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Stand Up, Sit Down

This interactive strategy can be used at any time during instruction to get students thinking about their top three (3) key ideas, understandings, or themes of a unit of study. Together they will create one comprehensive list as a whole class.

Stand Up, Sit Down

Summary

Students can use this strategy at any time of instruction, working together to create a comprehensive list of their understanding of a topic. This list can serve as a guide for further study or review.

Procedure

Ask your students to write down their top three (3) understandings of a topic.
Instruct all of your students to stand up.
One at a time, your students will share just one (1) item from their list. If a student’s peer shares an item that is listed on their paper, they will mark it off.
As your students are sharing out, write down their responses on a sheet of chart paper or the board to have a comprehensive list of the class’s understandings. This becomes a working document that you can reference multiple times as instruction progresses.
Once a student has shared, or marked off, all of their understandings on their paper, they will sit down.
When all of your students are sitting, you know you have a complete list of the class’s understandings of the topic.