I was reviewing a lesson by District Trainer Kelly Stover and had a head-slap a-ha moment: Using sticky notes with debates.

Her students were reading about the Zika virus and were to debate whether Zika is one of the largest health threats to the United States and thus whether it would be worth it for the government to spend $4.5B on research. Students were to organize their thoughts in a Discussion Web and it was expected they'd have support for both sides of the issue. They wrote their support yes/no support on different colored sticky notes. As they used their evidence during the debate, they were to peel the note off their paper and put it on their desk.

Ms. Stover stated, "I paused the Discussion Web once and asked students to look at how many sticky notes they had used so far... I reminded them that during a discussion, one speaks to both sides and then draws a conclusion: If they had an imbalanced amount of colors then they needed to speak more to the other side."

What a great idea! And of course there are a million other ways to do it: Highlight the evidence you use on the page (vs on stickys). Highlight evidence you hear from others so you don't reiterate the same points. Put small stickers next to ideas you feel are strongest or had no solid or convincing counter-arguments. Use sticky notes to rank the strength of your arguments. I'm sure there are more.

What I also loved was Ms. Stover's statement about being imbalanced. We want our students to remain open to ideas. Even if they come into an argument with one opinion and leave with the same opinion, we want to make sure they at least considered the opposing side before just rejecting it out of hand. It's a great lesson to teach students during this election cycle.

And while this lesson was primarily about a debate, it'd be fine in a more general class discussion, too. Plus, for those teachers who feel the need to grade participation, it might be a great formative assessment. Have students write 5 or 6 statements or questions or points they want to make on one color sticky prior to the start of the discussion (1 idea per sticky). As they use the ideas or hear them used, they can move them to the other side of their desk. This way even the quiet student, slow to join, can provide a visual signal to the teacher that s/he shared that same thought. Maybe the teacher can then say, "[Quiet student], I noticed you must have had a similar thought. Would you like to add something?". During the discussion, students who hear something but didn't get a chance to get involved before the discussion moved towards a different topic can put their thoughts on a different color sticky and then it can be posted on a board or passed to the teacher. Maybe it'd even be worthwhile to pause the discussion periodically for a minute or two to allow all students a chance to process and write.

Thank you, Kelly, for the great lesson and wonderful idea!