ROUND ROBIN

Round robin is a team share routine that asks one person at a time to explain their thoughts while the rest of the teammates listen. One of the benefits of having the whole team respond instead of partners is that you hear more diverse, unique viewpoints. It's also great for bonding because it gives every kid in a cooperative learning team the chance to engage with and listen to their buddies.

PREP:

(optional)

- Create deep questions in advance in order to ensure appropriate responses and thinking

- Post questions and round robin clipart on powerpoint slides as prompt

- Advise teams to have everyone sit down after the turn taking is complete

HERE'S WHAT YOU DO!

2. CHOOSE STARTING POSITION

Give students a hint on who is to start to speed things up. It could be a number ("Number 1's go first.") or it could be an attribute ("Students closest to the door go first.")

3. STUDENTS STAND AND SHARE

Students take turns sharing their ideas. They stand, say one idea, and sit down. The next student stands, tells their idea, and sits down. This continues until everyone has had a turn and remains seated.

Variations include timers to equalize talk time (Timed Round Robin), or students can continue giving short ideas in order to brainstorm or create a fast, verbal list (Continuous Round Robin).

ROUND ROBIN VARIATIONS

VARIATION 1

Start the timer after prompting Student A to begin. They’ll use the full amount of time to share. If A runs out of things to say, B needs to prompt them with follow up questions. But it’s A’s job to talk that whole amount of time.

VARIATION 2

Just keep on going! Let kids have many turns to produce many possible ideas

There are also a tremendous amount of powerful variations that ask teammates to write, come to consensus on a proposition or idea, and paraphrase or praise each others' ideas. Find out more about those variations in the Cooperative Learners's section on Group Share structures.

CHOOSE THE ROUND ROBIN IF YOU WANT TO:

- Generate diverse and interesting ideas from many levels of learners

- Activate background knowledge

- Reflect or think deeply about something you've just learned

- Process a difficult idea by talking it out with a partner

- Practice active listening and turn taking