Basketball talk: The easiest way to have a ‘true’ whole class discussion

Recently, our school tutor time programme has been focusing on using ‘talk’ effectively in the classroom and, so far, I have introduced my tutees to the ‘Basketball’ technique of classroom discussion. This is where a central idea is ‘bounced’ around the classroom from pupil to pupil, resulting in an evaluation of the best responses given, as opposed to the, fairly limiting, technique of a teacher posing questions back and forth to individual pupils.

Our school follows a vertical tutoring structure, whereby in one tutor group you will have a mix of all ages, from 11-16. Two of my older boys asked if they could deliver a session on ‘Basketball talk’ and generate a class discussion using this method – a request which, of course, I was more than happy to oblige!

They began the session by re-capping exactly how to use ‘Basketball talk’ and then posed the question, which was based around the idea that, here in Portsmouth we actually have a lot of activities to participate in (particularly for a relatively small island), but we don’t seem to have enough advertising for these activities.  The pupils were asked to think about whether there was enough for them to do in Portsmouth AND whether it was advertised well enough.

The boys allowed the rest of the tutor group one minute ‘thinking time’ in silence to allow them to collect their thoughts about what they were going to say. Once this time had elapsed, they asked one child to begin with his ideas. Then the conversation really started to flow as the pupils took charge and led the conversation themselves, without input from me, or indeed their older peers.

What was nice about the session was the input from those pupils who may be deemed ‘quiet’ or ‘shy’. Where it was their fellow pupils encouraging them to talk and ‘’passing’’ the idea onto them (like a basketball!), suddenly these quiet pupils were answering questions, giving opinions and, in once case even contesting with a fellow pupil. Brilliant! Having a peer talk to you and ask for your opinion can be a lot less intimidating than a big scary teacher stood at the front of the class!

After the conversation had come to a natural halt, we considered who had given the most balanced argument and why. Evaluating the responses after the discussion can be just as an important process as being involved in the discussion itself. It allows pupils to reconsider what others may have said 2,3, 5 minutes ago and think about the points they were making, rather than just ‘switching off’ after ‘their turn’.

Two points to note that came out of this sessions, from the pupil’s perspective were:

1.       Ensure ‘thinking time’ is used effectively. Two of our pupils were slightly distracted and therefore had fairly limited responses. Although interestingly, once they began to hear the responses from others, they wanted another opportunity for input.

2.       Beware of distractions during ‘thinking time’ and the discussions itself. Put everything out the way, so that everyone can focus on each other and their opinions.

The pupils felt that there were many benefits to this method, mainly, as noted above the way that it allowed everyone to get involved in a safe and supportive way. When questioned about the subjects that may best to utilise this method, the – perhaps obvious – answers of English, History and PSHE were given. But then one pupil piped up saying “actually every subject could use this as we talk in all subjects!”

So there you have it! Basketball talk – give it a go! You may be surprised where it can take you and your class…

Rebecca Davis