A Tennessee Teacher Finds a Way to Engage His Quiet Students

(Originally titled “The Big Paper Strategy”)

In this Education Update article, 8^th-grade teacher Darren Hall describes a novel way to conduct a discussion:

• The class gets a thought-provoking prompt – for example, discuss the sanity and reliability of the narrator in an Edgar Allen Poe story.
• Each group of 3-5 students gets a large paper with the prompt written in the center.
• Working in complete silence, students spend 15 minutes writing their thoughts using individually colored markers. 
• Students write their claims, counter-claims, questions, and comments, with arrows connecting threads and connectors like, “But let’s focus on the topic here” and “So what we’ve said so far is…”
• The teacher circulates, writes some comments, and gives a two-minute warning before time. 
• Students do a museum walk, commenting on classmates’ thoughts with sticky notes. 
• The class comes together for a discussion.

“All students become active participants in speaking and listening,” says Hall, and even a boy who was reluctant to speak up has his written comments all over the sheets.

“The Big Paper Strategy” by Darren Hall in Education Update, May 2015 (Vol. 57, #5, p. 6), 

http://bit.ly/1J028ib; Hall can be reached at Darren.hall@knoxschools.org.

From the Marshall Memo #588