There’s something fishy over here–Fishbowl strategy for speaking & IA prep

Goldfish icons created by Freepik – Flaticon

The Fishbowl strategy has been around education for quite a while to promote speaking, interaction, and peer feedback between students. While there were many things that appealed to me about the activity, there were some aspects that I didn’t feel were good fits for our classroom culture. However, after a discussion with a Fishbowl veteran teacher, I made some changes to the classic structure of the activity that I think made it work for us–especially as part of our preparation for the IB Standard Level IA assessment. I’m sharing this activity here in the hopes that others might fid it helpful as well.

Preparation by teacher ahead of the activity:

1. Divide the class into groups of about 5-6 students
2. Copy the student handout for each student.
3. Select a pair of photos similar to what you would use for the IA for each small group of students. Put each pair of photos on a slide like at the end of these slides. 
   • Note: for copyright purposes, I used clip art from flaticon.com in the example shared here. In class we used culturally appropriate photos rather than the clip art 🙂
4. The duration of the activity will depend on your class size. In my class of 30+, this took us one full 90 minute block + a little overflow into the next period.

Activity process:

1. There will be two processes going on simultaneously in the shape of two circles, one within the other.
   • One group–a small group of 5-6 students–will move to the middle of the classroom. They will be the group that speaks first.
   • The rest of the students will remain on the outer edges of the small inside circle. They will be listening to the speakers, offering feedback, and creating questions/extensions on what is said by the speakers in the middle.
2. Give each student a copy of the student handout. Explain the general process using these slides.
3. Project the first pair of photos with the caption of the theme addressed. The small group will briefly discuss which photo is their preference and come to consensus on which they want to discuss. Leave the photos up throughout the group’s speaking time.
4. Set a timer for 1 minute. The small group will use this minute to jot down bullet points on their handout to support their discussion, similar to the style on the IA.
5. Set a timer for speaking. For the first time through the activity, I used 8 minutes. During this time:
   • The students in the middle group will talk about the photo: describing it, discussing cultural and personal connections, and relating it to the theme.
   • The students who are listening jot down feedback on their handout plus look to create questions and extensions to the discussion in the middle. I added this piece to help us prepare for phase 2 of the IA where I would ask them additional information about the things they mentioned while describing the photo.
6. After the time is up, allow an additional minute or so for students in both groups to write down feedback on their handout for the speaking group. 
7. Call on several outer circle students to share their questions & extensions. Inner circle students respond appropriately.
8. Ask students from both groups to share feedback.
9. Congratulate the inner group on a job well done! I briefly shared 1-2 things that the group did well, and occasionally made a suggestion for improvement.
10. Rotate groups and repeat the process

Reflection:

This went really well. Students were highly engaged, and there was a lot of effort on their part to incorporate the feedback as we went along. I love how this is now a very low prep, but high impact activity since it is easily adaptable for any topic or unit and gives us a lot of semi-authentic speaking practice without being scripted. I am grateful for a structure that allows everyone–especially in my large classes–to speak and to be heard. Students were fans too! Here is some of their commentary & feedback after the activity:

Have you tried a similar activity? Please share your ideas in the comments!

Strategies for AP Success: Cultural Comparison

Kelly Gardner shared the idea of a Cultural Comparison round table in a Facebook group for AP Spanish teachers. With her permission, I adapted the idea for my classes and am sharing it here.

We are at the end of a unit about the role of grandparents and the impact of technology/social media on our lives. These topics combine for a wide range of comparisons, and create a great set up for the round table format.

Students had many positive things to say about the activity, especially about how it is a confidence booster. Here are some of their post-activity comments:

Here is the process that I used:

1. Divide your class into groups of about 3-4 students.
2. Create a set of cards, each with a different question in the style of the AP Cultural Comparison questions. 
   • Need inspiration for questions? Check out this list. 
   • Easy way to make cards: put each question on a slide in your favorite slide software. Print the slides 4/page and poof! Cut apart and your cards are ready to go.
   • Print one set of cards per group
3. Print handouts for each student.
   • Page 1 & 2 are the same, but with slightly different formats. Pick your favorite. Students do NOT need both.
   • Put page 3 on the back of page 1 or 2
   • Pages 4 & 5 go together and I usually hold them back until we are ready for them later in the process.
4. Walk students through the brainstorming & collaborative process (as shown on these slides)
   • In small groups of 3-4 students, each student draws a card with a question
   • One student reads their card to the group. The group writes the question down in “tema #1 box” on p. 1 of the student handout
   • The group brainstorms possible comparison points for the topic–similarities & differences–and notes them in the space provided for the question.
   • Repeat these steps until each student’s question has been discussed & brainstormed. Emphasize the collaborative nature of this phase (rather than divide & conquer)
5. Next up: creating draft #1 of the comparison speech
   • Now each student selects one of the questions that had been discussed in the steps above. It doesn’t matter if more than one student chooses a particular question, as this phase will be completed individually.
   • Using handout pages 4-5, students transform their bullet points into their actual presentation using the guide to help them with structure, language, and pacing.
   • The amount of time allotted will vary based on students’ experience level. They had 8 minutes to do this step this time through. We will keep trimming that time down to the 4 minute mark by May.
6. Time to present! Continuing to work in small groups, students will take turns presenting their presentations with the notes they prepared in the previous step.
   • While one student is presenting, the others will use the table on p. 3 of the student handout to prepare feedback for their group mate.
   • After the presentation, allow a minute or two for feedback from the group to the presenter.
   • Repeat this process until all have presented to their groups.
7. Implement feedback + prep & record final draft
   • All students use the feedback they received from their groups to make edits as indicated
   • All students record their presentations. My favorite tool: Formative!

All in all: this activity structure is a keeper! It’s flexible enough to apply to any unit and took about 1 1/2 90 minute periods. The student engagement level is HIGH and allows me to facilitate, coach, and answer questions to meet student needs in the moment. The vibe in the room was positive and easy to tell that students were feeling less stressed about this component than before.

If you try this out in your classes, please let me know how it goes! PS–gracias Kelly!