Social studies of the present day!

Today I observed two groups' current events presentations. The first presentation by Felicia, Patricia, and Susan was very engaging, and the topic was very interesting. The topic was about 89 year old WWII vet, Richard Faulkner, who during his service declined his Purple Heart medal when his plane was destroyed in a crash. Today, Faulkner is requesting his medal in order to have something to pass onto his grandchildren. The teachers assigned topics to members of the class, and asked us to write a response to the article on a notecard using that specific "lens" of writing. For example, my response to the article was using an argumentative lens, which questioned if it was right for Faulkner to request his Purple Heart medal after so many years. I really liked the idea for writing in different lenses because it helped me to focus my writing, and look at an article from a different angle.

After finishing our responses, we were asked to come to the front of the class to tape our notecard to the "cube". I thought the cube was very engaging because it was a great way to display the class's responses in an appealing way. If used in elementary grades, I feel that this activity would be a big hit.

The second group of Julia, and Jean did the current events on digitalized libraries. I thought this was an interesting article because it is exciting to see that libraries are including more electronic resources. I like this article for current events because it is something that would effect children in elementary grades, teachers, and college students alike. I thought the "popcorn reading" was a great way to quickly read the article without boring the class with "round-robin reading." The quiz used at the end of the presentation was a engaging way to end the lesson, and tested how much I remembered from the article.

In all honesty, for both groups my only "wish" was that the groups had more time to present. The both had interesting articles, and fun activities to go along with them. Great job!

Read the article HERE

Putting the pieces together!

In today's class we finally put together the pieces of our jigsaw on cooperative learning, and met with our base groups. After meeting with our expert groups in the previous class, organizing and finalizing our PowerPoint, we taught this information to our base groups. The characteristics of cooperative learning that were discussed include, positive interdependence, individual & group accountability, group processing, face-to-face interaction & social skills instruction, and the cooperative learning lesson plan. 

I liked the structure of the class today. It was a nice change to learn from members of our own class, and to be able to be the expert on our own topic. I think jigsaw is a great way to present a large amount of information to a class because all students can be responsible for only one part. By structuring a lesson this way, students demonstrate individual accountability because they are the only expert on their topic when meeting back with their base groups. Jigsaw is also quite effective in developing group accountability and practicing social skills. Any time that students are interacting with their peers to complete a task, or goal, communication is needed. By communicating with peers, social skills are developed; however, group communicate should not be the only practice for social skills training. Social skills training should be practiced in jigsaw, but should be taught directly. In a cooperative lesson, social skills interaction should be given in the development before beginning the day's activities. 

My only complaint with jigsaw is that the group will either "sink or swim" together. In other words, if only one student out of the group does not know their information, the whole group is effected. In a college classroom this is not as much as a problem, but in the elementary grades students may take advantage of this. 

Despite this, I think that jigsaw can be an effective method of teaching, as long as it is closely monitored by the teacher, and clear directions are given. By monitoring students during their work in expert groups, students will be more likely to contribute and subsequently, be a reliable "expert" in their topic. 

Click below for links to the expert group's PowerPoint presentations on the characteristics of cooperative learning. 

Patricia, Sara, Brian Social Skills & F-2-F Interaction

Maureen Lynch, Kristen Marchese, Julie Bonacasa Group Processing Jigsaw Project 

Positive Interdependence and Individual Accountability by Jessica Perrone, Rachel Perrone, Shannon Thompson, and Jean D'Aurio

Finishing it off with cooperation

Friday: Cooperative Lesson

Today was our group's last lesson in Mrs. Birnbryer's 2nd grade class; overall, I think it went very well! I liked that this lesson consisted of a lot of craft time because it kept all students engaged in something throughout most of the lesson. Also a big help was the smaller group sizes. After the inquiry lesson, we did not want students to be working in such large groups again even though it saved time in moving desks. After contacting Mrs. Birnbryer, she was nice enough to move the desks to accommodate us. By having 5 groups of 5 it was much easier to manage the group with roles, and keep everybody participating in some way. Throughout the lesson my group and other colleagues helped to guide the students' groups. This was helpful because it allowed the groups to finish their work in time before moving to the next round. 

One part of this lesson that did not go as planned was the timing. Originally, our plan was to have three rounds of activities, but after the first round took longer than expected, we decided to eliminate this activity to make sure we had time for the group presentations. Also, we would have liked to been able to assemble the scrapbooks with the ribbon we brought but even after eliminating the last round, we still did not have enough time. 

Based on these problems, I think we should have done a shorter introduction and started the lesson earlier. Before sending students to groups, it may have been helpful to go over proper group behavior, and our expectations for each group, but with our activities we tried to start as soon as possible. 

Although after reflecting I can think of a lot of things that could have been done to improve our lessons, I am very proud with our group's work. Teaching my first full classes was a great experience, but I could not have done it without my group; I am very happy to have been cooperating in a group with such great teachers, and friends. 

Investigation of the Western expansion

Wednesday: Inquiry

This lesson was a lot less nerve-wracking than the first. After teaching direct, I felt more confident, and ready to teach this lesson. Despite this, I was nervous for a different reason. Groups 1-3 had a lot of trouble with this lesson for a number of reasons. Even though we tried to account for all of these problems and fix them the best we could, the lesson was not perfect. 

Since the desks were situated into 3 groups of 8 or 9, it put our group in a tough spot. Do we waste time in reorganizing the students into smaller groups, or work with the large groups and save a lot of transition time? After some deliberation, we decided to keep the students in large groups to save transition time, and to assign roles to keep the group on task. We reasoned that by giving many roles to the group, it would be easier o keep in control, and to make sure everybody was doing something. 

Because of the large groups, the classroom was very loud, and busy. Despite having at least one teacher per group at all times, it was still difficult to manage the class volume, and to ensure all students were participating in the group. After the first group took about ten minutes to read, investigate, and fill in our templates, I was nervous that we would go over time like many of the other groups did; however, after the first group took ten minutes, the following two groups were able to finish in five minutes. 

In the end, we were able to get our time back on track, and finish in time to give the class their independent practice to be completed in class. Nearly all of the students finished this in time, and few others took this home for homework. 

Overall, I was happy with this lesson. Dr. Smirnova offered us some advice at the end of the lesson on how it could have been improved and we all absolutely agreed. Giving the students more direction on the inquiry process would have been helpful. Also, if we included worksheets that included this information, it would have made the class go a lot smoother. Overall, I think it went very well! o

One more lesson to go! We are going to try to take the advice of Dr. Smirnova, and from our colleagues' reflections on our lessons to hopefully make our last lesson the best yet! 

(Thanks Maureen for the pictures!) 

Teaching time

This week is my group's week to teach! It's very exciting to be teaching my first full classes with my group, but it is also very nerve-wracking. 

Monday: Direct Instruction

Our direct instruction lesson came first, and in my opinion, it was one of the most difficult to plan, and teach. Going into the lesson I was very confident in our group's activities, and planning, but my main concern was trying to remember everything I wanted to say. Despite this, I thought it went extremely well. It was very reassuring to hear positive feedback from Mrs. Birnbryer, the teacher's aide, Dr. Smirnova, and our SS Methods colleagues as well. 

I was very happy that the class liked our use of the gong. I was afraid it might be distracting and take away from the lesson, but it was very helpful when refocusing the class, and reminding them of important information from our lesson. I also thought that the guided practice was very helpful to the students. The visual aid poster made it a lot easier for the students to visualize Lewis and Clarke's journey west and was especially helpful when reviewing the guided practice timeline worksheet. 

If I could do it again I would not want to change much. It would have been helpful to include more check for understanding questions after a segment of lecturing. Although these CFU questions were written into our lesson plans, we forgot to ask them all. Also, the independent practice could have been more difficult. A lot of our SS methods colleagues said they noticed many of the kids were counting spaces to find the correct words. This tells me that the activity was too simple for the class, and that they are capable of higher level thinking. 

Overall, I was extremely satisfied with the outcome of this lesson. Aside from a few small changes, I would keep everything the same if I had to give another direct lesson on this topic. 

New teachers and new arrivals to North America

Today I observed group #3 teach their first direct instruction lesson on the 13 colonies, and some of the key people during this time. Overall, I thought this lesson went very well, with mostly minor things that I would have liked to change.

Some of the things I liked best about this lesson was the choral repetition that the teachers led the students in. In a direct instruction lesson, there is a lot of information being thrown at the students. By asking the class to chorally repeat key terms, and people, it helps to "stick" this name into their head. In addition, it provides a break from the instruction of the lesson for students to participate. Although out of the three lesson types direct instruction usually requires the least amount of student participation, it certainly helps. I also liked that a lot of different information was presented in a brisk, but comfortable pace. Additionally, in a number of the activities throughout the lesson, the teachers probed students for further explanations by asking questions. For example during the true/false activity, the teachers allowed the students to come to the board to pick an answer, and afterwards asked them why they chose it, or could explain why it was the correct answer. I thought this was fantastic because even though the child coming to the board might know the answer, the rest of the class might not. Be explain ing their own reasoning for choosing the answer, it may help other members of the class, while challenging the student for deeper understanding. 

There were also some things that I would have liked to change. During the true / false activity, instead of asking the student to come to the board to answer the questions, it is better to first get the answer from the student. By doing this, the teacher can check with the rest of the class to see if they agree; if they do, the student may continue to the board and choose the answer, if not then it allows communication, and discussion amongst classmates. Aside from this, I only can pick out minor things to change. 

I thought group #3's first lesson went very well and I am excited to see what else the can bring to the classroom in our upcoming classes.