Talking Chips

Students participate in a group discussion, surrendering a token each time they speak.

The purpose of this CoLT is to ensure equitable participation by regulating how often each group member is allowed to speak. Because it emphasises full and even participation from all members, this technique encourages reticent students to speak out and talkers to reflect.

1. Form student groups.
2. Give each student three to five tokens that will serve as permission to share, contribute, or debate in the conversation.
3. Ask students to participate equally in the group discussion, specifying that as they contribute comments, they should surrender a token and place it in view of the other group members.
4. When all students have contributed to the discussion and all tokens are down, ask students to retrieve and to redistribute the chips so that the procedure repeats for the next round of discussion, or end the discussion if the activity is complete.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diFcVF5MeQg
• http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/giveitago/comments/talking-chips
• http://mrsulearning4u.weebly.com/talking-chips.html