from MaryAnne Farley

We love Touchstones here at Barnstable Middle School. I have used it with students in Grades 7 and 8 for 8 years now. I teach small groups of students in a pullout gifted student program, so you would think all my students would freely talk about many issue. Sometimes, however, I find that some are reluctant. I find that often a group that doesn't usually talk will feel completely free in the Touchstones classroom. Thank you for this incredible program.

I am not sure what you mean by favorite Touchstones class experience...but here is an activity which I add early in the seminars, when I find students who do not look for clues from others that there is a space where they many enter the conversation without interrupting someone else.

Students sit in a circle, as in the Touchstones style. The goal is to cooperatively count as high as they can with the following rules:

Only one student can name a number at a time.
No visual or oral signals may be used.
No patterns of speakers may be incorporated.
All students must participate.

A given student begins by saying "1". Any other student may then say "2". Individual students say the numbers in ascending order. If two or more students say a number together, the game starts all over again. We keep track of how high a class can go. Sometimes we have to stop and analyze what works for us: watching all other speakers, taking time to go slowly, etc.

The students give their ideas, and off they go again. They love this activity! It does help them to learn to pay attention to everyone else in the group.