Cooperative Learning Lesson
With a dash of Kagan
Lesson Specifics
- Content: The content of this lesson was reading. I teach at a SFA school and the SFA lessons already have a lot of cooperative learning components in them but I just added a few things and sprinkled in a few Kagan structures along the way! We just started the novel Cam Jansen and the mystery of the Stolen Corn Popper. This is the first lesson of the 6 day cycle.
- Grade Level: I teach 4th grade but in my reading class I have a mix of 3rd and 4th graders based on their reading level.
- School: Grandview Elementary
- #number of students: 17
- Students are in groups of 3 or 4. They are based off of the students scores so each group has a H-HM-LM-L or H-HM-LM or HM-LM-L. (The groups of 3 have a couple of different combinations.)
Positive Interdependence
My lesson included positive interdependence because my reading instruction is based around team work. The teams are able to earn points based on staying on task, doing the right thing, showing team work, and having really good write-on questions. The point factor really motivates the students to do their best and work hard so they can earn points for their team. At the end of the cycle, the team that has the most points is the "Super Team" and they get a special prize. If one teammate does not do their part, they could risk the chance of not earning points for their team. The students really get into it and it is fun to watch them get excited to earn point for their team.
Individual and Group Accountability
For each new cycle, the groups set a team goal for themselves. It could be "everyone contributes" or "take turns" or even to earn so many points for each day. They discuss what it is going to take to earn these points and figure out what each of them needs to do so that they can be successful. At the beginning of the year a lot of students struggle with this but as time goes on and we do more and more cycles, they become good at learning from the mistakes they made the last time and what they want their next goal to be. Not only do they have to think about their own personal actions, they need to decide as a team what their focus should be on.
Group Processing
In this picture is an example of how I used group processing at the end of my lesson. I really like this reflecting piece because sometimes it brings things to my attention that I might have missed when I was teaching or working with another group. I feel like my students do a good job of honestly telling me what they did well and what their group members did well. It seems to be very beneficial for the students to spend some time reflecting on how well they participated during class that day.
Social Skills
This lesson had many opportunities for social and interpersonal skills. Even though there is a slight competitive aspect during my reading time, the main goal is for the group to successfully discuss and answer questions over what they are reading as a team. It is so exciting to see my students thrive in the group setting and become better at communicating with each other along the way.
Promotive Interaction: Face to Face
This picture shows an example of students having a promotive interaction that is face to face. They are sharing their "write-on" answers with each other using the Kagan Strategy Timed-pair-share. After they share, the other partner praises or gives them constructive criticism to help do a better job the next time. These two students are not on the same team so they were apart of different team talks. This gives them a new perspective to the question and also a glimpse at how the other team discussed the answer. Even though I use the timed-pair-share with this structure during this lesson, I feel as though it would be easy to incorporate many different Kagan structures for this piece of Cooperative Learning.
Here are some examples of Kagan structures that are frequently used in Miss Porter's Classroom
Quiz-Quiz Trade
I like to use this Kagan structure for having the students practice vocabulary words (as seen in this picture). However, this can be used for so many different subjects! My students really enjoy it and I love that it gives them a chance to be up out of their seats. It is fun to throw this in whenever I am wanting to change things up.
Rally Robin
I use this structure a lot throughout my day. It seems to be pretty easy to incorporate no matter what the subject is. I use it to start a lesson and get my students thinking about a subject or I use it to wrap-up the lesson. It allows them to process the information and hopefully remember the information better!
Rally Coach
I use this structure the most during math time. One of the hardest things about incorporating this structure was getting the students to think aloud as they were working. Something that the students are really good at is praising each other. I have created a checklist that the students should follow when they are doing this structure to kind of guide them as they are learning. My hope is that my students become even better at this Kagan Structure as the year goes on.
StandUp-HandUP-PairUp
This structure is one of my go-to's when I need my scramble my students up and let them work with someone who is not at their pod. It gives them a chance to get up and walk around and socially interact with their classmates. I like to use this during my writing share time so that they get a chance to share what they wrote without me having to use a lot of class time. Time is so precious and this structure helps me save it!
Timed Pair Share
I appreciate this structure during my reading time when I want students to think about a topic and then share their ideas with a partner. The time factor is great because it keeps me on track and makes it certain that each partner will have an equal amount of share time. Sometimes I do StandUp-HandUp-PairUp first and have it lead into this. Sometimes I just have them share with their face partner or shoulder partner. I just like to switch things up!
Silly Sports and Goofy Games
This is one of my favorite structures because I love to do as much team building as possible. I don't have much time to do it but when I do, I make sure the kids are up moving around and interacting with each other. Not only does it energize them, it brings them closer together-which I love to see!
Successes...
I felt like this lesson was a success for the most part. My students were actively engaged and we were able to complete most of what I planned to cover for this lesson. They were able to have really great team talk with each other and formed great questions, since that was the skill that we are focusing on for this cycle.
AND do-overs!
There were a few parts that I did not quite get to in my allotted reading time. I feel like I spent a little longer on some of the sections, which did not allow me to do a few of the activities at the end of the lesson. Otherwise, my students and myself have really enjoyed incorporating cooperative learning and Kagan structures in my lessons. I was able to take a lot away from being apart of this program.