Planning for Harkness Designing Prep Sheets and Opening

Planning for Harkness: Designing Prep Sheets and Opening the Discussion

At the Harkness table, students should have a safe environment in which to learn. There are four key pieces to this:

1. Teacher-student relationships and student relationships grounded in trust and collaboration

2. Facilitator Expectations—What students can expect from you as a facilitator

3. Student Expectations – What you expect of students

4. Student Norms – What “norms” students can set and hold each other accountable for?

Before You Begin Planning a Harkness Discussion, Think about the Ending. . What do you want students to be able to know, understand DO after the discussion?

Preparation for the Table Ask yourself beforehand… 1) HOW do you want the students to engage with the material? 1) Create a PREP SHEET designed to help students focus on important points/aspects of the content- and connect this to your GOAL for the discussion

Design PREP SHEETS with Backward Design in Mind Ask yourself beforehand… How can I design a prep sheet that engages students in the material and directs them towards content I want them to grapple with? What do they need to know to engage in the Discussion? What do they need to bring to the Table? (Materials and Mindset) Sentence stems? Text and annotations? Completed prep sheets?

“Holding Content” from the Table After the conversation: what do you take away & what can you do with it? It’s a record of ideas! It’s an essay starter!

The Prep Sheet Should be Designed to Give Students an Opening into the Discussion “Take the Best and Leave the Rest!”

The Prep Sheet is the “Fuel” for Harkness Everyone is Prepared to Talk, Listen and Learn

Prepare for the Discussion as if YOU are the Student Annotate the reading and fill in the prep sheet Anticipate the issues that may come up Never “Wing it” In Harkness

Plan Ahead of Time How You Begin the Discussion Take Your Cue from the Prep Sheet-State the Goal of the Discussion at the Beginning Begin with an interactive Turn and talk…. Golden line…………. Questions you have? . . Questions on note cards and put in bowl and decide where to begin……. . Questions on the board circle the best three to begin……. . What do we need to clarify first? Dialectical Journal…. . Starting with Four Levels of Questions- Moving from Concrete to Abstract

Check for Understanding Along the Way Turn and Talk Stop and Write Dialectical Journal Hold up Questions on note cards What else do we need to Talk about? “This line/concept/ paragraph seems to be important, but I don’t know why…”

Keep Notes As You Go for the Next Time What Worked Well? What needs to be Modified or Changed? What was the Level of Engagement? FOR ALL STUDENTS? To What Extent did Students Use What They Learned in the Discussion for the Purpose You Articulated? Ask for Ask For Student Feedback OWN THE GOOF UPS : )