Taking Mix It Up from Lunch to the Classroom

I lean against my classroom door, fielding questions about last night’s homework and passing out early morning hellos. I watch students disperse into their assigned first-period classes. As I steal a quick sip of my morning coffee, I find myself pausing at this thought: A supposedly unbiased computer system serendipitously placed our students into their respective classes, but is this all there is to mixing it up?

No.

During my coffee cup inquiry, I also recalled having heard students who sit in the same class together call each other “hey you” because they never bothered to learn each other’s names. The use of these unacceptable pseudonyms prompted me to work on a writing project designed to help students get to know their peers. My source was Write Source, which suggests a “phase autobiography” as a writing assignment for middle school students. I decided to adapt this idea and have my students write a “phase biography.”

A “phase biography” is piece of writing that focuses on a specific time in a person’s life. In this assignment, each student acts as biographer to another student they do not know well. This gives them an authentic reason to learn about someone they previously just thought of as being the occupant of the third desk in the row by the bulletin board.

To help students write a “phase biography” I suggest taking the following steps:

1. Assign students a peer partner they do not seem to know well. You might consider spending several days observing this before making your final decision.
2. Take students through a series of activities in which they can get to know their new partner in a neutral environment. Use at least three activities to build students’ knowledge of their partners. Possible activities include:
   • Life Maps—Create a sequential map of important life experiences;
   • Interviews—As a class, determine acceptable interview questions and then provide time for students to interview each other;
   • Conversations—Create conversation starters for students to use, and then give them two to three minutes to discuss each topic with their peer;
   • Picture Exchanges—Have students bring in a collection of personal snapshots to share and explain to their partners; and
   • Lunch Time Challenge—Challenge each student to eat lunch together for a day and learn five new things about their partner.
3. Once students understand each other better, it is time to transfer their knowledge to paper. Emphasize that students should focus on one important event in their partner’s life, not tell us everything. Partners should agree on the topic.
4. Once rough drafts are complete, each student should let their partner suggest revisions to the biography created about them. Give them a specific graphic organizer to aid them in this process.
5. Then each student should write a final draft. Here are some ideas about how to share their stories with the class:

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  • Create a bulletin board space where students and teachers can stop by to read the biographies.
  • Assign a presentation day for each biography.
  • Create a class library where students can check out the biographies of their peers.

The main goal is to give students a chance to take part in an extended Mix It Up experience. It should help them see the classroom as more than just an assignment made by a computer. And even more importantly, it should help them see that the person sitting next to them as more than just a body on the alphabetically ordered class roster.

Yahn is a middle school language arts teacher in Ohio.