Journal Card Sort
Sixteen transactions on cards. Teams decide which account is debited and which is credited, lay the cards out, and then mark each other's. No phones, no wifi, no screen.
printed25 minEasygroups of 4Groups of 4, no devices
What it is
A printed activity. No code on the screen, nothing to join, and no wifi involved.
- Groups of 4, and about 25 minutes.
- 16 cards to cut apart, one set per group. Doing that before the class is the only preparation.
- The answer key prints on its own page, so the handout can be passed around without it.
- It runs in the week the phones are banned or the network is out, which is the week it is most needed.
Why it works
Because four people arguing over a card commit in a way thirty people watching a screen do not.
- Nobody can hide behind a device. The group has to agree out loud.
- Marking another group's sheet makes them read the reasoning rather than the score.
- You hear the disagreements as you walk round, which is the part a report cannot give you.
- There is more on the sheet than most groups will finish, so the fast ones keep going.
How the class goes.
- Before10 min, once
Print one set per group and cut it up. Keep the answer key.
- Hand out2 min
One set per group, face down, with a blank sheet for their answers.
- Work15 min
They argue, decide and write. You walk round and listen.
- Mark5 min
Sheets swap, you read the key aloud, and they mark each other.
- Reteach5 min
Spend what is left on the two or three they got wrong.
You hold one sheet. They hold another.
In your hand
- A facilitation script written for somebody who has not run it before
- The answer key, with the reasoning rather than just the answer
- 16 cards laid out two to a row, ready to cut
- Which groups are arguing, which is the thing you only get in the room
On their table
- Paper, and the three other people at the table
- One decision per card, with nothing telling them whether they are right yet
- Another group's answers when the sheets swap
What we would tell you over tea.
- Cut the cards before the class, not during it. It is ten minutes once and it is reusable.
- Keep the answer key off the desk until the sheets have swapped.
- Let a wrong answer stand for a minute before you correct it. The argument is the lesson.
- This prints and runs with the network down, so it is the one to keep in a drawer.
Ready when you are.
Making an account takes a minute, and the whole library opens with it.