September 15, 2004
You've Taken
The First Step.
Next We Can Look Forward
To Cooperative Learning.
Hello teacher candidates,
What an exciting week! You have now begun the first step of the Field Observation assignment. Principal Ford sent me an E-mail stating her pleasure at the success of the group at Kelly Middle School. I haven't heard from Principal Green, but I'm sure that it was productive and successful.
On Wednesday, September 15, we will have a debriefing of the orientation, proceed with a discussion of Chapter One, and begin Chapter Five.
On Friday, September 17, I will visit Western Yell County High School, so your assignment for that day will be to work on your group presentations. In addition, I have a small task for you to work on in Chapter Five. On page 156, complete the "Stop Think Write" assignment for Monday.
Multicultural Education is dear to my heart, so I am excited about this chapter. I think you will find some surprising and novel information in Chapter Five that will help you in your own classrooms. I would also suggest that you look at the Multicultural Issues website in Planet Gnosis to get some idea of what that course contains and covers.
Our First Group Presentation
Our first group presentation is Monday, September 27, by Judi, Kayte, Lindsay, Randi, and Rose. They will present about Lev Vygotsky, a social constructivist, who looked at the role of culture on learning. As everyone begins to think about this project, I would ask you to consider the purpose behind cooperative learning.
First of all, you are enhancing a topic that may have already been introduced in class, or you are introducing a new topic for the class. Regardless, the group's purpose is to add information. You are investigating a topic, so you become the expert for your part of the presentation.
Cooperative learning has also been shown to 1) improve communication among students, 2) produce quality learning, and 3) increase academic achievement (Kellough, 2003, p. 300). Please understand that there will be a question or two on the tests about each group's topic, so the audience is also an important part of the learning process.
The traditional cooperative learning group has five roles: group facilitator, materials manager, recorder, reporter, and thinking monitor; however, for your presentations, the roles can be assigned differently. Just remember that each person has an active, integrated role in the presentation. Please include an outline of your presentation for me and limit your presentation to approximately 30 minutes.
Evaluation of the project is based on a clear understanding of the topic, the organization of the presentation, the quality (timing, volume, engagement with audience) of the presentation, and the scholarly participation of each member.
Article critiques are submitted the same day as the presentation. I will give you a handout about this part of the presentation.
See you in class,
Ms. Bowles
*This is the next step toward THE One World Language.
Step Sixteen: *Your pet theory given a vaccination.
Planet Gnosis is ruled by Freddie A. Bowles, a professional educator and fellow at the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. An independent entity in the CornDancer consortium of planets, Planet Gnosis is dedicated to the exploration of education and teaching. CornDancer is a developmental website for the mind and spirit maintained by webmistress Freddie A. Bowles of the Planet Earth. Submissions are invited.
|
