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Instructional Strategy

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INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY

Discussion Café

Grade:

6-8, 9-12, UNIV

Type:

Discuss & Collaborate
/ Develop Language (MLL)
< 20

Minutes

When:

Before, during, and after reading

Materials:

Preselected question or prompt
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Description

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© calvindexter—DigitalVision Vectors/Getty Images
The Discussion Café strategy creates a structured space for sharing knowledge and perspectives through discussion and collaboration. Students engage in group conversations at different tables, periodically rotating to new tables where a designated “table leader” summarizes the previous discussion topic. This strategy enables students to both teach and learn from their peers and share their thinking in smaller collaborative groups.
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Procedure

1
Arrange the classroom with desks or tables set up to seat four or five students. Place one large piece of chart paper at each group.
2
Group students, and invite each group to choose a table.
3
Provide each table with a question or prompt to discuss. Each table should have a different topic.
4
Invite groups to discuss the topic, jotting their thoughts on the paper.
5
After the allotted time, ask students to move to the next table, review the notes from the previous group, and build on the discussion.
6
Repeat the process until students have discussed all topics.
7
Ask each group to hang the chart paper from their table. Invite students to circulate and see what additional information other groups added to each paper.
8
Debrief with the class, asking students to reflect on big ideas and whether their thinking has been changed by reading what other students wrote.
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Differentiation

Prepared Notes: Prior to the Discussion Café, share the topics or questions with students and allow them to record their ideas and thinking in their notebooks or on sticky notes. When they get to a new group, invite students to use their notes to share their thoughts with the group. This allows students extra processing time and ensures that quieter students are heard.
Assign Group Leaders: For students who would benefit from the additional challenge, invite them to be a group leader at each of the stations. This student remains at one table for the duration of the activity, leading the discussion about that topic. This requires the student to synthesize ideas and lead a group discussion while allowing them to think more deeply about one particular aspect of the text or topic.

Multilingual Learning Support

Beginning Proficiency: Provide visual anchor charts at each table with key vocabulary and discussion frames in both English and home languages. The chart paper should include visual organizers with spaces for drawings and phrases in multiple languages. Pre-teach essential academic vocabulary needed for discussions and provide bilingual word banks specific to each topic. Provide students with simple sentence frames (e.g., “I notice…,” “This makes me think…”) to encourage them to participate in discussions.
Intermediate Proficiency: Support more complex discussion through academic conversation frames and content-specific vocabulary lists. Consider organizing the chart paper into preorganized sections for claims, evidence, and questions in both languages. Provide structured note-taking guides that help students build on previous groups’ ideas, using phrases like “Building on the previous idea…” or “Another perspective is….”
Advanced Proficiency: Emphasize sophisticated academic discourse while maintaining the dynamic nature of the Discussion Café. Each table can have discipline-specific language frames that support argumentation and synthesis (e.g. “This evidence connects to…because…,” “We can analyze this from multiple perspectives…”). Consider including metacognitive reflection prompts on how ideas evolve across group discussions. Encourage students to use academic vocabulary and complex sentence structures, particularly when summarizing previous discussions and connecting ideas across topics.
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Variations

Visual Discussion Café: Rather than one topic per table, use images or symbols from the lesson. Ask each group to analyze and respond to the image, explaining its importance to the topic or otherwise answering a teacher-created prompt.
Inter-Class Café: Facilitate a Discussion Café with students from multiple classes that are reading the same text or studying the same topic. This enhances student learning by enabling them to hear a wider range of ideas and perspectives.
Digital Café: Facilitate a Discussion Café via the online program of your choice. Encourage students to rotate through the topics digitally, engaging in discussion via written notes. This allows for the creation of digital charts that are accessible to all students.
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