Discussion Groups

The power of discussion groups has been great I have found. I lead a discussion group for Charlotte's Web and one of the chapters recently read is Wilbur's Boast. The students learned what the word boast meant and sure know what the word means, since it is a constant word heard throughout the day, especially in my discussion group. I reward weekly the student who I believe contributed to the group consistently with thoughtfulness, and kept up with annotating and highlighting the book for homework. For the past two weeks it has been the same student. As the students saw the lollipop in my lap waiting to be given to student at the end of the discussion, they had guesses for who would win it. One student said I bet, "Sam" will win it, but he's good about it, he doesn't boast about it. I congratulated that boy on using the vocab word and told the students, like I do every week, that the person who receives the lollipop earned it, but should not eat it in front of other students, should not brag about it, and should not take it for granted for the next week another student might outperform him or her. I reminded them the other students do not get lollipops from the MT and that this is reward I feel is appropriate for our small group. With out the benefits of the small group, I don't think students would have had the opportunity to share their thoughts as much, express themselves freely, and relate to the students as much. I think that because of this, they have developed a strong sense of the word "boast" and this has improved their behavior since now they check themselves before appearing to be boastful.