Students hold a discussion in class

Democratic Discussion

 Why do it? If all students have a say in the topics the class discusses, they are more likely to be invested in participation.

 Category: Discussion
 Time: 1 hour
 Group or Individual: Group Activity

 

Overview

Overview

In addition to deciding upon what to discuss, participants are given the authority to decide the duration of various topics that they have agreed to cover.

Directions

 

Directions

  1. At the beginning of class, place three columns on the whiteboard: To Discuss, Discussing, Discussed.
  2. Ask all students to write down on stick notes topics that they would like to discuss during class and to place their notes in the "To Discuss" column.
  3. Explain that every student has three votes to use any way they like. They can give one vote to three topics, all three votes to one topic, and so on. Ask them to write down their votes on a sticky note.
  4. Collect the votes and arrange the topics in the order from most to least votes. Move the highest vote getter into the "Discussing" column.
  5. Set a time for 10 minutes (or whatever time frame works for the subject) and tell students to begin their discussion.
  6. When the time is up, have the students decide as a group whether to continue with the topic or place it in the "Discussed" column.
  7. Pair this strategy with Fishbowl to spark wide participation.

 

  Note: In a virtual space? No worries. Use a virtual whiteboard, slides, or a simple shared document to facilitate and gather ideas and a conferencing tool to facilitate synchronous conversation.

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CTA

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References

References

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