Sample activities from "Teaching for Character and Community,"  Spencer Kagan, Educational Leadership, October 2001, p 50-55

Paraphrase Passport--In a small group or pair discussion, each person who speaks must paraphrase what the prior speaker said. This improves listening skills, but also helps students understand other points of view and become more emphatic.

Round Robin--Students work in small groups, each student shares his or her idea in turn. (This is similar to Ordered Sharing, but less structured.

Corners-Post 4 different but appropriate answers to a question in each corner of room. Ask the question and have the students move to the corner with the answer they find most appropriate. They then discuss why they think this answer is the most appropriate. Then each group shares with the whole class why they think that answer is the best. In a literature, one could post the opening lines from four pieces of literature or poetry and ask students to move to the one they would find most interesting and would like to read. They then explain why. In math, four solutions to a problem could be posted in each corner of the room. The students indicate which method they used by moving to that solution and explaining why they used it. Inn science, one could use a puzzling science phenomenon with four possible explanations.

Folder and Split Agree-Disagree line-ups--This is good for exploring controversial issues. After having learned something about the topic, students line up according to their personal strength of agreement at one end or strength of disagreement on the other end.  Students who are mixed stand in the middle.  First students share their opinions with those next to them, then the line gets folded in half so that those students who most strongly agree are facing those who most strongly disagree.  Each student paraphrases the other's point of view.  Then the line unfolds again and splits in the middle.  Now the lines move so that those with mixed feelings are facing those with strong feelings and paraphrase each other's opinions.

Team Statements--Use this to explore deep, abstract concept. First each student works alone and writes a definition of a concept, for example, democracy.  Next, in groups of 4, the students read the definitions to each other and give feedback.  Then group members work together to form a team definition that incorporates all the ideas of the members.

Team Pair Solo--Students work together on a difficult problem first as a team, then do a similar problem as a pair, and finally they do it on their own.

Expert Group Jigsaw--Students form groups who become expert on a topic. Then new groups are formed with one student from each expert group. They teach each other about their topic. Another way that I use this is to give each expert group a short article expressing a different opinion or different perspective on a controversial topic. The experts then teach their new groups about that particular point of view. The new group tries to come to consensus on the best opinion or perspective or create a solution. I have also used this activity with pieces of literature, poetry or academic readings. Each group gets one part of the reading and becomes familiar with it. Then in the new groups, they have to reassemble the parts in the correct order.