The Best Classroom Discussions Are Sometimes Unplanned

To meet the various needs of our students today, we must embrace being “unplanned.” This doesn’t mean you “wing” your lesson and instruction. Rather, being “unplanned” refers to the instructional flexibility teachers enjoy within a lesson. Admittedly, not every question, activity, or task lends itself well to an engaging conversation, but there are many unplanned opportunities to ignite student engagement during the teaching of our content.

Here are a few practical “unplanned” instructional moves that can remain unplanned or you can write them in your lesson without losing their effectiveness.

Getting Your Groups Started

• When students form groups, immediately ask them to discuss a fun topic. This works to “break the ice” and it spikes engagement.
• Give a die to each student. Ask them to roll to see who talks first, which question to answer, or which role students will fill for the activity. If students are rolling to see who goes first, switch it up and tell the students who rolled the highest or lowest number to pick someone to start. This always gets a good laugh. Then, the first person picks who goes next. Students are immediately engaged, happy, and focused.

Combine and Build on Ideas

When students are asked to write a brief response, ask them to do one of the following:

• Work with someone to make the response “stronger and clearer.”
• Ask students to move into small groups and evaluate the responses based on a specific criteria. For example, “Which idea best aligns with ____?” “Which character would disagree with ____?” “Which reflection is most like your own?” “What is missing?”

Raise the Level of Concern

• Before students begin their discussions, tell them that they will be sharing their ideas with another group or the whole class. This heightens student engagement by increasing the accountability of the group.
• Place a blank 3x5 card at the center of each group. Tell the groups that you will be walking around and giving stickers to groups that follow directions, use resources, work well together, and etc. The group with the most stickers sets the bar for an “A” grade.

Pause and Check In

• When students are reading, have students pause and talk about what they noticed, what they understood, and what they still don’t understand.
• When students are working together on a project, ask groups to combine and talk about what they have done (what criteria and/or objectives have them met) and what their next steps are.

Are you ready to embrace instructional flexibility by incorporating unplanned activities? These spontaneous moves can enhance student engagement and have a positive impact on learning.