I needed a break today. I shouldn't have, because I wasn't at school yesterday, but for whatever reason, teaching the day after you've been out is just enervating, so instead my kids provided comprehensible input to themselves.
I wrote fourteen questions on a topic we've been discussing. They're fairly open-ended questions in the sense that the kids can give their own answer, but they're not so open-ended that the ones who still need a lot of structure are at a loss. (how much money do you have in your pocket? what grocery store do you prefer to visit? at the grocery store, what are you looking for? what food is cheaper at kroger than at publix?) They've also got an entire group to work with.
There are two ways to do this. Either way, project or hand out a list of questions, which should be numbered. Numbered is important.
One
Kids sit in groups of four in a circle. Each group has ONE form for the whole group that looks page one of this document:
The kid who has been assigned A picks a question off the list and asks B the question. B answers in a complete sentence. A writes down the answer in B's box. (i usually don't have them write out the question - they write the number of the question next to the answer) Then A turns to C, who says "I agree; complete sentence" or "I disagree; complete sentence." A records this answer.
Now B is the writer. B will ask C a new question, and D and A will agree or disagree and B will record this information. It keeps going around the circle in this way until they run out of questions or you stop them.
You can then take these answers and put them into a powerpoint and do a large-group questioning session the next day if you want.
Two
You have groups of 3. They have page two of the above form.
A asks B a question. B answers. A asks C quid censes/putas/whaddaya think? C will answer sto cum B or B toto caelo errat (I agree with B, or B is wrong by a measure of the entire sky). A will then state whether they agree or disagree with B.
A will write B's answer in the one person, two people or everyone bubble. I.E. if B and C agree, but A doesn't, A writes B's answer in the two person bubble. If no one agrees with B, A will write B's answer in the one person bubble. Etc.
It's very important that they make note of the number of the question when they write the answer down.
You could easily do this with a story they've been reading (comprehension questions), and I frequently do. You can also ask them perspective questions. When my fours read plays last year, I assigned each of them a character, and they had to answer the questions from that character's perspective rather than their own personal one.
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