For this small-group reading lesson, I used question index cards to guide a fishbowl discussion on the book, The Iceberg Wrangler. Each student picked a card, read the question out loud, and then did a quick turn-and-talk before sharing with the group. After someone responded, I encouraged the others to add on, agree or disagree respectfully, make a connection, or go back into the text to support what they were saying.

I asked open-ended questions when I needed to push their thinking a little further, but I really tried to let them respond to each other instead of looking at me for the “right” answer. This routine helped the students feel more confident and kept everyone involved. It ended up being a really natural conversation where students were listening to each other and building on each other’s ideas in a meaningful way.