EngageNY
TASC Transition Curriculum: Workshop 15
What do a cheetah, Audi commercial, and air have in common? They're all topics of an engaging inquiry-based, hands-on workshop for educators about background knowledge, reading strategies, the CER model, and argumentative writing. The...
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Sl.3.1: Engage Effectively in a Range of Collaborative Discussions
Links to 175 lessons and activities that build student skills in standard SL.3.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts,...
Other
Interactivity Foundation: Guidebook for Student Centered Classroom Discussions
This downloadable guide includes strategies and best practices for supporting student-centered classroom discussions.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Independent Lens: The Calling: Film Discussion Guide
This discussion guide is designed as a tool to facilitate dialogue, and deepen understanding of the complex issues in The Calling, a film that follows seven young Muslims, Catholics, Evangelical Christians, and Jews on a dramatic...
University of California
University of California Berkeley: Teaching Discussion [Pdf]
A guide for instructors on how to engage students actively in discussions. SL.9-10.1 Discussion, SL.9-10.1b Group Rules, SL.9-10.1d Possitive Communication Stratagies, SL.11-12.1 Discussion, SL.11-12.1d Resolve/Synthesize
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Thoughtful Threads: Sparking Rich Online Discussions
Today's students love chatting online with friends. This lesson plan combines that love with literature. Students form literature circles and have meaningful online discussions about a literary work.
Quizlet
Quizlet: Collaborative Discussions: Ela Mr. Bolton
This website gives the definitions and strategies for effective collaborative communication.
Other
Literature Circles Resource Center: Teaching Students How to Discuss
Teachers are given strategies and hands-on approaches to help students prepare for a discussion and participate as active members of it.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Graffiti Wall: Discussing and Responding to Literature
New ways of thinking about text, collaboration with group members, and presentation skills are all developed with this instructional activity which could be applied to almost any novel read in class. Includes student handouts, an online...
Other
Center for Teaching Excellence: Activities to Engage Students [Pdf]
This resource gives numerous strategies to engage students in different types of collaborative discussion.
PBS
Pbs: Jazz Is About Collaboration: Jim Crow Laws: Segregation
Engage your young scholars in discussion about segregation and the Jim Crow laws with this in-depth lesson plan. Using jazz music, you will contrast the ways in which America's most significant contribution to the arts depended on...
Other
In Time: Teaching Students Cooperative Skills
This article discusses a series of steps that can be used to teach and promote cooperative skills. Some prompts that can be used to stimulate discussion or assess informally are listed towards the bottom of the page.
Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education, Stevens Institute of Technology
Ciese Collaborative Projects: Bucket Buddies: Environmental Study
Bucket Buddies is an opportunity for students to participate in a world-wide environmental study. By identifying organisms in pond water, participating classes can compare their findings, and look for relationships in data. In addition...
Other
The Conversation: Face Time Can't Replace Face to Face Time in Social Distancing
A discussion about why digital communication can't replace face-to-face time.
Wisc-Online
Wisc Online: Group Discussion
We will all encounter situations where we need to work with a group of people, whether in class, business, or socially. This slideshow reviews the different types of groups and the roles each person plays in group discussions....
Edutopia
Edutopia: Common Ground: Teaching Kids the Benefits of Working Together
Article discusses how cooperative learning helps create the essential skill of working (and compromising) within a group.
Education.com
Education.com: sl.k.1.a Worksheets: Follow Agreed Upon Rules
[Free Registration/Login Required] A list of worksheets to practice the Common Core standard of following agreed-upon rules for discussions. Also included is a formative assessment for speaking and listening.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Art Pals: Donkey Hodie
Donkey Hodie and her pals are making art projects from materials found around Someplace Else. As they play and create their art projects, children practice collaboration, cooperation and perspective-taking. In the classroom, teachers can...
Other
Splendid Speaking
Podcasts for advanced English Language Learners who can listen to non-Native speakers having conversations and carrying out short tasks. Examples include Working Together to Reach Agreement, Responding to Questions, and Taking Part in...
Other
Study: Sharing I Pads Beats 1 to 1 Programs for Improving Student Learning
This article from Education Week discusses a study where kindergartners who shared iPads in class scored higher on literacy assessments than their peers in 1-to-1 or tablet-free classrooms. The researcher said the results suggest that...
Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education, Stevens Institute of Technology
Ciese: Human Genetics Project: Is the Dominant Trait Most Prevalent?
Human-Genetics: A Worldwide Search for the Dominant Trait allows you to collect data and share your results with students around the world. Register your class, complete the student survey, participate in discussion boards, and interact...
Other
Laura Candler: Sylverster and the Magic Pebble Activities [Pdf]
Lesson plan utilizing cooperative learning for use with the book Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig. Includes printable word-sort cards and discussion question cards.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Because of Winn Dixie
During this lesson, two classes in different locations will participate separately in literature circles using Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo. The discussion of the book will be a collaborative project using distance learning.
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Professional Development: The Route to Reform
A discussion of factors - sustained deep learning, connection to actual classroom instruction, and collaboration with peers - that can help educators teach literacy within their content area.