Susan Nygaard
English Teacher, Marshall School, Duluth, MN
STUDENT-LED DISCUSSIONS
Susan Nygaard, Marshall School
snygaard@marshallschool.org
http://goo.gl/QJTrco
Stanford Resilience Project (currently unavailable)
What do you need to start?
- Time (lots!)
- Sustained practice
- Discussion-worthy texts
- Active readers
- Nuts & Bolts on my blog
But teacher-led sessions are more efficient!
- Are they, really?
- For whom?
- Teacher ego = obstacle to student-centered learning!
Sequence of Discussion Types
- Simple Circle Discussions
- Simple Fishbowl Discussions
- Complex Fishbowl Discussions
How I get from #1 to #3
Over the course of an entire novel, I
- Create fishbowl groups
- Add shared "prepdoc"
- Start timing
- Introduce backchannel
- Add group grade/rubric
- Add outer circle Q&A
Fishbowl = small group inside large
- Many ways to structure them
- More intimate, less intimidating
- Ensures all have time to talk
- Teaches listening & patience
Fishbowls
Shared PrepDoc
- Provide templates/quotas, at first
- More intense than individual prep
- Must avoid duplication
- Need to read & organize info
- Lets shy kids script their participation
More Below
One team leader giving his "crew" a pep talk...
learning to organize info
getting organized
Chat
- Real-time evidence of learning
- Safe space to test ideas
- Meta-discussion
More Below
Group Grade (Rubric)
- Students more invested in quality of conversation
- Sports analogies
- Assertive kids must care what shy kids think
- Rubric: start small, add criteria gradually
More Below
ClassDojo Dashboard
More Below
Text
My Role
- Monitor tech use, at first
- Coach, advise, encourage
- Assess, plan indirect direct instruction
- Provide structure for their freedom
- Listen, lurk, & let learning happen!
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Text
My Laptop Screen
Links to other resources
- More about shy college students
- Teachers & parents argue about whether kids should or shouldn't have to talk in class
- Smith College's advice on speaking in class
- Socratic Smackdown gamifies discussion
- Harkness & technology
- SPA student critiques Harkness "warriors"
- Harkness article from NAIS.org
- Video about Harkness at Lawrenceville
- Cool discussion app I want to try next year
Student-Led Discussions Marshall 2015
By Susan Nygaard
