Teaching in the information age requires that teachers stay ahead of the curve when it comes to technology, or they risk being left out of the loop. Using the internet and staying informed via the information superhighway should by now be a part of your daily routine. Email has long since replaced the paper memo in your mailbox, and every classroom should have at least one computer, if not many more.
Students in this day and age are more than likely far more technologically advanced than their predecessors, and therefore, it is of the utmost importance that we use a medium than they are familiar with in order to convey information. Rather than utilizing social media as a means to an end, however, creating a class blog allows you to be in control of the flow of information and stay in touch with students without invading their space.
Highlight Major Points of Lessons
In the form of a daily recap, teachers can use blogs to record the day’s events so that students can revisit the lesson or topics covered in class. This is not to say that you must write out the entire lesson by any means. Write out key points and objectives so that students can refresh their memories or see what they missed if they were absent.
Extra Credit Opportunities
Get students involved outside of class by offering extra credit to those who participate in online discussions. Perhaps hidden information or a trivia question of the day is a good way to keep student traffic flowing toward your site. Opening up discussion forums on your blog and monitoring what students are saying is a great way to get feedback on your lessons and subject matter as well.
Provide Presentations and Notes
If you regularly use technology in your lessons, posting these files for download on your blog is an excellent resource for students. Allowing students to access and download notes and Power Point presentations gives them an edge when it comes to studying for your class. Additionally, doing this helps cut down on copies and class time used for arbitrarily copying down notes.
Open Up Communication
In addition to providing a forum where students can communicate with one another regarding your course, you are also opening up valuable lines of communication between them and yourself. It is a great way to keep conversations going regarding assignments, grades, and tutoring opportunities as well.
Connect Students with Resources
You can enrich your students’ experience with your subject matter by providing them with links to other sites that reinforce the information they are receiving in your class. Virtual field trips, interactive games, and informational and instructional videos are among the things you can link your blog to. Let your students take ownership of their education by finding out more about a topic on their own with a little guidance from your blog.
By-line:
This article is contributed by Kelly Kilpatrick, who regularly writes on Become a teacher in California. She invites your questions at her personal email address: kellykilpatrick24 at gmail dot com.
Whether you’re a new teacher or a veteran, you probably find yourself honing your skills and reflecting on how you want to improve the learning of your students. I know for myself I was really frustrated by all of the conversation in grad school about cooperative learning, yet never had the opportunity to see any first-hand. Well, here is an article about that will help, “100 Awesome Classroom Videos to Learn New Teaching Techniques.”
We know that kids (and adults) learn in different ways. Why not find or make some songs about your subject? Create some appropriate hand gestures that further support learning.
On Pi Day my students had to create a poem or song about Pi using at least 5 facts about the number. There were a number of exceptional poems and songs written. The top 5 songs are going to be recorded and posted on this blog as podcasts.
Here is an excellent example of using best teaching practices that addresses multiple intelligences and total physical response in Mrs. Burk’s math class. I can see this song being helpful for a wide range on students. It uses a lot of strategies to support ELD too. (The video is hosted on a new site called TeacherTube.com, an educational alternative to YouTube. It often slows down a bit to buffer the video, but once you’ve watched it, it’ll play smoothly the second time.)
There are plenty of ways that teachers check for understanding. Many of the ways that we assess students involve a limited number of students. For example, “Raise your hand if…” allows for only a few students to respond.
Here are several ways to engage more of your students while simultanteously using multiple intelligences. These strategies are also helpful for ELD. Many of these methods can also be used for standardized test practice too.
Multiple choice question using total class response.
For multiple choice questions, you can get the entire class involved by asking, “Show 1 finger if the answer is A, 2 fingers if B, ….”
Check for the level of comfort with the material.
“Show me 5 fingers if you feel like you could teach another student. 1 finger if this is still really confusing.” This gives you a quick gauge of whether or not you can move ahead. It also helps to identify which students can assist others and who will need your assistance.
Teach agreement and disagreement symbols.
I teach my students “thumbs up” is a yes and shuffling their hands in front of them is a no. This allows a student to speak without other students verbally interrupting, yet encourages active engagement. If a student gives the incorrect answer, others can give feedback without disturbing the speaker or shutting him or her down by a negative verbal feedback. I’ll do intentional “misteaks” on the board, to check if students understand the concept. Students can give me a nonverbal clue that they disagree with something I said or wrote with interrupting.
Use total physical response to engage learners.
I’m a math teacher, and I’ll often ask things like, “What operation does ‘product’ mean?” Then they make an “x” with their hands to indicate that they know.
I’ve been investigating strategies to improve the quality of the cooperative learning group interactions in my math classroom. I figure that if I really want students to support each other, I need to teach communication skills and clearly state my expectations of the group.
This week I decided to have the groups focus on engaging all students in the activity. Here is what I did:
Clearly Stated the Focus Before they started working in groups, I let the students know that I wanted all students to participate and contribute to the group discussion. I also mentioned that at the end of the period, they would have to give me evidence of what was said or done that supported this focus.
Brainstormed Ideas
Prior to starting the activity, we spent about a minute or two as a class coming up with ideas about how to engage group members. For example,
We haven’t heard from you, Michael. What do you think?
Micaela, can you tell us what you got?
Self-Assessment
After completing the task, each group had an assessment sheet that they filled in together. Lots of websites, such as YouTube and Squidoo, have viewers rate things on a 5 star system. I decided to use a similar model. I had a few questions on the 1/4 sheet of paper. They filled in the number of stars that best represented their group’s behavior for the day.
Getting started
Staying focused
Including everyone
Overall performance
They also had to provide evidence of how they got everyone engaged by writing things that were said or done.
Wrap Up
As a class, I had a few groups report out about how well they managed to include others and if they needed any support.
Overall, I heard a lot more people actively soliciting answers and input from group members. There is definitely more work that needs to be done though. I may adapt the survey, but I like the general idea and structure of the assessment. Each week I’d like to have a different focus for the groups until the students naturally integrate these ideas into their interactions.
I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.
- Winston Churchill
Very few people like to be told what to do. I count myself among the majority on this matter, and I imagine most of our students do to. That is why periodically offering a menu of homework choices is a great idea. Kids love choices and often go up and above the assignment requirements because they are more engaged.
There is no need to have the menu create any additional work for you. I usually give two choices. Here are two easy ways to create choice: vary the content or vary the product.
Vary the Content Students can select the topic that the homework will be about. Perhaps, they are studying parts of speech. A student could focus the assignment on one part of speech. Everyone does the same assignment, but people have a different part of speech that they focus on.
Vary the Product
Here are a few quick things that I sometimes have my students do.
Create a Mini-poster
Mini-posters are done on 8 1/2 x 11 paper. I usually have them as a one-night assignment. If I expect more, I tell them that it’s a double assignment. Be specific in your expectations.
For example, tomorrow my students’ assignment is to make a mini-poster explaining how to calculate the circumference and area of a circle. Two original examples of each type of problem must be included. All calculations and appropriate units are required. Include a title. Color poster.
Quiz for a Classmate Student can create a quiz that a classmate will take. The quiz has to have original problems and an attached answer key.
For example, the alternative assignment for my students tomorrow is to make a mini-quiz with 6 questions: 3 circumference and 3 area of a circle. One problem needs to be a multiple choice question. An answer key must be attached.
Create a Warm-up Have the students create 2 warm-ups or bellringers about the concept that you are studying or a review concept. I have a specific format for my warm-ups that needs to be followed: 18 point, bold, comic sans font. Answers need to be attached. Problems from the Book or a Handout Some students prefer the traditional structure. You can have a set of problems or a handout as one of the menu choices.
I usually have kids share out their posters and get a classmate to grade it using a generic rubric. While this is happening, the students who made a mini-quiz get a classmate to take their quiz.
A menu is a fun alternative to traditional homework. Play with the different choices. Expand upon the possibilities. Enjoy!
Watch this YouTube video to learn Think-Pair-Share learn hand signals to make this activities even more fun and easy to manage. Read my post on Think-Pair-Share-Write activities for more information on creating and using them in your classroom.
Our students are the Millennials, and they are a generation that value collaboration. Cooperative learning has been around for a while, yet few teachers have actually had it modeled for them or know the components of what make cooperative learning groups successful.
Most teachers mistakenly believe, as did I, that when kids work in groups this is cooperative learning. However, many of us wonder where the cooperative part is happening because kids may be sitting together but one person does everything. Cooperation is the essence of working in teams. This needs to be modeled and supported.
Do you know the five elements of cooperative learning? If not, chances are your group work may be hit or miss in its effectiveness. Here are some things to consider when using cooperative learning:
Positive Classroom Environment
It’s important to build a safe classroom environment. This can be done by:
setting classroom norms
doing class building activities (See “Tribes” for ideas)
explicitly teaching cooperative skills, such as how to disagree politely, and focusing on that skill for a few class periods
requiring the students to check in with each other before asking the teacher for help; all students in the group should know the question that is being asked. When you go to a group, if Maria is raising her hand, ask Josh, “What’s Maria’s question?”
Group Students Heterogeneously
Students learn cooperative skills better when they have to work with a wide range of people. There are times when homogeneous grouping is appropriate, but this tends to be the exception.
Positive Interdependence
Activities need to be structured so that what helps one group member helps everyone. The activities have to be structured to promote collaboration. Some activities that naturally do this are jigsaws and think-pair-share (See links above).
Individual Accountability
Every student has a role and is accountable for work. This can be accomplished by students labeling what part of the group project they contributed to or by having an individual assessment on the information after the group work.
Don’t give up!
Keep experimenting and reflecting on the activities you did with your students. What worked? What didn’t? Why? Starting to use cooperative learning strategies can be a bit unnerving at first because we give up the authoritarian teacher role, but the rewards are immense. Our kids deserve it, and we’re modeling perseverance too!
For more ideas, strategies and resources on cooperative learning check out my Educating Millennials website.
Resources You Can Use
I also highly recommend Teacher’s Resource for Cooperative Learning: Practical Techniques, Basic Principles and Frequently Asked Questions by my former professor Dr. George Jacobs. It really helped me to identify what I needed to do to have more effective cooperative learning activities. Click on the book cover to purchase this helpful resource.
If you find the information on this blog helpful and are interested in any of the resources I’ve highlighted here, I’d be grateful if you purchased them through the links on my blog as I earn a small a percentage from each sale. Thanks.
Kids of today are used to working collaboratively. It’s a characteristic of the Millennial Generation. Yet how effective is your group work in class? Is it hit or miss? If so, here are some great ideas to get you and your kids back in the spirit of cooperation.
I was struggling with my students’ group work because they are grouped in tables, yet when they do homework some of the traditional roles that help define a group, such as reporter and recorder, didn’t make sense. They weren’t going to report out. They were doing their homework and everyone had to write so there wasn’t a need for a recorder. This week I came up with some new roles that reflect the new era and the new direction in the classroom. They are:
The Task Master
Makes sure that all people know the assignment.
Makes sure that all group members are working on the same problem.
What did everyone get for #4? – Ok. Now let’s go to #5.
Can someone explain to the group how to do problem #3?
The Understanding One
Makes sure that everyone is doing what s/he is supposed to be doing.
Makes sure that everyone is talking only with his/her group members.
Makes sure that everyone understands the problem.
When no one in the group understands, this is the person who communicates with the teacher.
Does everyone know how to do the problem?
The Organizer
Makes sure that the group has the necessary supplies to do the task.
Makes sure that all people take out the materials they need: toolkits, paper, etc.
Makes sure the desk and area around the table are neat at the end of the period and that materials are returned.
Does everyone have the materials they need? (If not, help the group members get what they need.)
Can you please check under your desk to make sure there is no trash?
The Compassionate One
Makes sure that everyone feels included in the discussion.
Acknowledges group members for what they did that made the group the work better.
We haven’t heard from you in a while, Jake. What do you think?
Thanks, Nick, for explaining how to solve the problem to the group.
Monday I introduced the new roles. They are already grouped in tables of 4 and by each seat is a colored star. I have an overhead transparency that I use that has the four colored stars on it. I explained before I showed them the roles, that we would rotate each week. It was absolutely precious to see the middle school students say, “I’m the Compassionate One” or “I get to be the Understanding One this week.”
A few minutes into the homework, I would check in with the class to see if the entire group was on the same problem. If so, I would either say “Give yourself a pat on the back”, “Give a high 5 to your group members” or “Thank your Task Master for doing such a great job.”
When the homework was on a different sheet then the classwork, I wrote on the board and told the class, that The Organizer would have to bring up all group members’ papers before I would give them the homework handout. This ensured that groups had more reason to help each other.
Overall this week, the groups worked much better together. There was much more inclusion of other people’s ideas and team members worked together to support each other. I also heard a lot of nice comments said to teammates, which made teaching even more pleasurable.
