Placemat Activity
This activity encourages students working in small groups to build off of responses provided by other members of the group. Ultimately it encourages both individual and group participation by becoming an exercise in consensus building.
Step 1: Get students into groups of four. They must be sitting around a table or at a group of desks facing each other.
Step 2: The teacher will provide a topic or prompt.
Step 3: Each student must write their knowledge, and opinions related to the prompt in the section of the placemat closest to them. The teacher keeps track of time, limiting this first response to 1-2 minutes.
Step 4: When time runs out the placemat is rotated so that the section in front of each student contains the thoughts of their neighbor. The teacher then restarts the timer and students are asked to respond to their neighbor's initial response. This is repeated until each student has written in each of the outside sections of the placemat.
Step 5: Students are given a few minutes to discuss what they noticed about each others thoughts and perceptions, and then to come to a mutually agreeable group response to the prompt that they will write in the center of the placemat.
Step 6: Each group will share their collective responses to the prompt. The teacher will write down key points from each group to assemble a master list on the board or a poster that was drawn from the thinking of the entire class.
Step 1: Get students into groups of four. They must be sitting around a table or at a group of desks facing each other.
Step 2: The teacher will provide a topic or prompt.
Step 3: Each student must write their knowledge, and opinions related to the prompt in the section of the placemat closest to them. The teacher keeps track of time, limiting this first response to 1-2 minutes.
Step 4: When time runs out the placemat is rotated so that the section in front of each student contains the thoughts of their neighbor. The teacher then restarts the timer and students are asked to respond to their neighbor's initial response. This is repeated until each student has written in each of the outside sections of the placemat.
Step 5: Students are given a few minutes to discuss what they noticed about each others thoughts and perceptions, and then to come to a mutually agreeable group response to the prompt that they will write in the center of the placemat.
Step 6: Each group will share their collective responses to the prompt. The teacher will write down key points from each group to assemble a master list on the board or a poster that was drawn from the thinking of the entire class.