Everyone English teacher knows about Fishbowl Discussions and Socratic Seminars. If they go well, you may feel like you are Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society (yes, I am dating myself). If they go badly (and believe me, they can), you may feel like you chose the wrong career. In a fishbowl discussion, I noticed that many students get nervous when they are on the inside having the discussion and half of the class is staring at them. I also noticed how much some of them struggle to find something meaningful to say. When put on the spot, they sometimes struggle to come up with a good question to ask. Sometimes it seems so serious and awkward. I mean, isn't being in middle school awkward enough? We've all been there!
So, while driving home from school one day, I got an idea. We are reading The Giver, and we're five chapters in. It was the perfect time for a juicy discussion. That week I made one of my stations, a question station. Students were given a handout with five types of questions to write. Since we already read The Outsiders, I created examples of each type of question using The Outsiders. I cut index cards in thirds and put a big basket in the middle of the table. They were asked to write the question on one side and their name on the other (you have to make them think they're being held accountable), Did they really think I was going to go through 500 index cards and sort them by name to give them credit? Apparently! They all wrote the questions. Or, maybe they just saw the value in writing these questions for our future discussion. Yeah, I'm gonna go with that! I did have one problem. Even though we read The Outsiders in OCTOBER, five kids wrote all of their questions about The Outsiders! Sigh... Anyhow, this supplied me with a plethora of questions to use in our modified fishbowl the next day.
When I presented this activity to my students, I was methodical. I have 32 kiddos in my classes, so it worked out pretty well, There were eight kids in each group. Four students started on the inside, four students on the outside. I projected the groups onto the projector screen. Those names that were highlighted in yellow were told to go to the inside of the fishbowl first. I also delegated a poker chip picker upper and card collector for each group. Otherwise, things could get real messy! If you teach middle school, you know what I am talking about!
The discussion began with four students sitting on the inside. Four students stood or sat on the outside. Each student on the inside was given three poker chips, Their goal was to get rid of all three poker chips. Only students on the outside could take the poker chips. The only way to get rid of a chip was to say something thoughtful and meaningful or to ask an excellent question. Remember the questions we wrote the previous day? Well, each group had over 100 questions in the middle of their table to choose from. If they picked up the question, and it was a crummy question, they were told not to read it and to grab another question. The students on the outsider were told not to speak but to keep track of their assigned speaker to observe and provide feedback on using this form. I created a column on the observation form called fluff. Students could put a tally mark there if a student said something that didn't move the discussion forward. A student raised his hand and said, "Did you choose fluff because it rhymes with bluff and you wanted to keep the poker theme?" HAHA! I never even thought of that, but I love it! In fact, I may redo the entire sheet to play with poker terms. After all of the chips had been taken, it was time to switch and have those on the outside come to the inside.
As I walked around and sat in on discussions, I was for the most part, thrilled. Most questions were excellent which automatically made the discussions better. Students were motivated to say something thoughtful because they wanted to get rid of their chips. It actually became pretty competitive. Those on the outside were more engaged and loved having the power to take the chips away. Students weren't as nervous because only four people (and sometimes me) were watching and listening.
Now before you go thinking that this went perfectly, let me tell you that there were a few things that didn't. Some students had a hard time not " playing with their chips" which could be a distraction for other group members. Next time I will tell them they will lose points of they do this (no, I could never keep track of that, but they don't realize that). Also, based on the feedback I received (love those Google Forms), some students wanted to ask their own question. Next time I will make this an option! Why not? The questions in the middle will be there for those who need them. Finally, some students still felt nervous being in the middle. Not sure what to do about that!
Overall, I thought it was less stressful, more exciting version of the traditional Fishbowl and Socratic Seminar.
Comments
Post a Comment