Run a group discussion with assigned roles, a goal and a deadline; build on others' remarks with questions, responses and conclusions; and report back with eye contact at an understandable pace

Learning goal: This lesson teaches five sub-parts of Ohio's 2026 speaking and listening standards, first implemented in 2027-28. In a small-group discussion you will define individual assigned roles and set and track progress toward specific goals and deadlines as needed (SL.7.1c); make comments that further the discussion, elaborating on and drawing conclusions from the remarks of others (SL.7.1d); and pose questions that elicit elaboration and respond to specific questions with relevant observations and ideas (SL.7.1e). Then, presenting the group's claim and findings to the class, you will use appropriate eye contact (SL.7.4c) and clear speech at an understandable pace (SL.7.4d).

Original task sheet — Choosing the Class Service Project (invented; every name and number is hypothetical)

Mr. Haddad's seventh-grade class of 28 students will run one service project in May. Each group of four will recommend one of the three projects below in a two-minute report to the class on Friday, and the class will vote after hearing every group.

Book drive. The children's waiting room at a nearby clinic has asked for 60 picture books and chapter books, new or in good condition. Families would donate books over two weeks; the class would sort and deliver them.

Park cleanup. One Saturday morning at Elm Street Park. The city parks office provides gloves and bags and requires one adult for every 10 students, so all 28 students would need 3 adult volunteers.

Reading buddies. The first-grade teacher can host 14 pairs at a time, in her classroom on Friday afternoons for four weeks, 20 minutes per visit, with both teachers present. The class would split into two groups of 14 that alternate weeks, so each seventh grader would visit twice.

Define individual assigned roles, as needed. A role is a job with a stated duty, assigned to one person so that everyone knows who does it. Define each role by what the person does, not by a title. The facilitator invites each member in, keeps one speaker at a time and asks follow-up questions. The recorder writes the group's decisions, reasons and open questions in the group's own words and reads them back. The timekeeper announces each checkpoint and says what is done and what is missing. The evidence checker reads the task sheet aloud whenever someone cites it from memory. "As needed" is part of the standard: define the roles the task requires. Two partners talking for five minutes need none; a group of four choosing among three options and preparing a report will probably use all four, though it could combine or rotate roles as long as every job is covered. If a role has nothing to do, drop it and give that person another job.

Set specific goals and deadlines. A goal is specific when it names the product and tells the group how it will know it is finished. "Talk about the projects" is not specific; nobody can tell when it is done. "Choose one project, give two reasons from the task sheet and name one open question for the report" is specific: it names three things that must exist at the end. A deadline is the time by which the product must exist, here fifteen minutes. Set checkpoints inside the deadline, here at minutes 5 and 10, because a deadline alone tells you only at the end that you have run out of time.

Track progress toward the goal and the deadline. Tracking progress means comparing what exists with the goal at each checkpoint, saying aloud what is done and what is missing, and adjusting. Announcing the time is not tracking. "Five minutes" tells the group nothing; "Five minutes: we have only discussed the cleanup, and nothing yet on the book drive or reading buddies" tells the group where to go next. Adjusting can mean moving to the missing part, narrowing the options, or, if the goal cannot be met, agreeing on what to report as unfinished.

Make comments that further the discussion. A comment furthers a discussion when the group knows more or can decide more after it. Two moves do this. To elaborate on a remark is to take another speaker's point and extend it with a detail from the task sheet, a consequence the speaker did not state, or an example; name the speaker so the group can follow the thread ("Building on Sofia's point, ..."). To draw a conclusion from the remarks of others is to put two or more remarks together and state what follows from them that none of the speakers said alone ("If Jae is right that ... and Sofia is right that ..., then ..."). A comment that only agrees ("Same as Sofia") or restarts with an unrelated point does not further the discussion, even when it is true.

Pose questions that elicit elaboration; respond to specific questions. A question elicits elaboration when it asks a named speaker to explain, give evidence, give an example or think through a consequence of something they said. "Do you like the cleanup?" asks only for a verdict; "Omar, what makes one morning better for you than four Friday afternoons?" asks him to explain his reason. Responding is the other half. To respond to a specific question is to answer the question actually asked, first and directly, with a relevant observation (a fact from the task sheet, something you noticed) or a relevant idea, and then to give your reasoning. Restating your own view, answering a different question or saying only "I just think so" is not a response. If you do not know, say so and say how the group could find out; that is a relevant observation too.

Report back with appropriate eye contact. When the group's spokesperson presents the claim and findings to the class, eye contact tells listeners they are being spoken to. Appropriate means suited to the setting and the audience. Before a class, look up at listeners for most of the report; move your gaze slowly across the left, center and right of the room, including the back row; finish each key sentence looking at someone; and look down at your note card only in the pauses between points. A card with key words and numbers, not full sentences, keeps those glances short. In a group of four, by contrast, look at the person you are answering. Reading from a sheet, staring at one friend or the teacher, and looking at the floor are not appropriate. If direct eye contact is uncomfortable, looking toward listeners' foreheads or just over their heads still lets them feel spoken to.

Speak clearly at an understandable pace. Clear speech means forming every sound, keeping the ends of words and sentences at full volume, and taking special care with numbers: "fourteen" and "forty" sound alike when rushed, so stress the second syllable of "fourteen." An understandable pace is a speed, with pauses, at which listeners can take in each point before the next one arrives. Slow down for numbers, names and the recommendation; speak at an ordinary speed through connecting words; pause after each point and before the open question. Nervous speakers tend to speed up, and a two-minute limit tempts everyone to rush. If the report does not fit, cut a detail rather than speed up. Check the pace by rehearsing to a partner who then repeats your recommendation, both reasons and the key numbers; where the partner loses you, slow down or add a pause.

The misconception. Many students think roles, goals and deadlines are for adult meetings and make a discussion stiff. They do the opposite: when the group knows its product, its time and who is watching the clock, everyone is free to think about the projects. A second misconception is that speaking fast sounds confident. Listeners judge a report by whether they can repeat its point, and a fast report gives them nothing to repeat.

Worked example 1 — setting the goal, the deadline and the roles. Lena's first opening was "Let's talk about the projects for a while." It sets no product, no time and no jobs. Her revised opening: "Our goal is to choose one project, give two reasons from the task sheet and name one open question, ready for Friday's report. We have fifteen minutes, with checkpoints at five and ten. Jae, you are timekeeper. Omar records. Sofia checks the sheet. I will make sure everyone speaks." The goal is specific because it names three things that must exist at the end; the deadline has two checkpoints; and each role has a stated duty. Four roles are needed because four people are weighing three options and preparing a report.

Worked example 2 — tracking progress at the checkpoints. At minute 5 Jae says, "Five minutes. We have talked about the cleanup only; nothing on the book drive or reading buddies." The group adjusts by asking Sofia to read the reading-buddies entry. At minute 10 Jae says, "Ten minutes. We have a project and two reasons. We still need an open question." With five minutes left, Lena asks, "What don't we know yet?" and the group agrees on one: whether two visits are enough to help a first grader's reading. Each checkpoint compares what exists with the goal and names what is missing, so the group finishes the product inside the deadline.

Worked example 3 — an exchange with the moves labeled. Omar: "I think the park cleanup. Everyone can do it in one morning." Sofia: "The sheet says the parks office needs one adult for every ten students. For 28 of us that's three adults." Jae: "Building on Sofia's point, the cleanup is on a Saturday, so it depends on three parents we haven't asked yet. If only two can come, eight of us can't go." (Elaborates on Sofia's remark with a consequence: two adults cover 20 students, and 28 − 20 = 8.) Lena: "Omar, what makes one morning better for you than four Friday afternoons?" (Poses a question that elicits elaboration.) Omar: "One morning is one date to plan instead of four Fridays to schedule." (Responds to the specific question with a relevant observation.) Lena: "Sofia, what does the sheet say about reading buddies?" Sofia: "Fourteen pairs at a time, in the first-grade room on Friday afternoons for four weeks, twenty minutes each, with both teachers there. Half of us go each Friday, so each of us visits twice." (Responds with the facts asked for.) Omar: "If the cleanup needs three adults we haven't asked, as Jae said, and reading buddies happens in a classroom with both teachers, as Sofia said, then reading buddies is safer than the cleanup: of those two, it is the one we can promise the class right now." (Draws a conclusion from two speakers' remarks that neither said alone.) Compare a weak answer to Lena's question: "I just like the park better." It restates Omar's view instead of answering the question asked.

Worked example 4 — the spokesperson's report, marked for eye contact and pace. Jae reports to the class. One slash is a short pause, two slashes a long pause, capitals are said more slowly, and brackets show where he looks. "[center] Our group recommends READING BUDDIES. // [left] We have two reasons. / First, it needs NO EXTRA ADULTS: / both teachers are already in the first-grade room. // [right] Second, every one of us takes part: / FOURTEEN PAIRS at a time, / so each of us visits TWICE, / for TWENTY MINUTES, / on Friday afternoons. // [glance at card, then back row] We still have one open question: / are two visits enough to help a first grader's reading? // [center] We suggest asking the first-grade teacher before the class votes. //" The long pauses fall after each complete point, the slow words are the recommendation and the numbers, and he looks down only during a pause. His partner repeats back "reading buddies, no extra adults, everyone takes part, two visits," so the pace works.

Discussion plan and observation sheet (representation task): Before your group discusses a real class decision, write the goal as a product the group will have at the end, the deadline with two checkpoints, and the roles you need with one duty for each, crossing out any role your group does not need. During the discussion, an observer tallies four moves by name: questions that elicit elaboration, responses to a specific question, elaborations of another speaker's remark, and conclusions drawn from two or more remarks; the observer writes down one example of each. After the discussion, the spokesperson writes the report as a script and marks pauses, slow words and where to look.

Independent performance: In a group of four, discuss a decision your class actually faces, or use the task sheet in this lesson, and then present the group's recommendation in a two-minute report. Success criteria: the group sets a specific goal and a deadline with checkpoints before discussing, assigns only the roles it needs and states each duty; the timekeeper's checkpoints say what is done and what is missing, and the group adjusts; you pose at least one question that elicits elaboration and respond to at least one specific question with a relevant observation; you make at least one comment that elaborates on another speaker's remark and the group draws at least one conclusion from two or more remarks, naming the speakers; the spokesperson looks up at listeners across the room, glances at notes only in pauses, speaks every number clearly, and slows down and pauses so that a listener can repeat the recommendation and both reasons.