Assignment #7: Complete the 4 part assignment format as you read, reflect, and respond to Chapter 7 – Cooperative Learning.
Remember: Although your course packet asks you to post to blog for parts A, B, C, and D…we are asking that you only post part C and D. We’re trying to make the blog easier to read and more user- friendly. Thanks!
A. Self Assessment of Current Beliefs and Practices: This component asks you to reflect on how and why you currently use the instructional strategy of Cooperative Learning in your classroom. The intent of this is to activate your prior knowledge of your strategy use so that you can make comparisons as you read the chapter. Below are the questions to help you complete your self-assessment. After completing your self assessment please post a thought or two as a comment (click on comment link below) to this posting labeled Week Seven: Cooperative Learning.
• What is your purpose for using cooperative learning in your classroom?
• What kind of cooperative learning activities do you use with your students?
• Think of a time when you used cooperative learning and was pleased with the results. Why did it work well?
• Think of a time when you used cooperative learning and was not pleased with the results. Why didn’t it work well?
B. Read & Reflect “Research & Theory”: This portion of the assignment asks you to read chapter 7 and reflect briefly on your thinking after reading the “Research and Theory” section for Cooperative Learning After completing your chapter reflection, please post it as a comment (click on comment link below) in the posting labeled Week Seven: Cooperative Learning.
C. Practice: Choose one of the specific “classroom practice” strategies or techniques shared in this chapter to try out with your students (If you are not currently teaching, you may share how you would use this strategy in your classroom). Please post a brief reflection of how this went to the posting labeled Week Seven: Cooperative Learning. Click on the “comment” link below.
D. Final Strategy Reflection: Use the following sequence of questions/prompts to reflect on what you’ve learned about both the strategies presented in the chapter and what you’ve learned about yourself as both a teacher and a learner. Please post your brief reflection to the posting labeled Week Six: Nonlinguistic Representations by clicking on the “comment” link below.
How has the information you read in this chapter on Nonlinguistic Representations effected your thinking about teaching and learning? What have you learned about yourself as a teacher and learner? Use the following questions to assist you in writing a brief strategy reflection:
• How might I change how use nonlinguistic representation in my classroom?
• What is something you now understand better about nonlinguistic representations?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I really like cooperative learning and I incorporate it into each unit. There is one cooperative learning exercise that I do that I really like, but I haven’t been happy with the way it was ending. I have done it for several years and each year I “tighten it up” a bit more, but it still hasn’t been working quite the way I’ve wanted. I read Chapter 7 and I’ve been meeting all of the general criteria so I asked one of our VPs to observe the lesson and to give me feedback. Below are the lesson and the feedback that he gave.
In my Spanish III class I had my students get together into groups of four. (At the beginning of the year I hand out drawings of various animals, i.e., crocodiles, ostriches, elephants, lions, rhinoceroses, monkeys, hippopotamuses and giraffes. I use these to organize my cooperative groups. For example I’ll say “find three other animals just like you, or I want you to get together with three completely different animals, etc. At other times I get away from the animal theme and I’ll have four people who sit right next to each other form a group—I created the seating chart.) When in their groups, I told them that they were going to be reading a Guatemalan legend. As a whole class we talked about reading strategies that I wanted them to think about that would help them to be successful.
1. Predicting by looking at the drawings.
2. Understanding what kind of reading it is—one reads a legend differently than, say, a computer manual.
3. The importance of looking for cognates to help to find meaning.
4. The importance of finding other familiar words to help find the meaning of words that are unknown.
5. Understanding the importance of a word in regard to looking it up if it’s unknown—if it’s a noun or a verb and you can’t figure it out, you’d better look it up If it’s a preposition, it’s probably not that important to spend the time looking it up.
I then told the students that they would be reading in a round-robin style, with each person having a role that would change with each section.. There would be a reader who would read the section out loud while the others followed along silently. The writer would write out the summary that the group decided on. The searcher would look up any words that the group could not figure out with the above mentioned tools and the Sergeant of Arms would keep everyone on task.
I told the groups that as they were reading, they were also to look for all the verbs that were written in the preterit and imperfect tenses and write them down and write down why they were in those forms—this is the current concept that we are studying.
So, with reading strategies in hand and directions clear, they were off. As usual they started off very strong and worked and worked and worked and worked and worked.
When each group was done reading the legend, we read the story out loud as a whole class, having students take turns with sections. We discussed the meaning of the story and where the preterit/imperfect verbs were and why they were in those particular tenses.
When the class ended I felt edgy. The students seemed exhausted. They had done everything that I had asked and the students worked well together but still something just bugged me, like usual. So, I got together with my VP for his input. It was so helpful.
He loved the lesson, the set-up, the feel of the class, the way the students worked together, etc. He then gave a simple suggestion in the form of a question. He asked “Have you thought about stopping the class about half way through the story and summarizing up to that point? It would give the class a break from the intense work. It would clarify things for groups who might be off on their ideas and it would revitalize everyone for the second half of the reading.” WOW!!!!!! BINGO!!!!!!!! THAT WAS IT!!!!!!!!!!
I felt like Ms. Mandrell in the book. Just that little suggestion really helped me to see how I could make that good cooperative learning activity so much better. So, the next time I do a cooperative reading activity with my classes I’m going to take a break in the middle, have the class summarize to that point, check whatever grammar structure we’re working on to see that everyone is getting it and then move forward from there. I think that students will find it far more beneficial. It’s funny how such a simple thing was just out of my reach. I’m so glad that I had someone observe me. That was really helpful input. I’m really looking forward to doing this type of lesson again and seeing how it improves with this change!
Hi Robin - Thanks so much for sharing your cooperative grouping experience...and aren't you both brave to ask a colleague, especially an administrator, to come in and watch something that you are struggling with. It's the best of teachers who can be so reflective and proactive about their teaching. Kudos to you!!! Your VP made a wonderful suggestion. During our reading and writing workshops at the elementary level, we use what's called a mid-workshop share. This is a time for us to share a strategy that we worked on with an individual student with the rest of the class or just remind students of the minilesson taught and encourage them to use the strategy during their independent reading or writing. Our independent periods last 35-40 minutes and we've found that the children work much more effectively when you focus them back in on their work with some reinforcement...How long are your work session? Thanks for sharing!
Our work sessions are 90 minutes, so it is clear (now!!) that I was pushing them too hard for to long. Thanks for the additional feedback. Like I said, I'm really excited about doing this activity again. I'm planning on doing a similar reading activity with my Sp. II's in about month. It will be fun/interesting to see how they do. Robin
Post a Comment