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Sunday 19 April 2015

Bright Idea! How to use Tag in the classroom

It is time for another Bright Idea linky!



This time I have an easy and effective way to keep group discussions flowing and you can implement it straight away in your classroom!
We use the concept of the game of tag when we are having group discussions, this can work for a whole group or a small group whether you are having a circle chat or are just generally sitting in a group.



In my classroom I like everyone to participate in group discussions, I try to eliminate the hitch hikers that let everyone else answer questions or participate in the discussion and sit back to either day dream or just aren't confident to speak up even though they have the answer.

So this is how tag works to include those hitch hikers!  I will have a question or we may be sharing our thoughts on something and I let students know this will be a tag discussion.  I ask them to put their thinking faces on, it looks something like this.....



this gives them time to get their thoughts together before the discussion.  After a minute or so I ask one student to share, during this time I may be recording their responses or asking further questions.  When they have finished they tag the person next to them or close by, then that student has a turn, if at the end there are people who haven't been tagged or are too far to be tagged the person can call their name to tag them eg "Tag Sally".   This not only keeps the discussion flowing but ensures everyone gets a fair turn.

Do I let students have a pass?  Sometimes, if the students are sharing personal stories and I know there is one or two that are not comfortable with that I will let them have a pass, however this doesn't happen for all discussions.

I hope this is something you find useful in your classroom.  For more Bright Ideas follow me on Facebook  or Instagram

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2 comments:

  1. I think my kids would love "tagging" each other. Very cute!

    Kelly
    First Grade Fairytales

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  2. This would work great in my classroom. It also get the students more involved. Thanks for a great idea!

    Monica Parsons - NC Teacher Chick

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