The Fishbowl

If you are in need of a new class discussion technique, try the Fishbowl!  I watched two weeks ago as Mrs. Biggs conducted one in her classroom for the first time.  The concept is simple:

• Five seats are placed, in a circle, in the center of the room.
• All other seats a pushed to the walls for seating for non-participants.
• There are four students and one empty chair in the circle, the fishbowl, and they are the only ones allowed to speak in the room. There is to be no conversation outside of the circle. The teacher chooses the first students in the circle, at random.
• The students engage in debate on an issue presented as an open-ended question, by the teacher.
• When someone wants to enter the circle/conversation, they bring their computer and take the empty seat and a previous member of the circle has to leave.
• This should be a fluid as the conversation gets under way.
• The teacher does not participate in the discussion except to provide a new question or to terminate an irrelevant, or inappropriate, line of discussion.

Prior to discussion day, it's important to assign students the task of prepping questions on your given topic so they have conversation-starters.  Create a Google Doc for students to use as they add questions and ideas for the discussion.  It will be slow going at first as students get more comfortable, but remember that the teacher does not participate.

Watch here to see Mrs. Biggs' class in action:

Or here to see a demo: