09.+Fishbowl+Discussions

=Fishbowl Discussions=

A. GOAL


 * The goal of the strategy is to both empower and enlighten student comprehension of literature; it can be used to introduce or reinforce any big ideas or details relevant to a text situation—the key is to simply provide a clear context to the situation and clear questions for students to answer.
 * The fishbowl discussion relies on the fishbowl as metaphor. The majority of the class—students and teacher—act as the inanimate “bowl,” with desks arranged in a circle around the “fish” in the center of the bowl. The members of the bowl must spend most of their time listening carefully to the conversation by the fish in the center of the bowl; only once the teacher determines that the “fish” in the bowl have run their course with their conversation may the “bowl” students voice opinions, insights, and/or inferences. The “fish” inside the bowl are the active participants in the conversation at hand, and focus only on each other—usually the “fish” have been given questions or prompts to discuss (either the class before or rather spontaneously in the given class). To complete the metaphor: the “water” that the fish are engulfed in is the conversation that they have; when the conversation dries up, the teacher indicates to the “bowl” students that they can now add some “fresh water” and participate.
 * The audience is students and teachers.
 * Materials: books (if applicable), pens, 3x5 cards (if applicable), paper.
 * Since the fishbowl discussion is highly contextual, the prior knowledge or teaching required depends on the situation.
 * A great fishbowl discussion can occur in a 45 minute class or the majority of an entire 80 minute block.
 * Source: "Fishbowl Strategy." //Mequon-Thiensville School District//. Web. 13 Feb. 2011. .

B. STEP-BY-STEP


 * Take, for example, students in AP English Literature reading //Huckleberry Finn//. Students have been put into “fishbowl groups” of 3 each, and have been assigned questions or topics to answer and/or discuss for a specific section of the novel or for the novel as a whole. For example, fishbowl groups might be assigned the following types of questions: “What role does food play in the novel and what does it tell us about characters, values, and social structures?” “What role does money play in the novel, and what does it tell us about characters, values, and social structures?” “In what ways does the Mississippi River function as a symbol throughout the novel?” “Discuss the significance of the ‘youth/adult’ dichotomy and what Twain might have been suggesting about adults and ‘society’ in general through his treatment of this binary opposition.”
 * Students will have a set amount of time—perhaps one or two classes’ worth of time or something like 20 minutes depending on the complexity of the questions and the depth of insight and connections that the teacher deems appropriate at the given time—to prepare their discussion. The teacher can give the questions in the form of a 3x5 card or can simply assign them however fit.
 * As soon as the fish’s conversation dries up, the teacher allows the bowl to participate with further questions or insights.
 * It is never a bad time to model a practice question—perhaps a rather simplistic but relevant question—to reinforce important facets of the fishbowl such as fish talking only to teach other, fish diving deep into their topic, and the fishbowl actively listening and formulating questions/comments.
 * Sometimes it is the actual fish’s discussion that is most engrossing and inference-filled, as the fish aspire to keep their conversation flowing for as long as possible, and sometimes it is the follow-up fishbowl discussion that is most engaging, as a large school of eagerly listening fish have developed a number of questions, comments, or connections while listening to the bubbling conversation.

C. EXTENSION


 * The fishbowl, at a minimum, creates strong momentum to guide students back into their text (if they were not already finished). It also often adds further polish to big ideas/themes/motifs that have been discussed throughout a novel. Sometimes it generates entirely new insights that have not yet been discussed in class but are entirely relevant (and sometimes these insights—students will discover after some cursory Internet research—are insights that have been bantered about by professional literary critics in academic papers; such a realization is always a wonderful moment for English student and teacher alike).
 * Both the big ideas discussed and/or discovered as well as the smaller details analyzed in the fishbowl always lead to richer understandings of literature; this richness is often then reflected down the line by student writing that is marked by high levels of engagement and genuine interest in ideas.

D. CONTROVERSY/WARNING


 * None.