Name:_______________ Block:__ Date:_____ Topic:___________Team Score:___

Harkness discussions this is a team effort. There will be a team grade. The whole
class will get the same grade with three exceptions: 1-students who barely participate
will be marked down, 2-students who are given leadership roles in the discussion
(facilitator, tracker, or notetaker), and 3-other students who perform truly exceptional
group saving feats - for example by “saving” or immensely uplifting a discussion that is
going bad - will be eligible for independent extra credit. Those who find it hard to
participate live can earn participation pts via the optional Schoology follow-up.

A discussion for which everyone would receive an “A” (10) would look like this:
__/ Everyone participates, and more or less equally. Always encourage and invite, but never force

anyone to talk. Team can get a “A” without everyone necessarily talking. (See above)
__/ The pace allows for clarity and thoughtfulness. Allows for silent pauses for people to think.
__/ There is a sense of balance and order: focus in on one speaker talking at a time.
__/ There is an attempt to resolve questions and issues before moving on to new ones.
__/ There is a clear sense of what the group has covered and how (someone offers to recap).
__/ The loud do not dominate; the shy are encouraged. Everyone is patiently understood.
__/ Students are sincere and helpful (avoid snarky remarks, sarcasm, off topic humor).
__/ When the process is not working, the group adjusts. Those unhappy offer fixes (OK to restart).
__/ Students take risks and dig for new insights. Be bold, but it kills the team score to derail/off topic.
__/ All students come well-prepared. They have read and annotated.
__/ The text, if there is one, is referred to often, even better when the line number is mentioned.
__/ Students back up what they say with evidence like outside facts, line numbers, quotations, etc.
The class will earn a “B” (8) by doing most of the things on this list above,
a “C” (7) by doing only half of what’s on the list (half the class is cruising),
and a “D” (6) by doing less than half (most everyone was cruising on autopilot).
Leadership Roles:
Facilitator: Make the discussion easy for all by asking questions, giving complements,
being the “devil’s advocate,” in general thinking of ways to get the group to use the text
and their ideas to go deeper into the main provided Harkness question.
Tracker: Draws a seating chart, then draws arrows of who talks to who, encourages
people who haven’t shared, and importantly, enforces the one person at a time norm.
Notetaker: Only one with the computer out, he/she summarizes ideas from the entire
discussion including who spoke using initials. He/she posts the notes to the comments
of the Schoology post related to this discussion. The notetaker may “Google” info the
group wants to know only if it doesn’t slow his/her notes.
Don’t Know What to Do, Try:
- volunteering for one of the leadership roles
- summarizing, restating, clarifying
- offering examples from the text
- asking questions
- commenting or giving an opinion or suggestion
- asking for clarification from the last speaker
- reacting to the last speaker
- analyzing the text, a comment, or the discussion itself
- restarting the discussion
- filling in a hole
- arguing a point
- asking for new information
 - asking for comments or reactions (from those who haven’t talked much)
- making connections with other texts, situations, or discussions
Harkness Discussion Tracker Form
1) List roles (names), Tracker:____________, Facilitators:__________+__________

Online Notetaker:_____________
2) Discussion Date:___/___/___, Topic:____________________
3) Who did not speak (names): ____________________
___________________________________________________
4) Creating a seating chart of the class below, use initials, example:
Don’t forget to enforce the one speaker at a time + help point out who hasn’t talked.