I just had a satisfying Fishbowl Experience. (If there's anyone out there who doesn't know, a fishbowl is when half of the class is ringed at the edge of the room, silent, while the other half sits in the middle and carries on the discussion. The teacher says nothing but keeps careful track of how the students participate.)
Some things that made this work:
- Students were prepared. I had told them what we'd be doing and advised them to come to class with passages, questions and observations to share.
- I had a stack of questions on notecards which they could draw from if they felt the conversation needed new energy.
- I had a clipboard with a little graph on hand to take notes. I made hatch marks under the Offers Passage/Asks Question/ Agrees/Disagrees columns and left a long-ish space at the far right edge to make longer comments.
- I had a fun, scooty chair for the "hot seat," where students on the outside can jump in if they really want to say something. (It is fair play to bump someone from the hot seat--and towards the end of class, I did.)
- At the end, we de-briefed the experience and reflected on what kind of comments make for good academic conversation. They themselves volunteered that comments that refer to specific passages in the text lead to richer discussions.
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