Instructional Strategy

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY

Four Corners

Grade:

K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12

Type:

Discuss & Collaborate

< 20

Minutes

When:

Before, during, and after reading

Materials:

None

Description

Four Corners is a discussion and collaboration strategy that is used to promote verbal reasoning, active listening, respectful discourse, and flexible thinking as students discuss their response to a teacher-posed statement or question.

Procedure

Generate a list of debatable statements or questions related to the material being studied.

Label the four corners of the room with signs reading “Strongly Agree,” “Agree,” “Disagree,” and “Strongly Disagree.”

Display and read aloud a statement. Provide thinking time for students to consider their opinion about the statement and reasons to support this opinion. If doing this activity after reading, remind students to use textual evidence to support their opinion. Encourage them to jot down their thoughts and evidence to help them organize and articulate their ideas.

After the thinking and writing time, invite students to move to the corner of the room that best represents their opinion.

Once all students have moved to a corner, have them explain to their group why they chose that corner. Allow about 2 or 3 minutes for discussion before asking groups to come up with a brief statement summarizing their group’s thinking.

Invite a volunteer from each group to present their group’s summary.

After all groups have shared their responses, provide time for students to switch corners if they have changed their minds.

Once any students who wanted to move have settled in their new corners, call on a few volunteers to share why they changed corners. This promotes flexible thinking and active listening as students learn from their classmates.

Repeat the process for as many rounds as desired.

Differentiation

Sentence Frames: Encourage students to share their ideas in complete sentences by providing sentence frames. This helps structure their explanations and enhances verbal reasoning skills.

I strongly agree/agree/disagree/strongly disagree that ___ because ___.

I think ___ because the text says ___.

I would/would not ___, because ___.

In my opinion, ___ because ___.

While I acknowledge ___, I also ___.

Based on ___, I can conclude that ___.

Vary Response Options: Offer alternative response methods, such as limiting choices to “Agree” or “Disagree” and using chart paper for written explanations shared by a spokesperson. This simplifies engagement and promotes inclusive participation.

Four Corners Debate: Encourage students to strengthen their claims by discussing how to convince others to join their corner, presenting their strongest reasons first, and then sharing and refuting evidence with other groups. This process enhances critical thinking and persuasive skills.

Variations

Human Continuum: Use the Human Continuum strategy to allow students to express why they are undecided or neutral on a discussion prompt. Create a horizontal line on the board or floor with labels on either end for “Completely Agree” and “Completely Disagree,” and “Neither Agree nor Disagree” in the middle. Read a statement and invite students to position themselves on the line according to their opinion. Once they are positioned, ask students to discuss their placement, providing evidence to support their stance.

Instructional Strategy

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY

Four Corners

Description

Procedure

Differentiation

Variations

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