Image by Thomas Breher from Pixabay
Recently I observed a very effective teacher who has great systems for making group talk accountable.
When it was time for someone to stand and present after group work, the teacher quickly numbered the group members 1, 2, 3, 4 and rolled a dice to see who would stand. It took only a couple of seconds to randomly pick the person, who then stood up to speak to the class.
Due to this simple yet powerful accountability technique, everyone knew they had to get involved and be ready to explain. Everyone was invested in the task.
Example
Here’s how it could work in maths:
Students work in fours to solve equations. Each group has a different equation to solve. Everyone knows that next, someone from each group will be asked to stand to describe the problem, explain the group’s solution, and respond to questions from the class. But they don’t know in advance who will be doing this. The teacher is going to be rolling the dice!
