Humanistic Teaching

An approach to learning English

Chris Hunt

The Wise Hat

A little while ago I mentioned voting and how it could become a kind of competition. This time around I'd like to mention a couple of ways to avoid this.

The first is to use weighted voting. In his book Cooperative Learning  Dr. Spencer Kagan calls this "Spend A Buck"and describes it as follows:

Each student is given four quarters to spend anyway they wish on the choice alternatives. Each student must spend his/her quarters on more than one item. The team then tallies the results to determine the team decision. Spend-A-Buck, unlike voting, does not produce clear winners and losers.

I've used this method with adults acting as individuals rather than divided into teams. With teams I assume the result would work for teams individually, meaning that different teams might be working on different activities rather than using it to have teams vote on a class-wide activity. Using the method to determine a team vote would still produce a situation where some teams "won" and some "lost".  Incidentally, the optimum size for a team is four, but that's for another column.

As Dr. Kagan notes, apart from splitting a vote into quarters, it can be split further, into dimes. I've used this method to get adults to work out their curriculum for an entire term by choosing from a list of  twenty topics. When using this approach with a new group it is important to spend a couple of weeks building up rapport. Let the students get to know each other, and you, and vice-versa. I often have a list in mind but tweak it before presenting it to the students  to make their choices.

The other way of making a decision with children that I often employ when an immediate decision is required is Random Voting. Basically this means taking a rough vote and from that determining the odds for the choices. I often use a dice for this. For example, 4 students want to do one activity and 2 another. I would say, OK, one, two, three four we do this, five and six, we do that. Randomness softens the voting process and turns it into a kind of game. I've even done this with large groups of children by assigning different choices to different locations of  the room and then getting then to move to the location that matches their choice. From there I will make up the odds and roll the dice.

An alternative to rolling dice is to use numbered cards. I have a big pack of A4 sized playing cards my brother gave me my first year in Japan. I've never used them for playing cards but they work nicely for various activities. The method I first used when I began random voting was using coloured counters. I'd give each child two counters each a different colour representing a different activity. Children would then put either one or both counters in a bag depending upon their preference. Finally the decision would be made by drawing a counter out of the bag. I think this method is fine if one is wishing to make an activity out of making a decision but it does take time and with large groups the business of distributing and collecting the counters can prove messy.

Next week: how to cheat with eeny-meeny-miny-moe

Share this:

Tweet

Permalink | Leave a comment (1)

cool. I am laid off now so I had time to read your article. I like the spend a buck and dice ideas. Simple and no real losers. great ideas. keep em coming.

shawn rover | April 28, 2009 7:27 PM

Post a comment

=================================================================
Note: Please use your real name (first and family) when submitting comments.
=================================================================

Your Name:

Your Email:

Website:

Your Comment:

Security Image:

Security Code:

Notify me when new comments are posted:

Tick to activate. You can unsubscribe any time later

 

Comment Preview

• I had a dream...
• Turning Fifty
• Yada!

• Turning Fifty
    - Alex Case
    - Todd Pratum
  
• New Year Resolutions
    - Robert Sieveking
    - Chris (Hunt)
    - Steven Williams
    - Chris (Hunt)
    - Steven Williams
    - Robert Sieveking
  
• The Keyword Game
    - Brett Iimura
    - Renae
    - Steven Williams
    - Chris (Hunt)
  
• Yada!
    - michelle
    - stash
    - Chris (Hunt)
  
• Quitting
    - Jon Otto
    - Chris (Hunt)
  
• Improvisation
    - Dr. Michael Cubbin
  
• Violence
    - Jon Otto
    - Chris (Hunt)
    - Jon Otto
  
• Ambivalence
    - Ben Shearon
  
• Negotiated Syllabi
    - Harry
    - Phil
  
• Mitigating Quietness
    - Alison Miyake
  

• Festivals (1)
• Murmurs (9)
• Quick Activities (10)
• Untried Ideas (5)
• Worksheets (2)