Top Ten List and Diamond Sort

This activity is designed to solicit student voice on instructional approaches or pedagogy through discussion. In small groups, students will be tasked with coming up with the “top ten” pedagogical strategies that work for them. The teacher should be prepared to share some brief examples to help the groups get started. After comparing their lists across groups in order to create a master list, students select and arrange a subset of the items in the list in a hierarchical order, with the most valuable or important items at the top and the least valuable at the bottom. This activity aims to prioritize and highlight the most valuable content to inform future lesson planning and instructional activities.