Strategy+13+-+Cooperative+Learning

Strategy 13 - Reciprocal Teaching and Cooperative Learning

What strategies in this chapter appealed to you? How can you envision applying this strategy in your classroom?

Carla: This strategy seems like a very "Kagan" chapter! I find myself doing more and more cooperative learning in my classroom as I incorporate more technology - it seems like such a natural fit for the projects that we do. And as more and more of our curriculum has to get crammed into what feels like a shorter time before state testing, I know that building on the connections in our curriculum areas is the most intelligent strategy. And that means building cross-curricular units, which means project-based studying, which so often entails cooperative groups. I find myself using the Kagan books from our library more and more - for "brain breaks", for breaking into small groups, for brainstorming, for reviewing. I love the idea of the kids "speaking each others' language" and being able to reexplain a concept in ways that I couldn't do it the first time! I've noticed that when I have my kids preview or review a concept, they often bring up life experiences that I wouldn't think of (which is making me feel old, by the way!). I've also been trying to incorporate this strategy with technology as we finish units, by having my students create some sort of project to teach the 3rd graders (or some other class or group of students) about the topic. We've made books about place value, posters about prefixes, movies about immigrants, etc.