Principles for Participation in an Idea Wave

Kate Kinsella, SFSU

• Speak only when it is your turn.

• Share only one idea, in 10 seconds or less.

• Respond using a complete sentence.

• Use your "public voice" instead of your "private voice." Speak loudly and slowly enough for everyone to easily hear your comments.

• Listen "loudly" (pay careful attention) to what your classmates are saying.

• Don't worry about copying new ideas during the discussion. Listen attentively.

• If your idea is similar to or builds upon someone else's idea, acknowledge your classmate's contribution before you make your point.

Language Strategies to Acknowledge Other People's Ideas

My idea is similar to _________'s idea.

My idea is related to _______________'s idea.

Like ________________, I believe that...

I agree with _____________ that...

________already mentioned _______ but I would like to add that........

My idea builds upon _________'s idea

Language Strategies for Active Classroom Participation

Expressing an Opinion Predicting

I think/believe that… I guess/predict/imagine that

It seems to me that… Based on…..I infer that…

In my opinion… I hypothesize that….

Asking for Clarification Paraphrasing

What do you mean? So you are saying that…

Will you explain that again? In other words, you think…

I have a question about that. What I hear you saying is…

Soliciting a Response Acknowledging Ideas

What do you think? My idea is similar to…….

We haven’t heard from you yet. I agree with (a person) that….

Do you agree? My idea builds upon _____’s ideas.

Individual Reporting: Partner and Group

Reporting

I discovered from ____that… We decided/agreed that…

I found out from ____that…. We concluded that….

______ pointed out to me that… Our group sees it differently.

______ shared with me that… We had a different approach

Disagreeing Offering a Suggestion

I don’t agree with you because…. Maybe we could….

I got a different answer than you.. What if we….

I see it another way. Here’s something we might try.

Affirming Holding the Floor

That’s an interesting idea. As I was saying…

I hadn’t thought of that. If I could finish my thought…

I see what you mean. What I was trying to say was…

Language for Reporting in Partners or Groups

ü We agreed that…

ü We decided that…

ü We concluded/came to the conclusion that…

ü We believe that…

ü We noticed/observed…

ü We have different opinions. Some of us believe that… One group member thinks that…

ü We thought of two different approaches/ideas/answers…..

ü We could not agree about…

ü We came up with several different answers/solutions.

ü Our groups sees it differently that other groups.

ü Our ideas are similar to the other groups. but we also decided that…