Take Five Week 3-1

Last year I introduced the idea of the fishbowl discussion to my sophomores and it went horribly wrong. I was very hesitant to try it again just believing in my head that it would go the same way. However, I decided to try it again after alot of urging on Ray's part. After having the students lead the short story dicussions, and setting up a mock fishbowl, the class completed their first fishbowl this past Tuesday. It was a fabulous success! The first remark I heard from one of my students after we were done was, "that was awesome!" They truly blew me out of the water with their questions, observations, and commentary on each other's thoughts. I was so impressed. I really took some time to reflect on why it went so much better this year than last. I couldn't figure it out. Did I set it up better? Were they better prepared for the discussion by setting up a mock discussion first? Were they just ready for something different and something for which they had more buy in? I guess I don't know but what I do know is that I learned a good lesson in failure and not giving up just because it didn't work well the first time.