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My students used the Give One - Get One and Playing Cards for grouping. Students received a card before the activity. The cards both gave them a group (by number) to work with and a leadership task (by suit), questioner, word wizard, signpost sentinel, and summarizer.  The playing cards reduced student anxiety of forming groups and gave everyone a well defined job to accomplish.

We used the Give One - Get One with the Genre Reformulation Charts.  As students read their fantasy books they are on the look out for important words or phrases that would assist them in the summarizing of their books.  Students mingled around the room to share responses and learn from each other.  The movement and engagement were great!  Students then wrote a short paragraph using the words they collected.  I will have the students do this again when they finish reading the books because I believe it is a great way to consolidate their learning.

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I used the cards for grouping and random name picker today. Both were well received, and students are requesting them again.

As students entered, I gave each a card with a number. They matched it up to a number on a table. That would be their table/group for the day. I use flexible seating in my classroom, so students pick their own seats and type of seat each day. They were excited to have a different way to pick their seats and get to try a different seating option than they may typically be selecting. I found the amount of socializing was less and the instructional dialogue was increased. I will definitely do this again but not everyday. The uniqueness of it was part of the success.

The other technique I used today was the random name picker. Instead of making a wheel for each class, I made one wheel with numbers 1-33 (the max number of students in any of my classes.) I spun the wheel to see who would share (students all have a number.) Students loved the unpredictable nature of the wheel, and we had students share that typically are more quiet in class. This also helped everyone to be accountable for completing the tasks between sharing in case their number was selected that they would be prepared to share. Students had fun naming the wheel... "Wheel of certain death." "Wheel of Fortune." "Wheel of lucky-to-share." They were engaged, focused, and excited to see who would share next.

It was a highly engaged day and especially on task for a Friday. Students appreciated the unique techniques and are requesting them again. I was thrilled with the instructional dialogue and all students completing the tasks in order to be ready to share.

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I had my students do the get one, give one activity and the learning line up. We were reading a nonfiction article that asked the question, "Does racism still exist in America?" To get the kids thinking about their own responses, they did get one, give one, asking each other that question. They were all engaged and talking about the topic. I was amazed by the genuine conversations they were having and the examples and support they used to justify their answers. After about 10 minutes of getting each other's answers, they wrote a synthesis paragraph with a thesis statement.

After they had all written their paragraph, individually, they read the article I had posted on Google classroom. While reading, I asked them to write down 3 interesting facts, quotes, statistics, or questions they had while reading. Students then paired up and shared what they had written. Again, they used their facts or statistics as starting points for conversations about the article. All of the students were engaged and on-task.

I thought both activities went really well, but we ran out of time during the learning line-up. Students were having good conversations and could've kept going, but we had to stop because the hour was over. I would definitely do get one, give one as a preview activity again because I think it worked well to help students activate their own prior knowledge and ideas about the topic. I have used learning line up before because I think it's a good way for students to quickly discuss what they read with their peers.