Big Fish Bigger Fish Biggest Fish Protocol

Complex text can offer many ideas and issues, but sometimes we need to address the foundational ideas, warrants of arguments, assumptions underlying a text, and make connections and take on those over-riding concepts.

Set-up/Identify - Time :

Read text, marking issues and concepts which seem to be, represent and/or imply the most important, controlling ideas and/or underlying assumptions.

Focus/Evaluate - Time:

Mark one or two ideas you think seem to include or subsume the others that address conditions or possibilities of teaching and learning.

Discussion/Critique & Synthesize - Time:

In small groups, ideally no larger than four, share your ideas and then prioritize or put into a hierarchy according to encompassing, critical or foundational idea.

Optional: create an illustrative poster showing your collective thinking and rationale.

Share/Social Critique - Time:

Each group explains their thinking: the Biggest Fish and their rationale.