Other People's Views

Instead of one person reporting his or her thinking as though it represents the opinions of a large group, Other People’s Views focuses attention on gathering opinions and ideas from all individuals. Once those ideas are gathered, they are considered in an open-minded comparative analysis.

Implementation

1. Establish group norms with students by sharing information such as the following:

· Everyone has a right to their own opinions and ideas about a given topic.

· Others’ opinions or views are not wrong even though we may not agree with them.

· Others’ opinions reflect their own experiences and knowledge.

· Exposure to opinions different from one’s own and open-mindedness provide opportunities for learning.

2. One critical practice that needs to be employed is to ask students to suspend judgment until the time for open discussion.

Classroom Management

1. Present an issue and in small groups have each student write down his or her thoughts about the best way to address the problem/issue.
2. Have the group appoint a note-taker whose job is to record all the ideas that are presented.
3. Using a strategy such as Consequences and Sequel, the group decides which ideas are the best and creates a prioritized ranking of the list.