A Question of Participation: Time to Fish!

Were you one of those kids that sat in school dreading the moment you would be called on to answer a question?  I most definitely was one of those kids and of course I grew out of it for the most part, but participation in school was literally torture for me growing up.

With that in mind, I face a dilemma as a teacher.  I teach in a school in which my department expects students to participate in class discussions on a frequent basis.  I tend to agree with the philosophy in principle, but I cannot help but feel major empathy for those kids that are literally terrified of the prospect of speaking in front of everyone. 

I believe that participation can take many forms other than simply contributing to the class discussion.  Opening up the opportunity to blog back a response after class has been very effective the past few years.  Heck, I would even consider tweeting back a response would be considered a form of participation.  Even if if is not technically done in class, does it not show that the student is clearly thinking through the question at hand?

One method that I have found to benefit all students most is the fishbowl discussion method.  Honestly, I cannot remember where I first heard about it, but basically the class is put into 4 different groups.  A discussion question is posed and the small groups each discuss it for a few minutes.  At the end of the time a representative is selected to participate in the fishbowl.

The fishbowl has five chairs around the table.  Each group sends member to the fishbowl where they discuss the topic based upon their small group discussion.  The rest of the students observe as silent participants.  If for some reason, someone that is not in the fishbowl wants to contribute, they may sit in the fifth chair and throw out their idea and then vacate the spot for another contributor. 

With this method, every student is participating is some capacity.  For those that are very introverted, the small group is ideal and I have found that even the most quiet of students find comfort in the small group setting.

I would welcome any feedback from anyone on how you engage those students who would rather take the "C" than speak up in class.  This former "C" kid would love your comments!

The Bloody Massacre Revisited

People have always accused me of having a flair for the dramatic, so if there is any way to plan a lesson involving costumes, then I'm totally up for it!  My storage closet in my classroom is packed to the gills with props and an unusually high number of wigs.

One of the most complex and interesting lessons we do is the annual recreation of the Boston Massacre.  Rather than just reading through a bunch of first hand accounts(which I think is also great by the way), we take those accounts and bring them to life.  I used to do a mock trial based upon the event where we put Captain Thomas Preston on trial. It worked out very well, but in the end I craved blood.

After a lot of thought, I approached our theater department to see if we could bring the event to life using a simple set, props and trained actors.  Annually, our Black Box theater in transformed into March 5, 1770 complete with snow and copious amounts of fake blood. 

The stage is set. 

The day begins like any other day but then a panicked colonist pounds upon our classroom door shouting that there is a fire and to bring our buckets to help extinguish the flames.  We follow the distressed colonist to the darkened theater.  Once we enter, it is pitch black with an audio track booming the sounds of an angry mob taunting the British soldiers along with the soldiers yelling back at them to disperse.  One thing leads to another and the theater is filled with the sounds of musket fire

Students listening to the mob.

whereupon the lights come up and the aftermath is laying in front of the students.

I then hand out an investigative journal to each student that they fill out to piece together the story.  First, they must survey the scene and make notes of any evidence left behind.  This year I placed various QR clues around to give them some hints. 

After about 10 minutes of them investigating, the colonists come out in dramatic fashion to tell their side of the story.  Students cycle around to each of them asking questions and making note of their testimony.  The British soldiers then make an appearance as well to counter what the colonists said.  It often turns into a very confrontational experience which blows the kids minds!

A colonist tells his story

I have been very lucky the past few years to have some wonderful former students give up their time to portray the witnesses.  Since they experienced it as my students in 8th grade, they are really excited to return to be the actors and each year it gets better.

The day after the massacre, I have them get into small groups to discuss their findings and then as a whole group come up with the sequence of events.  Oftentimes, I find that they have done such a good job with their own investigation that I don't really need to add anything. We end the lesson by looking at Paul Revere's engraving of the massacre and have some "aha" moments about his intention and the not so subtle way he was reworking the real story to meet the needs of the patriot cause.

While it might not be easy for everyone to go to this extreme to portray the Boston Massacre, it can be modified.  For example, the mock trial worked really well in the past.  Through the years, I have used numerous resources, but one of the best is The Boston Massacre Historical Society which has the original transcripts plus tons of other information.  For the mock trial, each student was given a role to study and both the defense and prosecution worked to develop their case. 

Another idea would be to split the class down the middle and have one side defend the actions of the colonists while the other side defend the soldiers.  I have done this for a Patriot/Loyalist debate with great results.

Students caught in the middle of an argument between soldiers and colonists

Although recreating the massacre as I have done does take quite a bit of work, the end result is well worth the effort.  Seeing my students decipher the material and get totally immersed is totally worth the rehearsals and the ridiculously early morning to set it all up.  By the way, if you want some pretty darn realistic fake blood that is easy to clean up, use clear Palmolive and red food coloring(watch out it might stain a bit).  I once used Karo syrup which ended in disaster.  Not only was it a nightmare to clean up, by the end of the day, it had attracted any army of ants.  Eh, you live you learn.