Creative Workshops (protocol) Creative Workshop is a strategy to teach students how to brainstorm and come to a consensus about next steps, ensuring that all ideas are heard, valued, and evaluated. It also provides students with a structure that they can use again and again.
Tug-of-War (routine) The Tug-of-War thinking routine asks students to look at the many opposing factors/sides of a topic. They have to look at all sides and reason with evidence without taking a side. This helps them prepare for evaluating ideas when collaborating.
Now-Then-Later (routine) This thinking routine helps students identify specific actions that makes a situation fair or unfair. Students work on generating ideas, evaluating them, and determining steps to preclude unfairness. It is a good strategy to use to help students look situations objectively and focus on equity.
Step Inside (routine) The step inside thinking routine helps students learn how to understand people, issues, or things by hypothesizing what they are thinking, feeling, observing or caring about, developing their ability to empathize. Building this empathy and understanding perspectives in turn helps them in making decisions when in groups.
GooseChase EDU (app) GooseChase EDU is an app that allows students to participate in educational scavenger hunts, working together to solve problems or find information, recording student progress digitally so there is no question of which group finished first. It is a fun way to work on collaboration skills and reflect on how they impacted students' results.
Group Contracts (strategy) Having students create group contracts with consequences helps students learn how to not only organize tasks and their roles, but also be accountable and collaborate in a respectful and dependable manner.