The school year is coming to close here at FGS. We are now working to help our students finish their course work and prepare for their classes next year. In our 10th grade classes we have spent the year working on discussion surrounding topics like childhood, immigration, discrimination and LGBTQ issues. The students have done a wonderful job of accessing the texts we use in class and of digging deeper into these issues. Given that they are trying to discuss these topics in their second language we need to be sure to allow them the time and space to explore both the topic and ways to express their ideas. 　In class recently we used some yarn and had the students pass it to each other to track their lines of communication. This worked as a good reminder for them to be more active not only in speaking out but also in including quieter students. It also worked as a way to show them who they haven’t spoken directly to and therefore whose ideas they have not fully interacted with. By the end of the lesson I feel my students were more aware of their tendencies to shy away from speaking out or their tendency towards accepting what others say without following up or learning more about it and can now work on a course correction.