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Discussion Leader Lesson Plan: Big Ideas, Big Paper

Jessica and Alison

Essential Question
➢ What is best practice w/r/t homework in the secondary ELA Classroom?

Objectives: SWBAT
1. Understand that best practice for homework in the ELA classroom is a
complicated and nuanced subject (Cognitive).
2. Value dialogic discussion in a classroom setting (Affective).
3. Begin thinking about ways to apply ideas from class discussion about homework
to one’s own teaching practice (Performative).

Assessment
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS
➢ Observations (2)
○ We will observe the students as they work to see that they are having silent and
productive conversations. If students are not having silent or productive
conversations we will gently nudge them in that direction through whispered
guidance, “the look,” or quiet and private rebuke.
■ Criteria for observation:
● Are students interacting with the written contributions of other
students during the Big Paper activity?
● Are students using the selected reading passages as
springboards for their own thinking and responses to other
students?
➢ “Big Paper” Activity (1, 3);
○ We will read over student’s big papers as they write them and when they are
done writing to assess that they were having sustained and dialogic
conversations that engaged in high levels of collaborative thinking, questioning
and responding to their classmates, and that they understand the nuances of the
subject of homework. If students are not having productive conversations or are
misunderstanding the prompt then we will quietly offer guidance. If the students
are having productive conversations and are showing that they understand the
EQ then we will celebrate their learning and try to deepen their understanding
with follow-up questions. Some generic examples include “why do you think
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that?” or “how could that be applied… ?” The productivity of the big paper
conversations will also be evident in the follow up conversations, both in pairs
and as a whole class.
➢ Index Card Exit ticket (1, 4) ;
○ At the end of the lesson the students will answer two questions on an index card:
■ “Based on your conversations in class today and the texts you read
beforehand, what challenges your ideas of what you believe to be the
best practice for homework in your ELA classroom.” This question
requires students to have a nuanced view of homework, as it asks them
to base it on the controversial conversation in class. It also requires them
to seriously consider how they will apply the texts and the conversation to
their own classroom.
■ “How did you feel about the silent discussion? Where could you see
yourself using it in your future classroom?

Materials Needed
● Big Paper
● Name tents with student groups written on each one
● Post it notes for each student
● Questions for Big Paper document
(​https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d-Y6J5r78hrHT1LolSuiHvGWAm6vQ1BqfGzh0b
C_NPI/edit?usp=sharing​)
● Index Cards
● Pens/Pencils
● Markers
● Projector and computer
● Slides:
(​https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1kDF74gcp3ve1z705LmnH8e2zRsu4ClMKIG4-f
C9XAWc/edit?usp=sharing​)

Procedures

Greet Students (2)

- Classroom Setup​: Students are sitting at four tables in groups of three in the front of the
room--student groups will be written down on post-it notes so that students can sit together with
their groups at the start of class. Big papers will be distributed to tables with quotes face-down.
Markers for each student will be available on desks. Tables are set up for collaborative station
learning.
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- Jessica: ​Hi! We are so excited to be able to spend this beautiful spring evening in this
windowless building with you all!
- Alison: ​This past week we’ve had the opportunity to look at some really provocative
readings on homework--its place in the classroom and the best way for it to be implemented to
the benefit of our students​.
- ​Check in: Jessica:​ It’s been a long day, so why don’t you take a minute and draw on a
post-it note how you’re feeling today. Take one minute and get it all out!
- The students will have one minute to draw their emotions on a post it note. When they
are done we will give the following instructions.
Jessica: ​Why don’t you turn to your group mates and share how you’re feeling.
- Students will have a minute to chat with their group mates about their day and how
they’re feeling.

Point to EQ (1)

- Jessica: ​Thank you guys so much for your vulnerability and your dedication to our
classroom community.
- Jessica: ​Our essential question today is a big one and affects all of us and our
classrooms, so we wanted to make sure you guys had a chance to connect and remember that
you like each other before we start the controversy!
- Pointing to the whiteboard where the essential question is written, ​Our essential question
is ​“​What is best practice w/r/t homework in the secondary ELA Classroom?”
- Jessica: ​That’s a huge question, so let’s jump right in!

Lots to do: Give instructions (3)

- Alison​: ​On your desks, you will see that there are large sheets of paper for each of your
groups. This is because in class today, we’ll be using these sheets of paper as part of our Big
Ideas, Big Paper activity, in which we’ll be conducting a “silent discussion.” Silent discussion,
you say, impossible! The whole point of discussion is that we talk! Not so, not so. At least in this
case, where our talk won’t be vocal just yet. The silent discussion will give everyone a chance to
contribute to the pool of conversation, giving you all an opportunity to ask of one another
questions that arise in response to certain excerpts we’ve drawn out from this week’s readings,
and conversely respond to each other in writing before we open up the floor to oral
conversation. What will happen is that in a few minutes, each group will turn over their Big
Papers and read the passage we have selected from this week’s readings about
homework—each group has a passage from a different reading. Then, during the first round of
discussion, you’ll take three minutes to write any questions that arose for you pertaining to that
passage. Afterwards, you’ll then take time to read the questions presented by your group
members and write a response to a question that someone else in your group proposed right on
the Big Paper. Here, you will start a written dialogue on your Big Paper. After time is up, each
group will rotate to the next table in a clockwise direction and be able to further the conversation
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on a different Big Paper on a different topic—here, you will be asked to write a “talkback” to a
statement that is already written on the Big Paper. How can you challenge the ideas already
presented on the paper? Then, after you have had time to engage with the ideas of others,
you’ll get a chance to return to your initial Big Paper and see what conversations have evolved
from the seeds, or questions you’ve planted. What questions do you all have about how this will
work? If it sounds kind of like a lot right now, it’s okay—we will be here to support you through
the process, and we’ve marked out steps on succeeding slides that you can refer to if you get
confused.

- Alright, if you will go ahead and turn your sheet of paper over, you’ll see that each of our
Big Papers has a quote from one of the articles we’ve read over the course of the week. Don’t
worry if you didn’t personally read the article the quote is from--we’ve chosen the quotes to
reflect Big Ideas, ones that are thematic and overarching enough that you can apply the
concepts you did read about to the issues presented on your Big Paper.

- Jessica​: ​Go ahead and take two minutes to read the passages on your Big Papers.
Don’t make any annotations quite yet.

Write Questions on Big Paper (4)

- Alison​: ​Go ahead and take five minutes to write, on your Big Paper, solely questions that
you want to ask your classmates pertaining to the Big Ideas reflected in your passage. Again, at
this point in time, you guys are only writing questions you’d like your classmates to chime in on.
Make sure you are writing small enough on your Big Paper that you are leaving room for your
peers’ responses!

- Students will have five minutes to write as many questions as they like about the
passage that they read.
- During this time the instructors will be circulating the room, guiding the writing process,
managing behavior, fielding questions, and observing the students at work. Instructors will also
be sitting down and participating in the silent conversations, writing down questions and adding
to previous threads of conversation alongside students.

Answer Questions on Big Paper (5)

- Jessica​: ​Okay, now that you’ve written so many thoughtful and interesting questions I
want you to take a few minutes and answer your peer’s questions on your own paper to the best
of your ability. Please make sure that you are not answering your own questions.

- During this time the students would have about three minutes to answer each other’s
questions.
- The instructors would continue to circulate the room.
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Move Tables, Write Talkbacks (5)

- Alison​: ​Okay guys, time’s up. Now we are going to rotate groups to different tables in a
clockwise direction. Again, you and your group will be moving together to a Big Paper with a
different quote on it. Take two minutes here to read the passage on your new sheet of big paper
and respond to the existing lines of discussion your classmates have started.

- During this time the students would have two minutes to read and answer their peer’s
questions.
- The instructors would continue to circulate the room.

Read Big Paper (2)

- Jessica​: ​Okay guys, time’s up. Now everyone should move back to their first table--the
first Big Paper that you wrote initial questions for. Take a few minutes to read over the silent
discussion that has emerged from your questions! If you see anything particularly interesting
that you might want to follow up on than you can go ahead and star it or otherwise indicate its
importance.

- The students would move back to their original table and would read over the new
comments on their big paper.
- The instructors would continue to circulate the room.

Group Discussions (5)

- Alison​: ​Now, you all will finally have a chance to discuss these ideas you’ve been writing
about all class long! Take four minutes to talk OUT LOUD! and discuss significant points that
have emerged on your Big Paper since you’ve last seen it. You’ll get a chance afterwards to
share your most interesting points of discussion with the class.

- The students would talk out loud in their small groups.

- The instructors would continue to circulate the room.

Whole Class Discussion (5)

- Alison​: ​What takeaways do you have from your group discussions?
- We would ask each table to share what they talked about.

Exit Ticket (2)

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- The Exit Ticket question document

(​https://docs.google.com/document/d/11CiYpxAFVQxwGK6Iv8IBi0DTlZjvjgoIW-QENrNn6vs/edit
?usp=sharing​) would be visible on the projector where all of the students could see it.
- Jessica: ​Please take a moment and answer our exit ticket question on an index card
provided for you! Don’t forget to put your name and the date!
- Exit ticket question: “Based on your conversations in class today and the texts you read
beforehand, what do you believe to be the best practice for homework in your ELA classroom?”

Differentiation
- Headers on the quotes: Not all of the students have read all of the readings, therefore
we will provide headers which describe the content of each quote to the students so that they
will be able to orient themselves within the passage. This support will help students cut through
to the center of each passage.

Reflection
During and after teaching I had two frustrations with myself. The first was the time crunch. I think
that this mostly happened because we struggled with materials: neither of us had thought of
tape or markers. Neither of us had considered ​how​ we were going to write on the board. In the
future I need to do a better job of making sure that I’ve considered all of the materials that I will
need for all of the different facets of the lesson. I think that being more fully prepared will help
the lesson go smoother.

During the feedback loop Arlette expressed frustration with the lesson because it didn’t allow
her to talk as much as she would have liked. I think that if we had had sixty minutes or even just
better planning to allow more time for group and whole class discussion to take place outloud,
than there would have been a time and a place for students like Arlette, and honestly myself, to
pour out all of the thoughts in their head. Therefore in the future I need to make sure that I have
a good handle on my planning and my timing, particularly towards the beginning of the lesson
where we lost so much time.

Dominique mentioned that she wished the quotes had been more polarizing. During the lesson I
noticed she seemed a little disengaged, but given that she is my friend and I have some idea of
the circumstances of her life at the moment I did not feel comfortable intervening with her like a
student. Looking back I do wish that I had had a short conference with her. If I had I might have
suggested that she play devil’s advocate. In fact, I think that this particular lesson could have
been improved if there were a few students who were assigned to positions with regards to the
quotes. I also agree that the quotes could/would/should have been more polarizing and I see
that as a failure of planning. I was so focused on producing a lesson that I forgot to make it
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properly engaging. In the future I will be sure to leave time for myself to really consider the
student perspective and experience of the texts.

In the description of the discussion technique it described this discussion as related to literature.
I think that another way to make sure that the questions and/or quotes are more polarizing could
come in which questions about literature you ask. I can see this structure being used particularly
well towards the end of a controversial novel. I also think that another way to add polarization
could be in how you arrange the groups. You could make sure to put students with wildly
different opinions about the book in the same group, for example.

As a whole I think that the lesson went well enough. I really love the discussion technique and I
definitely see myself using it in my future classroom. However, I think that I would have been
better served by more careful and comprehensive planning and better time management. I the
future I will remember that I need to include the little things, such as markers and tape, in my
lesson plans, and that it takes time to have discussions like these.