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 Seven: Cooperative Learning by clicking on the “comment” link below.
How has the information you read in this chapter on Cooperative Learning 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 cooperative learning in my classroom?
• What is something you now understand better about cooperative learning?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
11 comments:
Cooperative learning
c. In the last two years I have become more comfortable with cooperative learning. After reading this chapter, I was stuck by what a difference group size made. I have always thought that for something to be called cooperative learning it should have 4 or 5 students in the group, but clearly working in pairs is included in cooperative learning and is very effective. I use pair work to help students stay engaged, increase participation and making learning more interesting. I frequently have students turn to their partners to share an answer before sharing with the whole class and have students read in pairs daily.
One thing the the chapter highlighted was the importance of making sure every student has a task during cooperative learning. I have been working on this aspect of cooperative learning. In the past during pair reading time, in the past I have had one student count errors while the other student reads out loud for a minute. Frequently the student who should be counting is not on task as I would like that child to be. This last week I experimented with giving both students the reading in a sheet protector page. The student who is listening has a marker and circles errors the reader makes. I was amazed by how much more involved everyone was in cooperative learning once I had more defined roles and expectations for everyone in the group.
d. I have not done much work with students in groups of three. I would like to have more triads during my cooperative learning time. I am thinking that I could match a high student with a medium student and a low student. For example, this week I was teaching students graphing. After doing a mini lesson and giving students time to practice alone or with a pair, I gave everyone a one minute assessment test. I then had students line up by the number of correct scores they answered in a minute and paired high with low for a 10 minute tutoring session, followed by another assessment. (All of the students improved!) In the future, I think it would be interesting to pair a high, medium and low student together. I tend to not use triads because I have a hard time figuring out what role each student should have during peer tutoring sessions. Does anyone have any advice on that?
I actually used this strategy this past week in my fire science elective class.
At the end of our trimester, I have them do a research project where they use a website I found + a guided worksheet to collect information about a given fatality fire...a wildland fire where one or more fire fighters died while putting it out.
I have done this assignment before, and have tweaked the assignment this trimester, using ideas from the book to fine tune the assignment.
First Time:
-Groups of 3-4
-1 laptop per group
-I picked teams based on a varied mix of abilities
This Time:
-Groups of 2 (3 if necessary)
-1 laptoper per group
-Students pick partner
The smaller groups definitely worked much better. With larger groups, we ran into socialization issues. We also ran into less personality issues when they picked their own groups.
If I were to change the assignment in the future using strategies from the book, I would definitely assign roles to the members of the group, or explain the roles and have them decide who does what.
This should increase student buy-in, and put some weight on each student to perform for their group.
While I already do some of the things I read about in this chapter, I have definitely pulled some new ideas from it.
We learned about these skills (particularly the part about assigning roles) in grad school, but I've always felt this just added another layer of complexity to the assignment. I'll definitely have to try this in the future.
C. Practice
For my Sink and Float unit with my kinders I created an INFORMAL Cooperative group project. I have done this before reading this chapter but did some tweaking with my new found knowledge. I made groups smaller and assigned a task for each student, which I had not done in the past.
The students were working with a tub of water and making a hypothesis about whether certain items would sink or float. There job was to work with one piece of paper and all 'test' two objects. The students had make a guess first, test it, mark the box for the answer and then be prepared to share their answers later with the rest of the class while telling us why they believe it sinks or floats.
In the past my groups were six students and six items (this matched their table groups from their seating charts) and this time I did three students and I chose heterogeneous groups. In the past they took turns testing and as a group shared their findings and this time I assigned each student two items and that particular student had to share their findings.
I was impressed by how smoothly things went this time around. Each student got involved and they worked together to come up with the 'why' piece. When it was their turn to share each student seemed to have a very clear idea as to why their items seemed to sink or float. This is very tough content and this activity always seems to give us a great jumping off point for our unit. The things I learned really helped things run smoothly this time around.
D. Reflection
I find that the best learning in my class happens when the students learn from each other. I try hard to find different ways to allow students to work together. Working with kinders I do a lot of pair/share breaks during our rug time. This allows them to review, extend, prepare for sharing, get a mental break from listening to me, and also an opportunity to process out loud.
I find that when I do lessons that allow cooperative working the learning goes deeper without any effort on my part. I get to guide rather than lecture. The students not only teach each other but they teach me too. By listening to them I learn new ways to share new content in the future. I think for me it is the best way to allow time to observe and assess my students. On top of all this it builds community and I think this is one of the most important things I can teach my students. We all have knowledge to offer and cooperative learning reminds kids that they all have something important to add. I look forward to doing more of this the rest of the school year.
Suzie Kabeiseman, Week 7, Cooperative Leaning
c. I have used cooperative learning a lot in the past when I taught 6th grade. It's a great format that has many benefits. I usually mixed my abilities, not wanting any one finished product to out shine another. I also think there is a lot for everyone to learn from each other, no matter the skill or ability level of any one student.
The biggest problem I noticed with my groups was that there was always someone that was not pulling their weight. This created frustration, resentment and anger within groups. Because of this, I had to tell kids I was giving only individual grades or individual/group grades. I couldn't rationalize giving a group grade when one in the group doesn't pull their weight. It just didn't seem fair to me.
In the future, I think I will lower my group sizes and encourage more partner work. With that said, I would also allow for individual work. I too get burned out on having to turn to a colleague and discuss whatever issue is being dealt with before coming back as a whole to process. Personally, I think it's WAY over used in staff inservices and seminars.
d. This chapter reminded me of a lot of work I had done when writing my masters thesis. My topic was about ability grouping and the affective issues in regards to TAG students. What I found out, in my very small qualitative study, was that gifted kids occasionally like to work with their ability peers and don't always want to be in the regular classroom which can render them bored and unchallenged.
In a very succinct way, Marzano compresses a lot of research into a tight little chapter. I don't know that it will change the way I teach much. It will focus the cooperative choices that I do make though. I will be more conscience of group size and the variety of grouping that I use. For instance, I'll keep groups to 3 or 4 and vary between formal and informal structures. I'm sure this will make my teaching, and students learning, more interesting.
C.
I had not heard of cooperative learning in the terms of the three types before: informal, formal, and base groups. I recognized that I have mainly used formal cooperative learning groups, such as with FOSS science kits, and some of my social studies units.
Therefore, when I return to teaching, I would like to implement informal groups into the classroom. I think pair sharing would work well in social studies when reading about the early explorers. When we are reading together as a group we could pause and the students could share with a partner from a teacher directed question. I think this would deepen their knowledge of the subject matter. It would also keep them focused on the text.
I could see how if you sprinkled pair sharing into the classroom here and there, across the curriculum, it would benefit the students in many areas:
1. Learning to share their thinking and opinions.
2. Getting to know their classmates better.
3. Learning to understand and listen to other points of view.
4. Practicing with retelling and summarizing.
5. …and more.
I think I have not done much informal grouping because I am on the shy side and always dreaded this type of activity myself. But I see what the benefits can be.
It was very interesting to read your comments about cooperative learning. I think that the researchers' ideas on varying the group's criteria (informal, formal, and base groups) are an important addition for all of us as educators to think about. I think the hardest part for the teacher is finding the balance (as it is in all areas of teaching)...How often do you use cooperative learning? How often do you the more structured formal groups, which curriculum project might work best with base groups? How often throughout the day, should I use informal groups such as Think-pair-shares?... It's a juggling act - like the rest of teaching!
Kay - you asked about using triads...personally, I prefer to use pairs during daily reading and math..and use larger groupings for content areas such as science or social studies at the primary level, but that's just a personal preference....if you would like, you can give me an idea of a project in one of these areas and we can see if I can help you with the groupings based on the assignment...??? Let me know.
D. Reflection
As a teacher, this chapter has broadened my knowledge of cooperative learning. My definition of cooperative learning, before reading, was groups of three to five children working on a project together. I learned that cooperative learning expands to include just two children working together, and can be a ten minute sharing all the way to a year long base group.
When I am teaching from now on I will monitor how often I am using cooperative learning, and I will vary using formal, informal and base groups. In the past I mainly used cooperative learning when the unit lesson plans called for it, such as with the FOSS science units. I think I will try and implement it in other areas of my teaching on my own.
As a learner, cooperative learning is not my favorite form of learning. Therefore, as a teacher, I used it sparingly. When I return to teaching I will try to sprinkle all three kinds of cooperative learning into the classroom keeping in mind the strong positive effect it has on learning, when used appropriately.
I was really struck by Carrah's reflection, when she said she gets to guide rather than lecture when she uses cooperative learning. When you are guiding the students towards deeper knowledge it is so exciting, opposed to lecturing. I know that I tend to lecture, lecture...lecture, because the room is quiet, and in control. As opposed to cooperative learning which may be loud and a tougher classroom management situation. Not to mention lecturing takes less lesson planning time. BUT the reward is so much larger when cooperative learning is planned, tasks are assinged, and expectations are clear. That is why I love to teach, and it is good to be reminded of the goal of teaching when the job seems overwhelming. Thanks Carrah for your well worded reminder!
Hey Kay - thanks for the reflection on Carrah's thinking...you're right - student led learning will definitely bring students to a deeper level of understanding!
C. I have been using cooperative learning in my classroom since I began teaching and have used all of the strategies mentioned in the chapter, except for the “base group” application. Students kind of end up in base groups though as they are working with a partner in “informal groups” so frequently that they end up with the same person, whoever is sitting by them, so often that this could be considered their “base group”.
I use both informal and formal groups on a daily basis in my classes. I have students work on assignments in pairs almost exclusively. Very seldom do they work individually. I have found more and more ways to use pairs in class as I’ve continued teaching. One new way that I’ve begun to employ this year is having them simply turn to their neighbor and compare homework assignments before we review in class. This is a 2-minute activity that cuts down on error correction, increases their confidence in the accuracy of their homework, thereby increasing their willingness to participate, and it provides further oral practice of the grammar structures we are currently working on. A simple technique with worthwhile results. Most frequently, I use informal groups to have them do question and answer scenarios and to summarize to each other what they heard or perceived. Formal groups are used in role-plays and many in-class projects that I have them do.
D. I don’t believe that I’ll change anything I currently do based on what I read in this chapter, but will continue to seek new ways to employ cooperative learning strategies. I do understand a bit more clearly the importance of switching things up and will try to do so more frequently.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Karen. I love the idea of using "think-pair-share" with your students before you go over the homework. I will definitely share this strategy with some of the teachers I work with.
Post a Comment