I, like many teachers before me, found myself so frustrated by how many of my students were unable to hold a discussion without resorting to insults, nasty side comments and off-topic conversations that I decided to use Academic Language Scripts from AVID. However, I realized that merely printing out the scripts was confusing and made the conversation too stilted especially when students were spending so much time trying to find out how to speak that they forgot what they were trying to say.

I created these placards with several purposes:

- to assign students roles that could be easily switched.

- to create student buy-in with popular memes that (with the exception of one) is the OPPOSITE of how we want them to conduct themselves in a discussion.

- to serve as a silent indicator that only one person is talking at a time and it is the person who is holding their placard up to read from the back.

PRINTING INSTRUCTIONS:

I have provided both a PDF and a Google Drive link. The document is formatted so that when you print double sided, the words match up perfectly with the image on the front and all you have to do is print on cardstock, cut them up and hot glue popsicle sticks on them. The PDF formatting doesn't change no matter what but the Google Drive link might give you some trouble if you have default margin settings. Mine are set to .5 on all four sides. Please email me if you have trouble printing.

I hope you enjoy these as much as my students do!