary elements or content themes. For instance, in an English class they may be asked to comment specifically on figurative language they find in the quotes. In a social studies class, students might be asked to comment on what political party or social class they think the author represents.

Text graffiti eases students into an intensive study of a full text. Once students begin reading the entire text, they see familiar words and phrases.

1. Choose the text.

2. Print and cut out lines from the text. Prepare as many pieces of text as you have students. Tape each text piece to a larger piece of paper; tape the larger piece to student desks. Provide the handout How to Graffiti a Text.

3. Instruct students to read and comment on the text at their own desks. Set the purpose for the lesson first to help students focus their writing. Remind students to comment directly on the text in front of them (i.e., not "I think this is sad," but, "I think this is sad because the author uses words like devastation and chaos to describe her homeland.").

4. Signal students to move to another desk. Provide enough time for students to read and respond to the text (3-5 minutes). Repeat step three. Use music to mark the transitions, pressing play/pause when it's time to switch seats.

5. Remind students to respond to each other's comments (names are optional). Creating this thread makes the transition to group discussion more effective. Depending on class size and the lesson objective, limit the number of quotes students comment on.

6. Ask students to return to their seats and read what others have written.

7. Have students make predictions about the text (subject, characters, plot, purpose, etc.). Ask them to write their predictions on index cards and cite pieces of the text that informed their predictions. Open a class discussion about the most popular predictions. Chart the major points from this discussion.

8. After reading the full text, instruct students to confirm or correct their predictions and comments. Confirmations and corrections should focus on textual evidence. Students should cite the text when explaining what it says and how it relates to their original predictions and comments.

A Four Corners debate requires students to show their position on a specific statement (strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree) by standing in a particular corner of the room. This activity elicits the participation of all students by requiring everyone to take a position. Use this as a warm-up activity by asking students to respond to a statement about a topic they will be studying. It can also be an effective follow-up activity by asking students to apply what they have learned when framing their arguments, or you can use it as a pre-writing activity to elicit arguments and evidence prior to essay writing.

Procedure

1. Prepare the Room

2. Label the four corners of the room with signs reading “Strongly Agree,” “Agree,” “Disagree,” and “Strongly Disagree.” Generate a list of debatable statements related to the material being studied. Statements that are most likely to encourage discussion typically elicit nuanced arguments (e.g., “This might be a good idea some of the time, but not all of the time”), represent respected values on both sides of the debate, and do not have one correct or obvious answer. Examples of effective “Four Corners” statements include the following:

   • The needs of the larger society are more important than the needs of the individual.

   • The purpose of schooling is to prepare youth to be good citizens.

   • Individuals can choose their own destiny; their choices are not dictated or limited by the constraints of society.

   • One should always resist unfair laws, regardless of the consequences. I am only responsible for myself.

3. Introduce Statements

4. Distribute statements and give students the opportunity to respond to them in writing. Many teachers distribute a graphic organizer or worksheet that requires students to mark their opinion (strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree) and then provide a brief explanation.

5. Four Corners Discussion

6. After students have considered their personal response to the statements, read one of the statements aloud and ask students to move to the corner of the room that best represents their opinion. Once students are in their places, ask for volunteers to justify their position. When doing so, they should refer to evidence from history, especially from material they learned in this unit, as well as other relevant information from their own experiences. Encourage students to switch corners if someone presents an idea that causes a change of mind. After a representative from each corner has defended his or her position, you can allow students to question each other’s evidence and ideas. Before beginning the discussion, remind students about norms for having a respectful, open discussion of ideas.

7. Debrief with Journals

8. There are many ways you can debrief this exercise. You can have students reflect in their journals about how the activity changed or reinforced their original opinion. Some of their views may have been strengthened by the addition of new evidence and arguments, while others may have changed altogether. It is quite possible that some students will be more confused or uncertain about their views after the Four Corners debate. While uncertainty can feel uncomfortable, it is an important part of the understanding process and represents an authentic wrestling with moral questions that have no clear right or wrong answers. To clarify ideas shared during the discussion, you can chart the main “for” and “against” arguments on the board as a whole-class activity.

This discussion technique gives students the opportunity to respond to questions and/or discuss information with a variety of peers in a structured manner. Students form two concentric circles and exchange information with a partner until the teacher signals the outer circle to move in one direction, giving each student a new peer to talk to.

How to use

1. Split the Class

Decide which half of the students will form the inside circle and which half will form the outside circle.

2. Question

Put a question or statement on the board.  Give students at least ten seconds to think of an answer on their own.

3. Share

Ask students in the inside circle to share their response with the classmate facing them in the outside circle. When they have done this, ask them to say "pass,” at which point their partners in the outside circle will share their responses.

4. Rotate

On your signal, have the outside circle move one step to the left or right and discuss the same question with the new partner. Option: post a new question or give the new partners a different discussion point.

When to use

Use Inside/Outside Circle at any point in the lesson to structure meaningful conversation:

• Before introducing new material to begin a discussion or highlight key issues in the presentation to come

• During a lesson to process important concepts before applying them in group or independent work

• After a reading to discuss key concepts

• Before an assessment to review information

• As a way to practice solving problems with assistance from a partner

Variations

Desk Circle

Instead of having the students form circles, have partners move desks to face one another and form a long row. When it is time to change partners, students stand up and move one desk to their left or right. Students at the end of the row move to the desk they were facing.

Secret Inside/Outside Circle

Students in one of the circles can be given information that students in the other circle are supposed to find out through questioning techniques.

Circumlocution Circle

To learn new vocabulary, students are given a word that they have to describe to their circle partners. Using the descriptions, the partner must guess the word that is being described.

Timed Circles

To add interest and variety, vary the amount of time with each partner.  For example, students may spend one minute with Partner 1, 3 minutes with Partner 2 and 2 minutes with Partner 3

Conga Line

Conga Line is very similar to Desk Circle except that instead of sitting in desks facing each other in two rows, students are standing in two rows.  When it is time to change partners students in each line dance left or right and students at the end of the row dance to the opposite end of their row.

Basic Structure: Students are divided into 4 groups. Three of these groups are assigned to represent specific points of view. Members of the fourth group are designated as “provocateurs,” tasked with making sure the discussion keeps going and stays challenging. One person from each group (the “speaker”) sits in a desk facing speakers from the other groups, so they form a square in the center of the room. Behind each speaker, the remaining group members are seated: two right behind the speaker, then three behind them, and so on, forming a kind of triangle. From above, this would look like a pinwheel. The four speakers introduce and discuss questions they prepared ahead of time (this preparation is done with their groups). After some time passes, new students rotate from the seats behind the speaker into the center seats and continue the conversation.

Each week the New York Times posts an intriguing image stripped of its captions and invites students to discuss them. The following image is a recent post. Without knowing the context, what are your thoughts on this picture? Students can follow up on the New York Times’ website for the caption and more information about each image one week after they are initially posted.

Rationale

The Barometer teaching strategy helps students share their opinions by asking them to line up along a continuum based on their position on an issue. It is especially useful when you want to discuss an issue about which students have a wide range of opinions. Because a Barometer activity gets many arguments out on the table, it can be an effective pre-writing exercise before an essay assignment.

Procedure

1. Prepare the Space

2. Identify a space in the classroom where students can stand in a line or a U-shape. Place "Strongly Agree" and "Strongly Disagree" signs at opposite ends of a continuum in your room. Alternatively, you can post any statement at one end and its opposite at the other end of the line.

3. Contract with Students

4. Set a contract for this activity. Since it deals with students literally putting themselves and their opinions on the line, it has the potential to promote outbursts that result from some individuals not understanding how classmates can hold whatever opinion they hold. Reiterate your class rules about respect for the opinions and voices of others, and call for students to be honest but not insulting. Re-address ways to constructively disagree with one another, and require that when students offer their opinion or a defense of their stance, they speak using "I" language rather than the more accusatory "you."

5. Students Formulate an Opinion

6. Give students a few minutes to reflect on a prompt or prompts that call for agreement or disagreement with a particular statement. You might have students respond to the prompt(s) in their journals.

7. Students “Take a Stand”

8. Ask students to stand on the spot along the line that represents their opinion, telling them that if they stand at either extreme, they are absolute in their agreement or disagreement. They may stand anywhere between the two extremes, depending on how much they do or do not agree with the statement.

9. Students Explain Positions

10. Once students have lined themselves up, ask them in turn to explain why they have chosen to stand where they are standing. Encourage students to refer to evidence and examples when defending their stance. It is probably best to alternate from one end to the middle to the other end, rather than allowing too many voices from one stance to dominate. After about three or four viewpoints are heard, ask if anyone wishes to move. Encourage students to keep an open mind; they are allowed to move if someone presents an argument that alters where they want to stand on the line. Run the activity until you think that most or all voices have been heard, making sure that no one person dominates.

11. Debrief

12. There are many ways you can debrief this exercise. You can have students reflect in their journals about how the activity changed or reinforced their original opinion. Or you can chart the main “for” and “against” arguments on the board as a whole-class activity.

Variations

1. Forced Decision: Yes, No, or Undecided: Read a statement aloud. Rather than have a continuum for agreement, require students to make a decision about whether they “agree” with the statement, “do not agree,” or “are unsure” about their agreement. If students agree with the statement, instruct them to move to one side of the room. If students disagree with the statement, instruct them to move to the other side of the room. Designate a place for students to stand near the middle if they are undecided or unsure. Have students explain why they are standing where they are standing. If after hearing another student’s position a student would like to move across the room, allow for this movement.

2. Post-It Notes Barometer: Draw a continuum on the board. Ask students to place a sticky note on the spot along the continuum that represents their opinion. Then have students discuss what they notice about the collection of notes. This variation is less about individuals explaining their point of view than about illustrating the range of agreement or disagreement in the class.

3. Presenting Different Perspectives: The Barometer strategy can be used to present the different perspectives of historical figures, schools of thought, and literary characters. Assign students a perspective to represent. Then give them time to research or study the ideas of this person or group in relation to the question being studied. When you frame a statement, ask students to stand along the line at a position that represents how their assigned individual or group would respond. For example, you could use this activity to show how different philosophers or groups have responded to the statement “Individual freedom is more important than protecting the needs of the larger community.”

Students stand up, put their hand in the air, and pair up with another person who has a hand up. When they finish discussing a point, they raise their hand again and look for another partner who has a hand up with whom to discuss. The process can be repeated until students have had a chance to share with several different partners.