This is a collection of ideas for classroom discussion to get EVERYONE involved!

Strategies include:

Quiz, quiz, Trade
Opinion Poll
Stepladder
Gogomo
World Cafe
Brainwriting
Thinking Hats
Tug of War

This is a pretty fun lesson that has two main parts. First students warm up by reflecting on the reasons data visualizations are used to communicate about data. This leads to the main activity in which students look at some collections of (mostly bad) data visualizations, rate them, explain why a good one is effective, and also suggest a fix for a bad one.

In the second part of class students compare their experiences and create a class list of common faults and best practices for creating data visualizations. Finally, students review and read the first few pages of **Data Visualization 101: How to design charts and graphs** to see some basic principles of good data visualizations and see how they compare with the list the class came up with.

Socratic seminars are a democratic, student-centered, approach to class discussions. They can be used at any grade level with any subject area. In a Socratic Seminar, members meet in a circle and share their insights. Participants do not raise their hands or call on names. Because there’s no discussion leader, each member can comment or ask follow-up questions to one another. This approach can be empowering for participants because they own the conversation. Unlike a typical class discussion, the conversation moves fluidly back and forth rather than having to go through the teacher.

This article outlines several approaches to conducting a Socratic Seminar:
- The Giant Circle Approach
- The “Fish Bowl” Approach
- The Round Table Approach
- The Scattered Approach
- Multiple Seminars
- Online/Offline Seminars

The author also provides a sample of how to run a Socratic Seminar and tips for ensuring that all students can participate.

ŇThatŐs my position and IŐm sticking to it!Ó After reading about the Korean War, students will take a position in response to an open-ended question, support their position, and evaluate that support.

This is a low organization, high impact strategy to use for reflection and discussion in your classroom.

his article by Lee Wantanabe-Crockett examines a series of tips and tricks for fostering classroom discussions.