Education Leadership

Description

Learners need an awareness of different perspectives to understand past events. The Café Conversation method helps learners practice vantage points by requiring them to represent a particular point of view in a small-group conversation. By participating in a conversation with people who represent other backgrounds and experiences, learners become more aware of the role that many factors play in developing one’s historical or political attitudes and perspectives. Use the Café Conversations activity as an assessment tool or to prepare learners to write an essay about a specific past event.

Implementation

1. Prepare Personalities and Topic for Conversation: Select five to ten “personalities” that reflect the various political attitudes and backgrounds during the period of history you are studying. The individuals you select to represent different attitudes can be real people or aggregates of real people. For every personality, create a brief biography that contains information such as gender, age, family status, occupation, education level, and significant life events. Next, select an issue or event applicable to the period that you want all of these personalities to discuss. For instance, they can consider whom they will vote for in an upcoming election, or they may explain how war is affecting their lives.
2. Learners Prepare for Conversation: Assign each learner a particular personality to represent. Give learners the applicable background information or biography to read. Once they read this background information, you may have learners create an identity chart for their character. Then ask learners to hypothesize how this person would feel about the situation,  the question, or event they will be discussing during the Café Conversation. Often, instructors have learners work on this step in small groups with other learners who have been given the same person to represent in the discussion. To ensure that learners accurately represent their person’s point of view, before the Café Conversation begins, you may review a worksheet that learners are required to complete or have a brief check-in with groups.
3. The Café Conversation: During the Café Conversation, learners represent their assigned personality in a discussion about the assigned topic. The conversation must begin with learners introducing themselves. Then one member announces the conversation starter. It can be as simple as, “So I heard that ___ is happening. What do you think about this?” Conversations typically last at least 20 minutes, but they can run much longer. Before beginning these conversations, it is essential to go over the instructions about how to disagree courteously and stay on topic. Here are two main ways you can format Café Conversations:
   • Jigsaw: Divide the learners into groups so that each group has learners representing various personalities. Many Café Conversations will be occurring concurrently. If one group finishes early, you can let them go around the room and listen to the conversations other groups are having.
   • Fishbowl: Make a circle of chairs in the center of the room. The number of chairs must represent the number of assigned personalities. Invite one member from each group to join the conversation. The rest of the class watches the conversation. At certain moments, you can announce “Switch,” meaning that another group member replaces a learner in the “fishbowl.” Or you can allow learners to “tap” a group member on the muster when they want a turn to speak.
4. Learners Reflect in Journals: After the Café Conversations have wrapped up, ask learners to compose a journal entry reflecting on their experience. Possible journal entry prompts include:
   • How do you think your character felt hearing these various perspectives?
   • How did it feel for you to participate in the Café Conversation? During what part of the conversation, did you feel most comfortable? Least comfortable? Why do you think that is?
   • What did you learn about this moment in history from participating in this activity?
   • What did you learn about yourself or about human behavior from participating in this activity?
5. Debrief: Allow learners to debrief this activity. You could convene a class discussion, starting with the question, “What did you learn from this activity?”

Modifications

1. Add a Research Component: Assign a historical figure and have learners research this person’s background. It is helpful to provide learners with guidelines, such as a list of questions that outline the information you expect them to find. Learners can complete this research independently or in small groups.
2. Literature-Based Café: Instead of focusing on personalities in a specific period, you can format it around characters from a novel or from stories you have read. The focus of the conversation could be a situation or event from a book, or it can be a question related to human nature.

Description

“Who am I?” is a question on the minds of many teenagers. This activity helps learners clarify essential elements of their identities by writing a poem about themselves or a historical or literary figure. Bio-poems help learners get beyond the aspects of personality that are often more obvious by asking them to focus on factors that shape identities, such as experiences, relationships, hopes, and interests. By providing a structure for learners to think more critically about an individual’s traits, skills, and character, bio-poems are a way for learners to demonstrate what they know about historical or literary figures. Having learners share their bio-poems is a great way to build peer relationships and foster a cohesive classroom community.

Implementation

1. Prepare: Select the focus of the bio-poem. Learners typically write bio-poems about themselves, but the poems can also be written about historical or literary figures. You can assign learners a specific individual to use as the focus of the bio-poem, or you can allow learners to select an individual applicable to the current unit of study. Select what you want to be included in the bio-poem.
2. Learners Brainstorm: Before they begin writing, it is helpful to allow learners to brainstorm ideas they may include.
3. Learners Write Their Poems: Explain the format of a bio-poem to your learners. You can also share a sample bio-poem.
4. Learners Share Poems: There are many ways that learners can present their bio-poems. They could post them around the room as part of a gallery walk, for instance, or share them with a partner. Or you may want to try one of these sharing strategies:
   • Learners can present their bio-poems to the whole class. Each reader is assigned a “responder.” After the bio-poem is read, the responder has to comment about something that they thought was interesting or surprising.
   • Ask learners to pass their poems to their neighbors. Give time for a thorough reading. Have learners silently write comments or questions in the margin. Every three to five minutes, have learners pass the poems on to the next person. Repeat as time allows. At the end of the allotted time, learners must have a poem filled with comments and questions. Be sure to remind learners about expectations for appropriate feedback.

Description

The character charts method involves using graphic organizers to help learners organize information about characters in a story. Completed character charts are useful tools for studying for exams. They’re often used to record information about literary characters.

Implementation

1. Decide the Learning Outcome of Character Charts: There are many reasons to have learners utilize character charts. Here are some:
   • To help learners more deeply understand characters in a story or novel.
   • To help learners master the skill of looking for content evidence.
   • To ensure accountability.
   • To help learners prepare for an essay or project.
   • As a tool to measure learners’ comprehension of the content.
2. Prepare the Chart: Which characters would you like learners to focus on? What information would you want learners to track? Must learners track multiple characters or follow one character?
3. Structure of the Character Chart Activity: Learners can work on character charts individually or in small groups. Often, instructors, have learners share information on character charts using the Jigsaw teaching method. Sometimes, learners complete charts as a whole-class activity. Maybe you can organize this activity as a gallery walk, where a sheet for each character is posted on the wall, and learners walk around the room filling in information on the various charts.

Description

A 3-2-1 prompt helps learners structure their responses to a text, film, or learning activity by asking them to illustrate three takeaways, two questions, and one thing they liked. It provides a way for instructors to check for comprehension and to gauge learners’ interest. Distributing 3-2-1 responses is also an effective way to prompt a class debate or to review material from the previous lesson.

Implementation

1. Ask Learners to Answer the 3-2-1 Prompt: After learners engage with content or a learning experience, ask them to write the following information in their journals or on separate paper:
   • Three things that they have gleaned from this learning activity or this content.
   • Two questions that they still have.
   • One aspect of class or the content that they enjoyed.
2. Assess Learners’ Responses: Use learners’ responses to guide your teaching decisions. 3-2-1 responses can help you identify areas of the curriculum that you may need to review again or concepts or activities that hold special interest for learners.

Modifications

1. Content-Specific 3-2-1: Instructors can modify the elements of the 3-2-1 method to focus on particular content questions.
2. Identifying Main Ideas 3-2-1: You could also utilize the 3-2-1 structure to help learners identify main ideas from supporting information.

Description

Brainstorming is an effective way to help learners get ideas on paper. The alphabet brainstorm method helps to structure learners’ brainstorming by requiring them to develop concepts that start with each letter of the alphabet. This strategy can be used with students individually, in small groups, or as a whole-class activity. It is a quick way to create thoughts, measure background knowledge, and assess learning.

Implementation

1. Select a Topic or Content: Topics that work well include films, books, themes, historical events, or other media that can be the focus of an Alphabet Brainstorm activity.
2. Determine Your Learning Outcome:
   • Do you want to see what learners already know about a topic? If so, utilize the Alphabet Brainstorm method as an opener or warm-up activity.
   • Do you want learners to review the material they have learned?
   • Do you want to stimulate discussion after learners watch a film or read a text? Do you want to see what learners took away from the teaching of new material? If so, utilize the Alphabet Brainstorm method as part of a debrief activity or in place of the Exit Card method.
3. Prepare for the Brainstorm: Ask learners to list the letters of the alphabet on the left-hand side of a piece of paper. Or, you can put 26 posters throughout the room, each with a letter on each one. Or you can provide learners with a graphic organizer with the alphabet on it.
4. Conduct the Alphabet Brainstorm: The way you conduct the brainstorm will be different as it depends on the learning outcome that you select. Here are some questions to consider:
5. Group? Will learners work alone? In pairs? In groups? As a whole class?
6. Timed? This activity works best if learners are given a fixed period. The Alphabet Brainstorm activity can be conducted in two to three minutes if learners work in groups or as a class. If learners are working individually, you may want to give them more time to generate an entry for most of the letters.
7. Silent? The Alphabet Brainstorm method can make for an excellent silent activity, with the discussion happening after learners have reviewed what they have written.
8. Accountability? Will learners turn in their work? Will it be assessed? If so, what attributes are you looking for in learners’ responses?
9. Debrief: The results of an Alphabet Brainstorm activity provide excellent material for learner discussion. What themes do they notice? What was included? What was left out?

Modifications

1. Alphabet brainstorm race: Organize students in small groups or as two teams and have learners race to find out who will be the first team to finish the alphabet brainstorm. Or you can have the entire class work together to complete the brainstorm.
2. Partial-alphabet brainstorm: You could give learners only a tiny section of the alphabet to work with. Or you could section the alphabet into quarters or thirds and require that groups work on only one section.
3. Spoken alphabet brainstorm: You could have learners line up and require them to say a word or phrase that is related to a theme or piece of content they just explored. The first learner has to say a word that starts with A, the second learner says a word that begins with B, and so on.

Description

Use this method to guide learners through a close analysis of an image. By following the steps in this image-analysis implementation, learners develop critical thinking skills, enhance their interpretive skills, and develop conceptual learning strategies. You can utilize this method with any visual media, including a piece of art, photograph, political cartoon, propaganda poster, or video clip.

Implementation

1. Select an Image: Select an image that lends itself to an in-depth analysis by learners. This analytical method works best when the image is one that reflects a particular opinion, point of view, or perspective. Visual art, propaganda images, photographs, and political cartoons are good examples of visual media that reflect a particular viewpoint.
2. Lead Learners through Analysis: Share the image with learners by providing copies or by projecting or displaying it in the classroom. Lead learners slowly through the following six steps, pausing between each step to give them significant time for thinking and writing.
   
   Step One: Ask learners to observe the photo intently. Have them find shapes, colors, textures, the position of people or objects, etc.
   
   Step Two: Have learners write down what they see without making any interpretation about what the picture is trying to say.
   
   Step Three: Ask learners what questions they have about the picture that must be answered before they can begin to interpret it.
   
   Step Four: Have learners discuss their questions with two other learners to try to find some answers.
   
   Step Five: Given the context and subject of the piece, ask learners what they think the artist is trying to say, and who they believe is the intended audience.
   
   Step Six: Talk through your interpretation with the class and be ready to support your view by alluding to specific elements of the image and what you know about it.
3. Discuss the Process: Take a few moments to discuss with learners their reflections on the experience of analyzing different types of visual media. By practicing and explaining this process, learners will begin to respond more thoughtfully and critically to the images they encounter every day.

Description

A SWOT analysis is a teaching tool used to help learners identify their Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. We usually use it at the beginning of a lesson and unit to help learners self-identify how best to proceed in their studies.

Advantages

• Learners are taught to self-assess and plan to avoid upcoming disadvantages in their lives.
• Learners can balance affirming statements about their skills with an honest recognition of their weaknesses.

Disadvantages

• I often find learners use generic phrases copied from their neighbors. It’s a good idea to insist on the depth of engagement and thinking when doing this method.

Implementation

A SWOT analysis is facilitated with a piece of paper divided into four quadrants:

• Top-left: Strengths
• Top-right: Weaknesses
• Bottom-left: Opportunities
• Bottom-right: Threats

Learners then fill out the SWOT sheet, identifying their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Description

The iceberg diagrams teaching method helps learners gain awareness of the numerous underlying causes that give rise to an event. It’s often difficult for learners to see these causes because they rest beneath the surface. The visual image of an iceberg helps learners remember the importance of looking more in-depth than the surface to understand events in the past or present better. This method can be used as a way for learners to organize their notes as they learn about a period in history, as a way to review material, or as an assessment tool.

Implementation

1. Select an Event: Select an event that learners are exploring in class. The event can be from literature, history, or recent news. Learners must already be familiar with this event.
2. Introduce the Iceberg Visual: Ask learners to list three things about icebergs, or you can show them a photo of an iceberg. You want students to understand that what we see above the water is only the tip of the iceberg; the broader foundation rests below the surface. Then ask learners to draw an iceberg on a piece of paper or in their journals, making sure that there is a tip, a water line, and a more substantial area below the surface. Their drawings must be big enough so that learners can take notes inside the iceberg, or you can distribute the iceberg template located in the handout section.
3. The Tip of the Iceberg: Ask learners to list everything they know about the facts of a selected event in the “tip” area of the iceberg. Questions they must answer include: What happened? What choices were made in this situation? By whom? Who was affected? When did it happen? Where did it happen?
4. Beneath the Surface: Ask learners to think about what causes this event. In the bottom part of the iceberg, they must answer the following question: “What variables may have influenced the decisions made by the people and groups who were in this event?” These variables may include events from the past or parts of human nature or behavior such as fear, conformity, or opportunism.
5. Debrief: Prompts you may utilize to guide journal writing, or class discussion includes:
   • What did you learn from finishing your iceberg?
   • Which one or two of the causes listed at the bottom of your iceberg you think are most significant?
   • What more would you need to know to understand better why this event occurred?
   • What could have been done to stop this event from occurring?
   • What have you learned concerning how to prevent events such as this one from occurring in the future?
   • How did this activity help you better understand the world we live in today?

Modifications

1. An Assessment Tool: As a final test for a unit, you could have learners complete iceberg diagrams for a particular event they have studied. You may have learners write a companion essay explaining the ideas they included in the bottom part of the iceberg.
2. Comparing Events: Have learners complete iceberg templates for events as you study them during the year. Periodically, ask learners to compare these templates, recognizing similarities and differences among the factors that give rise to particular events. This exercise can help learners notice historical patterns while also appreciating the specific context that makes each event unique.
3. A Note-Taking Template: Rather than having learners complete their iceberg as one class learning activity or a homework assignment, you can have learners complete the diagrams more continuously as you learn about a period in history. Consider posting a class version of the iceberg on the classroom wall. As learners learn new information, they can add it to this classroom iceberg.
4. Tree Diagram: A similar method helps learners analyze events by utilizing a diagram of a tree instead of an iceberg. In this variation, learners record basic facts about the event in the trunk of the tree. The different people involved in the event are listed in the branches of the tree. Sometimes, instructors, have learners draw a line connecting individual or group to a choice they made related to this event. Lastly, the causes of the event are listed in the “roots” section.
5. Current Events: Utilize the iceberg diagrams method as a way to help learners explore current events. Ask learners to bring in a story from a newspaper or online source. Working in small groups, learners can complete an iceberg diagram for this event, recording details about what happened and then ideas about what they think caused the event. Finally, learners can present their iceberg diagrams to the class.

Description

Graffiti boards are a communal writing area (e.g., a big sheet of paper or whiteboard) where learners record their comments and questions about a topic. The purpose of this technique is to help learners “hear” each other’s ideas. Some advantages of this method include that it can be implemented in five to ten minutes, it provides a way for shy learners to engage in the conversation, it creates a record of learners’ ideas and questions that can be referred to at a later point, and it gives learners space and time to process emotional material. You can utilize the graffiti boards method as a preview activity by introducing a new topic and assisting learners in organizing any existing knowledge about that topic. You can also utilize this method to prepare for a class discussion or writing assignment about a piece of content by asking learners to share their reactions to the content on the graffiti board.

Implementation

1. Prepare the Space: You will need ample space in your room where several learners can write at the same time. Some instructors cover a section of the wall with butcher or chart paper; others use a whiteboard. You will also need plenty of writing utensils. For this learning activity, markers work better than pens or pencils because they allow learners’ remarks to be read from a distance. Make sure you supply one for each learner.
2. Contract with Learners: Before the activity begins, contract with the learners in terms of what an appropriate response is and how to express one’s discomfort with something in a proper way. Learners must be told that they are to remain silent during this activity. Make sure learners know that several of them can write at once. Learners can write their responses to the prompt as well as respond to the questions and ideas that other learners have written. Learners must draw lines connecting their remarks to those of other learners. Some instructors require all learners to post at least one question or comment to the graffiti board.
3. Learners Comment on Graffiti Board: Learners are invited to write comments and questions on the graffiti board. It is typical for most learners to stand near the graffiti board during this activity so that they can more easily read and comment on what has been written. Writing on the board often starts slow and then increases as the board contains more comments that elicit learner response. Typically, instructors give learners five to ten minutes for silent writing on the graffiti board, but the activity can go longer if learners are still working.
4. Hold a Group Discussion: The concepts on the graffiti board make a useful springboard for a discussion. You could begin a conversation by asking learners to summarize what they see on the board or what they notice about areas of agreement and disagreement.

Modifications

1. Processing Powerful Content: Like the big paper method, the graffiti board method can be useful after a robust, emotional conversation, video, guest speaker, or reading. While the big paper method is helpful for emotional and intellectual processing, graffiti boards are better for debriefing something that has shaken up the learners. It can be a useful strategy when you want to stay away from analytical or intellectual conversations and allow learners to process emotion. This method may be helpful in situations such as these:
   • After watching a politician give a speech
   • After seeing graphic footage
   • After hearing from a witness to violence or a survivor
   • After hearing hate speech
   • After having someone share a compelling personal story

Description

Utilize this method to stimulate learners’ thinking as they investigate an essential question or search for evidence in response to an essay prompt throughout a unit of study. In this method, learners formulate initial positions and arguments in response to a question or prompt and then share them through a structured implementation. That way, they can test and refine their ideas as they share their thoughts and hear the views of others. Learners will practice being active-active listeners or readers—an essential skill for learning new information.

Implementation

Learners Prepare: Ask learners to divide a piece of paper into two vertical columns. Tag the left side “Give One” and the right side “Get One.”

Learners Respond to a Question: Ask learners to respond to a question such as, “Do you agree that laws are the most important factor in overcoming discrimination? Why or why not?” Learners must write their ideas on the left-hand column of the paper. They can write words or phrases instead of complete sentences; responses can be in list form.

Give One, Get One: Tell learners to move around and find someone to partner with. Each partner “gives” or shares things from their list. For instance, Partner A shares his/her responses until Partner B hears something that is not already on their list. Partner B writes the new reply in the right-hand column, along with Partner A’s first name. When Partner B has “gotten” one, the roles change. Learners repeat this process with other peers until time runs out.

Instructor’s role: As learners share their ideas, instructors must keep notes. Pay particular attention to these details:

Patterns of insight, comprehension, or strong historical reasoning

Patterns of confusion, factual inaccuracies, facile connections, or thinking that indicates learners are making overly simplified comparisons between past and present

The goal is for learners to share text-based evidence effectively and accurately. The following categories can guide you, the instructor, as you listen to your learners’ discussion. Listen for these components:

• Factual and interpretive accuracy: presenting plausible interpretations
• The persuasiveness of evidence: including evidence that is applicable and strong in terms of assisting in proving the assertion
• Sourcing of evidence: noting credibility and/or bias or the source
• Corroboration of evidence: acknowledging how various documents work in tandem to support an assertion
• Contextualization of evidence: putting the evidence into the right context

As learners debrief, weave in feedback. Affirm their insights. Highlight strong historical reasoning and text-based arguments. Select one or two misconceptions about the content to address. Point out areas where learners may want to reassess the ways they are connecting past and present.

Debrief : After this method, you will want to debrief in a journal writing session or class-wide discussion.