Best Small-Group Games
The best small-group games can help with this phenomenon. I don’t blame students for having these circular “discussions.” They avoid the give-and-take of actual discussion, especially if the text or topic being discussed is difficult. Circle shares make it look to the teacher like something is happening, but they are also over pretty quickly, and we teachers can’t be fooled.
The other pitfall I often see is 1-2 students dominating a group. And bless these poor kiddos. Usually, they pitch a question to the group, no one answers, and so they answer it themselves. They are trying to play baseball with half the team picking dandelions in the outfield. These players are not invested in the game, but with the best small-group games, everyone will play.
To be fair to the dandelion-pickers, there are a lot of reasons not to engage in small-group discussion. They could:
- be tired.
- not enjoy being wrong or confused in front of other people.
- not be interested in the discussion.
- have any number of other things going on in your life.
All reasons that adults check out of conversations too. So while I have tremendous empathy for the students in all of these scenarios, I also know that, if left unchecked, these experiences can perpetuate some misconceptions. They teach that opinions are formed and held, regardless of subsequent insights from others, or that the loudest/first voices are always right.
And that ain’t right, am I right?
If you’ve had trouble getting your students to engage in an organic, thoughtful way, the best small-group games might offer enough structure to bring everyone in without having so much structure that conversations are stifled.
Small-Group vs. Large-Group Discussion
Playing games can get all students involved in small-group discussion. Along with teaching the moves of academic conversation to all students, the best small-group games are crucial in the language development of English Learners. Because of their smaller size, these discussions have the potential to demand greater participation and involvement (i.e. greater learning). They are also often emotionally safer for students than large-group discussions. Their student-centered nature opens more opportunities for student agency and voice. This is why small-group discussion is the third component in my four components every lesson needs.
The Common Core recognizes the importance of discussion in its first speaking and listening standard:
Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
According to the readiness standard, some key learnings for students include:
- Preparation
- Building on others’ ideas
- Expressing ideas clearly and persuasively
The problem is guaranteeing that all students participate at this level in the messiness of actual discussions, which is where the best small-group games can help.
Why Small Groups Fail
Preparation, interaction, and expression can become reasons why small groups fail. If students aren’t prepared, they can’t participate. They need to have similar access to the text or topic being discussed. This is why a new text to all is such a great discussion-starter. It places everyone on fairly similar ground, and assuming the teacher has given adequate background information, allows all students to participate. While some students may be able to draw from deeper experiences outside of the text, all students have enough to engage in the discussion. If the teacher consistently changes the topic or theme, the strengths and previous experiences of all students could be featured throughout the year, which is another reason why diverse texts are so important. This is the beauty of the best small-group games too–students know the how and what of the game, but every game offers an opportunity to win.
Building on others’ ideas equally also presents difficulty for students. Some don’t know how to transition while adding on to what someone said. Others don’t want to sound mean or rude if they disagree or have questions. If they can’t comment on what someone else said in a constructive way, then there can’t be much of a discussion. The best small-group games have actions that demand everyone be involved. There is some clear pattern of turn-taking.
Finally, some students struggle to express their own thoughts. They may be unsure of what to say. They may be worried about sounding rude if they take a persuasive stance. If they don’t have the language to frame their ideas, expression becomes impossible. The best small-group games show people how to play. It’s not “doing too much.” It’s just how the game is played.
How to Win with the Best Small-Group Games
I use lots of different games in small-group discussion. Games create the perfect blend of structure for a small-group discussion without removing the free-form joy of authentic discussion.
Games coach players toward best actions.
One of my favorite small-group discussion games is an UNO-style game. UNO has mass appeal in my classroom. Almost everyone knows it, and it is easy to explain to anyone who doesn’t. In this game, students play cards that represent different “actions” a person takes during a small-group discussion. For example, there is a card labeled, “Share.” On it are some sentence frames like, “One pattern is see is…because… These English-Learner friendly sentence frames teach academic discourse without calling out students who don’t already know it. Honestly, all students can go on default-mode in small-group discussion, so this game forces them to bring their A-game!
Games force players to adhere to rules…but in a fun way.
Since the object of the game, like in UNO, is to get rid of all your cards, students have to listen for opportunities to do each of the actions on the cards. Once they have done a certain type of action, the card is played, which helps ensure each student provides a variety of responses during the small-group discussion game instead of operating solely in one or two preferred modes.
I’ve used this small-group discussion game in 9th grade and up to 11th grade honors. Even they got a kick out of the playful discussion. Of course, this game is a scaffold meant to introduce language on the road to high-level discourse. I just pull out the deck throughout the years when discussions seem to be dipping in quality.
Another fun twist I use is that I have the UNO “winners” from each group stand up at the end of the round. I say, “Congratulations, you talked more than anybody else in the group, but in a real discussion, we all win. What’s something that someone else in your group said that inspired you?”
This game is my best-selling resource. Buy it for your classroom today.
