Quote of the Week
There would be nothing to frighten you, if you refused to be afraid. (Gandhi)
Skill of the Week: Sequencing
Strategy of the Week: Classifying
Cooperative Learning Groups
Assignment #2: Post at least 2 comments discussing the information you read last week on
pgs. 159-164 in the book. Please post your comments by Friday, Oct. 9th.
Guided Reading
This week classes will begin guided reading groups as a part of your Balanced Literacy block. PRTs will assist with creating groups if needed. We know this will be a working week for groups so PLEASE let me know if there is anything I can do to assist you in your efforts.
Blue Diamond
Please remember to make all all changes in Blue Diamond by Thursday, Oct. 8th. Let me know if your are having a problem getting into Blue Diamond.
Sample Lesson #2 (Summarizing/Reinforcing Effort)
Last week I gave your grade chair a sample lesson that you could use if you liked. Please let me know if this was a useful tool by posting a comment or letting me know what I can do to tweak the plan that would make it better for you.
PLCs
I really enjoyed sitting in on the meetings last week. This is going to be really good for Gibson, our teachers and students as well. I am looking forward to the opportunity for you to get together and share your information.
I found out last week that the "Den Dollars" can really help to make groups more productive. I had a girls group working together on a science activity. They did a super job delegating and discussing the activity. My male group did not do as well. When I passed out the dollars to the girls, the boys asked for a second chance and did better.
ReplyDeleteI think it is important to make sure that students clearly understand why they are working in cooperative groups and how they are all supposed to work together equally. It is often interesting that when working in groups a leader is defined almost immediately, someone that is taking charge and seeing that the work gets completed. While this will usually work fine by itself, I think it is good to also assign roles for students at times so that others can have practice leading the group. I also like the idea of using rubrics to assess learning groups. I especially like how the rubric in the book addresses using effective interpersonal skills and also contributing to group maintenance. I will be using cooperative learning groups as we work to classify various types of candy and also finding classroom data for median, mode and range.
ReplyDelete~SCallahan
Most of my cooperative groups occurs when I have my students working with their Writing Menu. They all know what assignment they are working on and they get the chance to "bounce" ideas off of one another. There is an ease of movement in my room when this type of learning occurs. I also have used cooperative groups when trying to reteach a math concept. Some students learn a concept with more clarity when listening to a peer. Also, when using hands on materials in math, my groups get the opportunity to explain why an answer is correct or incorrect. We played "War" using decimal cards and the group had to explain why the person who took the cards had the greatest decimal number.
ReplyDeleteCindy Gumbs
I've found that it's important for students to know that their participation will be part of their grade for the assignment, and that their group members have a say in it. I often have students who sit in their groups doing their own work without collaborating, or one student who doesn't like the group (s)he is in and won't participate. That's why I give all students an rubric to complete on all their group members' participation, as well as a self-assessment. It helps ease that situation quite a bit.
ReplyDeleteCooperative learning also works great during writers' workshop, when students work in pairs to edit each others' papers. I give them an editor's checklist (along with any necessary mini-lessons), and they really work hard to help their partner improve his/her writing.
ReplyDeleteCooperative learning is an important aspect of teaching. I feel like the most important part of this article is the research from Mueller and Flemming about providing sufficent time for students to talk, plan, discuss ideas and then to present their ideas to others. Often we feel pressure to "get through" everything and I think we are afraid. If we switch roles and let students take more of an active role in their learning we are also teaching them responsibility and that their opinions matter to us. I agree with Cindy that sometimes students "get it" when another student explains it to them. I think many of us are seeing with the writing menu that students are more motivated when given choices and the ability to work together.
ReplyDeleteI think cooperative learning groups are great. They work in all kinds of groups--I like them during reading.
ReplyDeleteI too have used cooperative learning groups during math so that some students can help others with a particular skill or concept. They don't even really realize that they are helping another student, but when a student is able to explain how to do something to another student then that is when they truly understand. And as stated above, the students are more motivated when they get to "work together" with their peers. I enjoy using cooperative learning groups with my students.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting that encouraging comepetition between groups does not improve learning. That's quite different from the typical way of doing things.
ReplyDelete