I had the opportunity to visit a first year teacher's 4th grade classroom this week and watch and listen to her students engage in a discussion about current events and 9/11. Every single student in her class was actively sharing and listening during the discussion. The teacher passed out blue and yellow "chips" (1 inch math tiles) to her students prior to the discussion and told them that the blue chip was to be used for a question they had and the yellow chip was to be used for a comment to something they had heard on the video (CNN Student News Report) or a response to something that someone else in the class said.
I was curious about this talking chips strategy because it worked so well in her class, so I did a little digging and found more resources here:
http://wikiwomi.wikispaces.com/Talking+Chips
https://myteachinglife.edublogs.org/tag/talking-chips/
I was curious about this talking chips strategy because it worked so well in her class, so I did a little digging and found more resources here:
http://wikiwomi.wikispaces.com/Talking+Chips
https://myteachinglife.edublogs.org/tag/talking-chips/
Here's another strategy I came across in helping reluctant students engage in collaborative conversations. Click on the picture to see the Teaching Channel 2 minute strategy in action!