"Circle Chats," today's cooperative learning strategy, in another great way to get your students out of their seats and interacting!

Divide your class in half. One half will create an inner circle; the other half will make up the outer circle. Students in the outer circle can ask a question of the students in the inner circle. These questions can be self-selected by the students or you can make your own question(s). After a set period of time, the teacher signals and the inner circle rotates and pairs-up with a new student. Once the group has completed a full rotation, the inside circle and the outside circle trade positions and repeat the steps above. Listening and Speaking Practice: This activity allows students to practice active speaking and listening skills. Active Engagement: Students are constantly moving and/or switching roles. This variety keeps students engaged and on task. Safe/Comfortable: Talking one-on-one with each other is far less intimidating than talking to a small group or to the whole class. This is a great activity to help build confidence in students who are reserved or afraid to speak in front of others (ELLs). Ownership: One option for this activity is to have students create their own questions (which they LOVE doing). They really take this task seriously and become quite invested in the process.