My school has made a big push this year to encourage group work, collaboration and rich discussion among students. To that end, my school’s professional development team has introduced us to three innovative strategies:

Inner/outer circle

Inner/outer circle helps students practice being contributors and listeners in a discussion. This strategy is best used after a shared reading, to discuss a specific topic that can be seen from multiple perspectives or simply to shed light on an issue that students are motivated to discuss and debate.

Students are arranged into two groups of equal size. Students in Group 1 face each other in the inner circle. Students in Group 2 are arranged in a circle around the students in the inner circle.

After the students are arranged, students in the inner circle have 10 to 15 minutes to discuss the topic at hand. Some examples of discussion prompts might include: how students felt about a certain character in a book or what the main idea of an informational text was.

During this time, the students in the outer circle focus their attention on the students in the inner circle (this inner circle can also be referred to as the “fishbowl”). Only the students in the inner circle are allowed to speak. The other students take notes about points those students bring up. These notes will be used in the wrap-up portion of the activity and can also be used in a follow-up writing assignment such as an editorial opinion expressing a point of view about the issue at hand.

Then, the roles reverse so everyone has a chance to be part of the inner circle.

Chalk talk

Chalk talk is a silent conversation in writing that gives students the opportunity to reflect, generate ideas, check on learning, develop projects or solve problems. Unlike inner/outer circle, chalk talk is done completely in silence and gives students a change of pace and encourages thoughtful contemplation and equal participation.

To begin a chalk talk, the teacher explains to students that no one may talk at all. Instead, students add to the chalk talk recording sheet. I recently did a chalk talk with my students on the physical and behavioral adaptations of certain animals. I sorted the students into five groups of five and assigned each group to a table where they could view a large graphic of an animal who demonstrated either a physical or behavioral adaptation. I attached the graphic to a large piece of chart paper and provided each group with markers to answer the question, “Do you see a physical or behavioral adaptation?” and then jot down their reasons for thinking that.

After students spent some time taking part in the chalk talk, the activity culminated in a share-out. I circulated around to each group and asked for volunteers to talk about the findings of their group as recorded on the chart paper.

Agree/disagree

Agree/disagree is a fairly simple strategy to grasp and implement. It allows students to choose a side on a question and then to share their own thoughts, ideas and opinions on the question. It gives younger students a chance to move.

The teacher creates an agree sign and a disagree sign (or strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree) and hangs them on opposite walls in the classroom. The teacher makes a statement and the students move to stand beside the sign that reflects their view of the statement. The students can then be asked to turn to the person beside them and take turns explaining why they chose that position. Or the teacher may cold-call on students.

You can repeat the exercise with other statements.

This strategy is best used with questions or topics that are subjective, such as character traits and inferential questioning. But it could be used in a science class, for instance, to ask students to agree with two different explanations for an observed phenomenon. This encourages students to provide evidence for their opinions.