Headlines
The Headlines thinking routine encourages participants to synthesize information and identify key takeaways by creating concise headlines. This method promotes deeper understanding and highlights the core essence of a topic or experience.
Use this method when you need participants to quickly process information, extract key insights, or summarize learning after a presentation, reading, or discussion.
Solves: Difficulty summarizing complex information, superficial understanding of a topic, lack of clear takeaways from a discussion.
- 1
Step 1: Introduce the activity and explain the concept of writing headlines (2 minutes).
- 2
Step 2: Present the information (e.g., article, presentation, video) to the group (allow appropriate time).
- 3
Step 3: Individually, participants write 2-3 headlines that capture the essence of the information (5 minutes).
- 4
Step 4: In small groups (3-4 people), participants share their headlines and discuss the different perspectives (8 minutes).
- 5
Step 5: Facilitate a brief whole-group discussion to highlight key themes and insights (5 minutes).
- Encourage participants to be creative and concise with their headlines.
- Remind participants that there is no single 'right' headline.
- Model an example headline to get participants started.
- Use images or videos as the source material instead of text.
- Have participants vote on the best headline.
- Use the headlines as a starting point for further discussion or brainstorming.