Today's presentation is on Fostering “Academic Conversations” in ALL content areas in K-12 Grade Levels Speaking and Listening Across the Common Core
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What are some ways to
include best practices for collaborative learning in our classroom?
Establish group goals
Effective
collaborative learning involves establishment of group goals, as well as
individual accountability. This keeps the group on task and establishes an
unambiguous purpose. Before beginning an assignment, it is best to define goals
and objectives to save time.
Keep groups midsized
Small
groups of 3 or less lack enough diversity and may not allow divergent thinking
to occur. Groups that are too large create “freeloading” where not all members
participate. A moderate size group of 4-5 is ideal.
Establish flexible group
norms
Research suggests
that collaborative learning is influenced by the quality of interactions.
Interactivity and negotiation are important in group learning. If you notice a nonstandard
norm, you can do two things: rotate group members or assist in using
outside information to develop a new norm. You may want to establish
rules for group interactions for younger students. Older students might create
their own norms.
Build trust and promote
open communication
Successful
interpersonal communication must exist in teams. Building trust is essential. Deal
with emotional issues that arise immediately and any interpersonal problems
before moving on. Assignments should encourage team members to explain concepts
thoroughly to each other. Studies found that students who provide and receive
intricate explanations gain most from collaborative learning. Open communication
is key.
For larger tasks, create
group roles
Decomposing
a difficult task into parts to save time. You can then assign different roles.
A great example in my own classroom was in science lab, fifth grade student
assumed different roles of group leader, recorder, reporter, and fact
checker. The students might have turns to choose their own role and
alternate roles by sections of the assignment or classes.
I
prepared terrific freebies for you! Click on the following link to access a
bunch of my posters I use to set up collaborative groups and rubrics to measure
success.
Rubric for
Group Activity or Group Project
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