Lesson Title: Valuing All Voices Beginning Collaborative Discussion

Written By: Sally Lennon with adaptation of lesson by Patrick Schwarz

Objective For teaching staff to understand the value of each adult in the
classroom
Duration 60 minutes
Materials/ PowerPoint presentation; projector; paper; writing utensils
Equipment Needed
Staff must be sitting near their coworker that they will be
collaborating with in the upcoming year
Procedure Ask staff to divide their paper into two sections. Folding
or drawing a line do not matter

Slide 2 (4 min)
o On one side of the paper, ask staff to supply a list
for the question on slide 2. They will discuss
these answers in a few minutes.

Slide 3 (4 min)
o On one side of the paper, ask staff to supply a list
for the question on slide 3. They will discuss
these answers in a few minutes.

Slide 4 (7 min)
o Have collaborative partners share their answers
from the first two questions with one another

Slide 5 (5 min)
o With their partner, have collaborative pairs
develop a list of answers for the question on slide

Slide 6 (10 min)

o Allow partners to work through the questions on
slide 6 with one another.
o At this point, you can also use some time and
share out answers as a group

Slide 7 (5 minutes)
o Ask staff to independently answer the question on
slide 7. If they cannot come up with ideas, have
them consider things like:
Where must students be when the bell
rings?
Bathroom passes or not?
Fringe on paper
Food and drink in the classroom
 Cell phones
Homework

Slide 8 (2 min)
o Independently, have staff complete the direction
on slide 8

Slide 9 (13 min)

o With their collaborative partner, have them
answer the questions on slide 9.
This is another place that you can
incorporate good all-group discussion or
discussion between multiple sets of
collaborative pairs about what they came
up with.
Slide 10
o Allow pairs to select one of the two remaining
question/activities to work on. This is also where
you can cut time out if discussions run long.

References
Schwarz, P. (2006). From disability to possibility: the power of
inclusive classrooms. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.