LC21
Supporting 21st Century Classrooms in La Canada
Does Group Work Work?
Hello everyone! Now that we're all getting settled in to a new year, please take a look at your latest LC21 newsletter. It’s a pleasure to begin another year with you, and I look forward to working with you and supporting your new ideas for instruction, exploration, and presentation in our La Cañada classrooms.
Our theme for this newsletter is COLLABORATION. Collaboration is definitely a vital skill for college and modern careers, and it’s easier and more effective with new tech-enhanced tools. I’ve been reading up over the summer about ways to teach these skills to students, and I’ve compiled some of the best ideas and articles below. As I reflect on my 14 years in the classroom, my students were often “doing group work,” but I’m not sure how effectively I taught collaboration skills beforehand. That’s something I’ve read in many of these articles: we can best serve our students when deliberately teach them the skills, behaviors, and processes that go in to working most effectively with their peers. I know many of you are tackling collaboration in your classrooms right now, so I hope these resources help you on your journey. (If you're pressed for time, I recommend at least reading the Edutopia articles--they're really valuable and easy to put into practice!)
As always, please contact David if you'd like to experiment with a new tech tool or instructional strategy: I'm happy to provide backup as you try something new.
Using Collaborative Learning to Build Student Agency
8 Fun Ways to Help Your Students Collaborate in the Classroom
- Teach your students how to have meaningful conversations by introducing the rules of collaborative conversation
- Fishbowl activities are helpful for modeling and reflecting on what a “good discussion” looks like
- Give everyone a moment in the spotlight with Flipgrid
- Practice collaboration with low-stakes games (see the article for ideas)
- Try out Brainwriting, where idea generation exists separate from discussion—students write first, talk second
- Check out the "Save the last word for me" strategy
- Assign collaborative homework
- Use the Zoom storytelling strategy to build trust
Steps to Creating a Teacher-Powered School
Teaching Collaboration and Critical Thinking Skills
5 Strategies to Deepen Student Collaboration
- Create learning activities that are complex
- Prepare students to be part of a team
- Minimize opportunities for free riding
- Build in many opportunities for discussion and consensus
- Focus on strengthening and stretching expertise