This or That Structures

This is one of my FAVORITE strategies that encourages full-class participation with high engagement but low-risk. When done correctly, it is an inclusive structure that can allow entry points into content for newcomers, and can also be a structure that can build and cultivate classroom community. 

You could do this as a classroom warmup as a "would you rather." You could do this as a review of previous content, or even an entry ramp into upcoming content. 

I will begin by introducing the topic and asking the group if there are any "experts" on the topic. This allows the room to locate who to look at when they're not confident with their answer! In advance, I set up a quick slide deck with options and answers. 

Here's a collection of ones that I've used in various teacher trainings - these can serve as samples to introduce the structure to adults. We do the structure in its entirety and then we unpack the benefits and cautions! Please note - I actually don't want everyone in the room to be an "expert" at this thing, so the purpose of these are actually NOT to make every adult feel like they're going to master this.

Taylor or Travis? Trivia Game

Real or Fake: Oreo Cookie Edition with Listening Guide

Real or Fake; PopTart Edition with Listening Guide

Real or Fake: Taylor Swift Songs with Listening Guide

Real or Fake: Hallmark Movie Titles with Listening Guide

Real or Fake: Bath & Body Works Fragrances with Listening Guide

Content example: Polygon/Not a Polygon Listening Guide

Here's a super fast EMPTY Listening Guide Template

You'll notice that at the beginning of each of the slide decks, there is a quick definition opportunity so that all students/participants know and understand the meaning of the two word choices. In most cases, the word choices are REAL or FAKE. I include a slide with synonyms and a translation. The reason we incorporate synonyms into our translation is because word-to-word translators, like Google Translate, don't always get it right. By embedding synonyms, this allows students to consider the words that go together and to discard a word if it's an outlier and doesn't "fit" with the rest. Students can think to themselves, "this one word doesn't fit, so it must have gotten lost in translation!" You might also notice that the synonym banks are available on the listening guides as a reminder. 

The Listening Guides are not meant to be completed prior or during the Hold-Up tool experience - but rather as a quick whole-class review after our first impressions were all done together. Participants or students can go back and remove all the "fake" ones from the list. The listening guides are also not meant to be distributed to every individual student, but rather to small groups around the classroom. This then becomes what I always call "a scaffold that carries," meaning it remains available to all students and can carry into the next learning experience. Perhaps it's a listening guide for what to listen for while we watch a video. Perhaps it's a speaking guide for guided conversation groups. It could also serve as a writing word bank for students if they're being asked to do some writing later on. 

The actual HOLD UP TOOLs that are used could be anything - post its, dry erase sleeves, popsicle stick tools, or even plastic plates! I have my "pup cup" popsicle stick tools mentioned here.

After each slide deck, you'll notice a slide for adults to unpack the structure. Here are some key questions to ask each other: 

Did you feel comfortable participating? Why or why not?

If you didn't feel comfortable with the topic, what was your strategy?

What did you do when you didn't know an answer?

Why was it important for us to establish an "expert" before we started?

How could students now utilize that Listening Guide for the next activities?

COMING SOON: 
More topics!