Friday, January 30, 2015
Blog #3 Applying Different Learning & Teaching Styles
You have now applied various types of learning and teaching: creating learning styles activities, jigsawing, evaluating one another. Blog about doing/creating learning styles activities, about being collaborative by jigsawing a reading, and how it felt to evaluate one another. Various task cards can get students playing with concepts, definitions, and various levels of thinking. Other learning styles have included flip chutes, electraboards, all kinds of matching games, and plenty of other ideas. These are great hands-on ways to engage students, but ultimately, they will learn the most when they do these activities and then create their own. It will be the application and implementation that will truly make it meaningful. So how could you use these ideas of the teacher using these strategies AND having STUDENTS create/use these strategies to help them be in charge of their own learning? How did it feel for you as a student but then also, how will you implement these activities as a teacher? Blog by Tuesday night, and respond to your compass group classmates by Thursday, Feb. 5th.
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ReplyDeleteI think that these different learning styles activities help students to be more involved in their learning. When students do these activities, they have to pay attention and problem solve rather than just listening to a teacher speak. It is a lot easier to zone out and not pay attention during lecture, but with these activities the information is in front of them. I think that this would be a lot more fun for students, too, and could really help younger students learn. Whether they have a disability or just have a short attention span, elementary-aged students could really benefit from hands-on learning. Also, I think that having students create activities could be very effective. As a student, I had to know the material well before I could make a learning style activity. Each student can become an expert on their subject, but then teach it to others. That way, students are learning, but are also accountable to others. They have more motivation to learn the information thoroughly, and they learn it better than if they had to simply read it or listen to it being taught. As a teacher, I will try to implement many of these techniques in my classroom so that my students are taught in a variety of ways.
ReplyDeleteI think you make great points here. The first point being that these activities involve the students more than just lecture. This will be great for the students who need to be active to learn. This also helps with students with disabilities to include them in the lesson with their peers. The point about students being masters of the subject to make their own activity is great. Students really do need to know the subject well enough to teach their peers, therefore it forces them to know the subject better for their own benefit.
DeleteThese activities are perfect for your elementary classroom because goodness knows a group of 3rd grade kids are not going to sit at a desk, listen to lecture and take good notes. I like the point you make about having to be an expert before you can effectively make a learning style activity. If they get to be an expert and teach their peers it is likely elementary age kids will be highly motivated by just that little bit of responsibility that they can take pride in.
DeleteI think the points you made were awesome! Especially for you Katie, since you are going to be an Elementary teacher your kids in class should love it. Just like Kasey said there is no way you will be able to have your kids takes notes and sit in a desk all class period so this is a great way to get them up and interacting while also learning!
DeleteI agree with everything you say here, especially that these activities force students to know the material well enough that they are able to APPLY their knowledge. I also agree with your statement that they don't allow students to zone-out because they require them to be active, whereas lecture can actually force them to be INactive.
DeleteHowever, I do feel that there should be some lecture before the activity, because everyone learns at a different pace, and as someone with an anxiety disorder, I can tell you that if you don't feel like you have learned the lesson right away (which was/is often the case for me), there is more pressure to succeed in the activity and a greater feeling of embarrassment if you don't.
I don't necessarily love doing peer evaluations because nobody wants to be mean to their friends, but I do think it is beneficial for students to critique each other because I think students can be more honest than teachers sometimes. It is nice to hear critique and positive criticism from students your own age but the method of evaluating each other only works if all students are fair and honest with their feedback. Jigsawing with a group of college students is much easier than I remember doing it in high school because there was always one student who wouldn’t read and would just make something up on the spot and never get caught because the teacher never made us present what we learned in front of the whole class. I think it would be a fun way to let students have more responsibility and eliminate the chance of one student sliding by without doing any real work. Before I created my task cards and learning circle, I was not under the impression that they would really be beneficial for my future high school biology classroom. After making them I found myself actually having a good time and actually learning the material better than I had previously. Students in my future classrooms will enjoy making their own task cards or other learning style devices because it’s an open ended assignment and they have a lot of room to individualize their products. Then completing each other’s projects is great ways to review for a test and to get students asking questions and helping each other learn. But first, I would have to collect them to make sure the information they will be reading is accurate.
ReplyDeleteAlyssa, I agree with your ideas on projects aiding students in studying or review. The process of creating the project helps stabilize the students understanding for their individual projects and makes it fun to study by using the projects supplied by their peers. Makin sure the information being presented through these activities is accurate is also a critical element.
DeleteI agree that the peer evaluations were not my favorite thing to do but they are a very beneficial learning strategy. It is nice to hear what other students think about the work you did and how they would grade you. Maybe it will push some of your future high school students to work harder.
DeleteI agree that peer evaluations can be unreliable. Not so much that I don't want to be mean, but more on the fact that my personal opinion of my peers comes into play when grading them.
DeleteI agree with Guthrie that the evaluations can be unreliable but it nice to get feed back not just from the teacher but from other students in the class because they also went through it.
DeleteLearning styles were helpful for me to see the different ways material can be shown and understand how learners can better absorb the information if it is catered to what they need to effectively understand the concepts. Jigsawing was effective because each person presented the material in a slightly unique way, so I was not being lulled to sleep by the same repetitive learning style for 30 minutes. Evaluating each other was effective for peer evaluation and self evaluation by seeing what one can work on considering themselves by watching others. I think that from the teaching perspective of showing the students how to make the learning style aides and then making them think about what material and concepts are important enough to incorporate into the "lesson". I think this could be effective when I am teaching by providing the information in separate sections to the students so that the sections of students can then use different learning styles to teach the rest of the class the material.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I did much Jigsawing, if we even did any. I think this would have gotten me to read the text more and even understand it better! I think it could really help your future students. They would probably enjoy it!
DeleteI think that your future students will benefit from the different learning styles we have recently learned. I think that jigsawing is a great activity for older kids and it gets them to focus and do their portion of the reading. I think peer reviewing is good for them as well because they can learn how to improve their skills from their peers.
DeleteAlex, I like how you were able to apply this to your own future as being a teacher. You made a good point on how students have many different learning styles. Also I really enjoyed your point on peer evaluation. That is very good learning tool that benefits both you as the teacher and the other students. It can help the students correct something before turning it in because they also have the help of their peers.
DeleteI thought creating the different learning styles activities was good for the class to show what teachers have to do and how prepared they have to be. It was fun to present the information we learned in an activity instead of a presentation. The jigsawing was interesting because you get to see what others get out of the chapter but it was difficult for me to grade my group. I do feel that it is necessary to peer evaluate though to show you how the people you were teaching thought you did. I think that making your students create an activity is very beneficial because in order to teach it effectively they would really have to know the material. You could tell by their activity if they learned the material or not. Being on both sides as the student and teacher just gave me a greater appreciation for them both. You see as the student how hard it can be to make fun activities and as the teacher, if they aren't fun how boring learning can be.
ReplyDeleteThese activities were definitely better than doing a presentation. I think students are more likely to gain a stronger understanding for the material they have consumed if they are explaining to a smaller group. In any case, students sometimes just need to be comfortable in order to focus. Small activities and cooperative learning groups aid the teacher in relaxing the class.
DeleteI completely agree with your statement that in order for the student to teach material effectively they really need to be confident and knowledgeable about the material. The best way to learn something and fully understand it is to teach it to someone else and answer questions. Kinestetic learners will really enjoy doing a learning activity instead of simply reading and taking notes to learn information.
DeleteI somewhat agree with what's being said. I personally like to teach myself new things and master them before I teach someone else.
DeleteI agree with you about how effective the jigsawing activity was because as students, we knew that we had to really know the information in our subject of the reading to be able to teach the others. It also gives the students a greater sense of responsibility because they don't want to let down the other members in their group.
DeleteI liked doing the Jigsawing because I only had to read a section of a chapter and then was able to be taught by people in the group about other parts of the chapter. I agree that grading the group was a little hard because you know they will see what grade you gave them so you usually don't grade them as hard as you would if they would never see it.
DeleteThe learning styles activities were very challenging for me because I have never used any of them, and I do not learn that way. However, creating the activities was also a healthy experience, since implementing them for my students gives them more ways to learn, and certainly, some of them will prefer these activities over the traditional study methods, such as flashcards, even though I do not.
ReplyDeleteGoing into the jigsawing, I thought it was a very good strategy, but, as I mentioned in the previous blog, one must be wary of the work ethic of his partners. Well, it turned out that I was the only one in my compass group who took notes on his assigned section. After I found this out, I took notes on the remaining sections, but next time, I'll have to motivate my partners by reminding them of the threat of a quiz that would include more than just my section.
I did not mind evaluating my partners, but I would have liked to have received some sort of training, or least given some more concrete guidelines, as I felt that my scores were somewhat arbitrary.
For students, the task cards and other activities are beneficial because it requires them to become actively involved as learners, and if they are indeed engaged, learning will naturally follow. During lecture, it is easy to zone out from the teacher's voice, but when students have a chance to use hands-on activities, they will almost certainly not have as much trouble staying alert. However, as a teacher, I would have to be sure that students stay focused, because these activities could increase their energy levels, causing them to get out of hand. This is perhaps the only downside of the learning styles, but they are so much more engaging than lecture, and definitely more fun for younger students that it is worth the risk of students losing focus, which, in reality is a small risk at that.
i agree Jim that it is important to keep students engaged and that having them create something of their own is a good way to ensure that they actually learned the material
DeleteLearning how to assemble and use different forms of learning styles is an important experience that future and current teachers need to understand. Jigsawing with my compass group definitely made it easier on us because we only had a small section that we had to read, but we also had to understand what we read and have the ability to teach it to the rest of our group. We can see through this activity that these learning styles do benefit the students and the teachers. When a teacher gives their students a chance to make these strategies, it opens up a whole new learning experience for the students. They will not only learn the material, but they will personally make a system on their own to help them succeed. As a future teacher, it will be very critical that I invest time into using special strategies like these to give my students a variety of options to learn. Looking from a student's perspective, these unique forms of learning change up the traditional classroom and it was a lot of fun to make my own tools that would help me do better academically.
ReplyDeleteI hate to read with a passion. I agree one hundred and ten percent with you on this being good for our class. We only had to read a little section and then use our ears for the rest. I think this also sank in better than if I read the whole section myself.
DeleteI agree with you about how beneficial this activity is to the students. It causes the students to actually read and comprehend their material to be able to teach it to the rest of their group. It is also a good activity to use to incorporate differentiated instruction into teaching.
Deletei liked doing the learning styles activities because it allowed us to create our own method of learning, i really like when we as students get to create something of our own because it allows us to apply the concepts that we learned and it actually shows that we learned the material. As a future teacher it is important for us to know this because as teachers we will need to make sure that our students understand and know the material
ReplyDeleteIt is also important for teachers to realize these types of activities, in which students actively learn by creating, are useful for higher grade-level students, too - not just elementary or middle school students, because, as you said, we college students enjoy and learn from these activities as much as if not more than typical methods of teaching, i.e. lecture, etc.
DeleteI really enjoyed doing the different activities. They are a great way to get the whole class involved instead of just the more talkative students who speak up during lecture. I personally like making the activities as students. I feel a good way for students to learn is for them to do things on their own. Let them make their own games or lessons and they will learn more. The one thing that I personally don't care for is peer grading. I think there is a more social aspect than there should be. Whenever I did this, I was always worried what the other person would think about me based on the grade I gave them. I didn't want them to think badly of me. The other thing I worry about is that I don't know what the teacher looks for when she grades. Therefore I'm not sure what to look for either.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is a great way to get shyer students to speak up in class. Having students make the activities is a great idea, too, because they become responsible for their own learning and have to actually learn it better than they would otherwise. I agree that peer grading can cause some anxiety with students. Many students also don't want to grade their peers too harshly, and sometimes it can turn into a popularity contest.
DeleteI like your point about making it include everyone. As future high school teachers that's something you and I get to think about. I also think working in pairs in a math classroom and sort of peer tutoring works well because you get to teach the concept to your classmate and learn it better. I agree with you about the peer grading. I never cared for it in high school and am still not a huge fan. Sure one kid in my Social Studies project group may have done nothing...but my teacher obviously put him in my group because she wanted him to get a good grade so who am I to say that he did little of nothing? I think there are very few high school kids (specifically juniors and seniors) who will burn there classmates, its easiest to circle all 10s and not rock the boat. But I do agree, that for less mature underclassmen the grading may be guided by personal factors rather than objective grading.
DeleteI like how you are trying to make sure everyone is included also like how we did in class mixing the different personalities within a group so we all get the best of both worlds. Helping out the shy children so their voice can be heard but also by limiting all the out going students like myself so we do not over power the others within our group.
DeleteI think that doing these learning style activities are a good way for the students to interact with one another and see how the different types of styles can help them learn. Also if you have the students make the different types of activities assignment it can force them to study the material anyway they feel most comfortable with. I don't believe the peer evaluations are very benefiacial because i feel the the students are afraid to give each other a bad grade. As a future teacher I think it will a good idea to do activities like this with our students because its a fun way to learn the material we are learning in class.
ReplyDeleteKyle, I agree with you beliefs on peer evaluations. Sometimes students do not get accurate feedback because their peers grade material based on other factors that pure understanding and effort. I think peer evaluations can be successful if they are implemented at the beginning of the year so that students can learn how to become better peer evaluators as the year progresses.
DeleteI would agree that the learning style activities are a great way for students to bond while learning the necessary material. Maybe during the process of playing each others' games they will make a new friend in the class. This will definitely show the different learning styles based on the projects they make so maybe they will introduce an effective way to another student.
DeleteI think activities like jigsawing and white boarding will allow students to not only bounce ideas off of one another and communicate with each other but also lets them learn from one another. It is a good idea for students to make their own study material but they shouldn't just study what they feel most comfortable with. They should spend a good amount of time covering what they aren't comfortable with so they will learn that material better. One way to do this is to exchange study materials (task cards, wrap-arounds, etc) with other students.
DeleteParticipating in activities such as white boarding, jigsawing and the creation of learning activities enables students to become engaged. Activities such as these will help motivate students to become accountable for their own work and increases their focus level, even if it is for a short amount of time. As a teacher assigns an individual student to create a small activity or learn a certain section of a reading it instills a feeling of responsibility and that is sometimes all it takes to motivate certain students to work on improving focus skills and even ask for help without being worried. Creating a learning environment that allows students an opportunity to be in more control of their academic understanding enables the students to exert more energy and enthusiasm. Peer evaluation can be fun and embarrassing, it just varies from student to student. I personally do not think peer evaluation is a bad idea, it just needs to be implemented in a way that accommodates all students in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI agree that peer evaluation is not always a bad thing if it is done correctly. I think it needs to be done away from everyone you are grading so that students aren't looking at what their classmates are giving them. This would make the grading system a little less scary because no one is looking over your shoulder to see their grade.
DeletePeer evaluating is an interesting topic. It is good to have feedback from another classmate that is in the same class as yourself and completing the same assignment, but of course some students grade more harshly than others. The best way I think that peer evaluating should be done is anonymously. That would eliminate bias towards certain students and the student being critiqued would be graded on their work no other outside factors.
DeleteI agree that these different activities keep the students more engaged in the classroom because the students cant just sit their and not say anything they are responsible to read their section or voice what they took from the assignment. If students are held accountable for their work its easy to lose a student on the open discussions you have in a classroom.
DeleteLetting children interact in white boarding, jigsawing, and the learning activities is huge for letting students discover themselves and their peers. I think letting children work with one another throughout class and out of class activities is beneficial but they also need to so some things on their own. There needs to be a good balance between the two because you do not want one person doing all the work and the partner or partners just sit there. It is all about how students learn better and adapting to all their needs. So if jigsawing or white boarding help children interact then I think it is a great thing.
ReplyDeleteI think you make a great point about the balance needed. If students are always working in groups, they can quickly figure out who is willing to do more work so certain students can fly under the radar. This does not benefit any student. The balance allows them to work in groups, which all students like, and allows a chance for students to have their own responsibility when they need to work on their own. This prepares them for the future. In the work field, they will have the chance to work with the colleagues, but the bottom line comes down to them as an individual.
DeleteI concur. Teaching kids to work in groups is an important element to teaching students not just curriculum, but people skills. But as members of a group the sum is only as strong, or weak, as the parts. Dylan made an excellent further point about students figuring out who is willing to carry the weight while they do the bare minimum. Keeping a balance and variety of activities also ensures that you hit on multiple learning styles often.
DeleteI agree that letting students work together is a great idea, but individual work is important, too. Jigsawing incorporates the two since they have an individual assignment and then share their thoughts and information. Helping children interact is also a very important thing, and these activities work great for that.
DeleteOnce students understand the concept of string boards, task cards, hole punch folder games etc. then I want to let them create the activities themselves. When they create them they have the information available to make a correct key, it's another opportunity to reinforce the information. Additionally, humans don't learn best when they are told something, they learn best when they teach it. In a sense they teach themselves with these activities as they create them.
ReplyDeleteOnce my students created their activities I would have them exchange with their peers and study using each others. If a student got their activity wrong or incomplete the student who created it would be responsible for teaching it to the struggling student. I think this is a great activity because the different activities differentiate themselves as the different students created them according to what worked for them. I also like it because it's a sort of formative assessment that I don't even have to create, the students do the work.
Putting in students in groups to jigsaw brings out and develops leaders. The groups won't work well if someone doesn't step up and say this is how we're going to split up the chapter. It also won't work well if the person stepping up is disliked, bossy, or uppity. Working as members of a team is a valuable real world skill that students can develop in the classroom through these activities.
I think that letting students make activities themselves is a great idea. The information is reinforced with them making keys. I agree that teaching information helps you to learn it more than simply reading it or being told. Working in groups really is a great way to help encourage positive interactions between students and holds them accountable for their learning. It really does teach students good cooperation skills.
DeleteI really like the students making their own activities. The students need to be masters of the subject before they can make the activity. I feel like telling the students that they will teach the lesson will make some students feel good and work harder at the activity. Putting certain students in power like that can do good for the students.
DeleteI think that letting students create and do their own activities is a great idea! It will make the students know and be able to describe the subject very well if they are told they will be making the project or assignment. Therefore the students should have a sense of urgency when it comes to bracing the idea of the certain section or chapter which is the main goal of the teacher.
DeleteUsing different teaching strategies in the classroom definitely benefits students, especially by incorporating differentiation. However, by having students create the study tools, they had to know the material very well and it helps them to commit the information to memory better. As a student, making the learning tool helped for me to remember the information better. As a teacher, assigning the students to create their own learning tools will give them accountability towards their own learning and will help all different types of learners because they can choose what kind of study tool to make and use. I want to be a secondary teacher, and I think this type of activity would be more beneficial to younger children. I think the jigsawing strategy would be more helpful for high school students, and that is something that I will implement in my own classroom. Having students evaluate each other's work is also a good strategy to use because it makes the students try harder to do their best.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that the hands on activities are good for elementary, but I think they can be beneficial for secondary teachers as well. If you made some accommodations to the activity to require more information or use it as a review for a test, I think it could work well in high school classrooms.
DeleteThe hands on activities would be useful for the secondary students as well as for the elementary! Any kinesthetic learner could benefit by this because the motion will help them retain the information on the item.
DeleteI feel like using these hands on methods help kids learn in various positive ways. things like jig sawing are fun activities for children they get to use tools that are more fun to work with like scissor and construction paper. being a kinesthetic learner I love using hands on activities, I would implement these activities to help children also interact more freely with each other doing fun task in groups.
ReplyDeletei agree Jake that hand ons learning is good because it keeps the students active and hands on learning is good for elementary students as it helps a lot with their learning
DeleteIt is definitely helpful for kinestheticlearners or AD(H)D kids to get up and actively participate, but it is also important to monitor and control their energy levels; while it can be more helpful to give ADHD students hands-on activities, they learn just as little when they get out of control as they would trying to sit still and listen to lecture.
DeleteI really enjoyed doing all of these activities. I have never really liked hands-on learning, but it was fun to make these learning tools. I believe that making these for students could be very beneficial to the students because it let's them participate in hands-on learning, which is what most students like these days. I also believe it would be good to allow them to make them on their own. When making them the students would have to write the question or whatever and then look up the answer. This could help them to better remember the material they are learning.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that it is beneficial to students to participate in hands-on learning. When the students make the tools on their own, it is especially helpful because they have to know the material very well and it will help students to remember the information better. Hands-on activities could also help to reach different learning styles.
DeleteI agree that hands on learning is very beneficial for students! A lot of students, especially elementary students, need this type of learning to remember the material. I think it's important to give an example as a guide before having students make their own though!
DeleteYou have really good ideas on why the hands on material is especially useful for all types of learners--- Plus these activities are, or can be, a lot of fun. Most kids like to create things and activities like these help keep the creations on a good task
DeleteAs an elementary and early childhood education major I wonder how I can get the little ones to create their own game. I know this will be a very difficult task to do and I want to ensure that they will learn from the tasks that we do. I also am not sure how jig sawing would go if they cannot read yet.. As a student I appreciate learning these strategies to better my studying skills. I can see my kiddos playing some of the games, like the wrap around, on their level. I think giving them more options on how to learn makes them want to challenge themselves to get the puzzle correct. Giving them "cheat sheets" on the back does give them the ability to get unstuck if they are unsure of an answer without having to wait on me to help them. I think that this is a great way to teach them responsibility and problem solving skills early. With the technology today we take the easy way out and this will help them learn how to use their minds to think of another solution to their problem.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that it will be hard to have the younger students do these jig sawing and wrap around activities. Yet, having them at least try to be able to put these together could be a very good learning opportunity. Trial and error is a great way to really remember the material. This will require a lot of direction and time, but I think it will be worth benefits the students take away from it.
DeleteI was thinking the same thing. The games and activities would need to be altered for younger kids! They could definitely provide opportunities to challenge themselves.
DeleteKylie, that is a good point you made on how you would exactly get your students to create their own game or learning style since you are going to teach a younger grade level. I am just like you with they way that these learning styles are able to help me with my learning right now in school.
DeleteI really enjoyed the activities we did. I enjoyed both making them and trying to solve the ones our compass groups created. I think these were a good method that allowed learning to be fun. I really think that using these methods as study guides really help the information sink in better. That is only when they are done properly. I think this would be effective by someday having my students each learn about one part of a whole subject and making a fun activity for the rest of the class to enjoy. This way the idea they create will sink in well and if they are having fun doing other peoples creations then the other information will sink in too. I can see this being a good way to teach an entire lesson to the class by originally having each student learn one portion and then adding it all together. I think this is a good and fun way for the kids to learn and it will not be so boring for them.
ReplyDeleteJigsawing was an interesting new learning style for me. It was more like taking notes than doing a reading. However, I'm not sure how much I liked the evaluations or the activity overall. Nobody wants to be mean to other students and give them a bad grade, but at the same time you have no idea on whether or not they got all of the key information out of their section. With this type of learning activity, especially with kids that have reading disabilities or comprehension issues, I think it is important that the teacher goes over the entire section to make sure everything important was taken out.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I liked the hands-on activities we made. They catered to a wide variety of learning styles and were fun to make and solve. In a classroom, I think most of them would be good for all ages. Students would learn the material by writing it down and making their own activities and by working out the activities later.
The hands on activities were way better than traditional learning. I am very sure that most people would agree with me when I say this.
DeleteI completely agree about the jigsawing. I have a lot of trouble comprehending something from just being told; I feel like I have to see the information. And I agree... In a high school setting, there are going to be students who are not motivated and who don't do the reading, and therefore let their group down.
DeleteJigsawing was an interesting new learning style for me. It was more like taking notes than doing a reading. However, I'm not sure how much I liked the evaluations or the activity overall. Nobody wants to be mean to other students and give them a bad grade, but at the same time you have no idea on whether or not they got all of the key information out of their section. With this type of learning activity, especially with kids that have reading disabilities or comprehension issues, I think it is important that the teacher goes over the entire section to make sure everything important was taken out.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I liked the hands-on activities we made. They catered to a wide variety of learning styles and were fun to make and solve. In a classroom, I think most of them would be good for all ages. Students would learn the material by writing it down and making their own activities and by working out the activities later.
I did not really think about how much you would have to trust your students to do this. One person in the group could screw it up for everyone. Now im leaning more towards the side of only doing jigsawwing every once in a blue moon, just for a change up. Although I do think the activites we did were very helpful and fun.
DeleteI definitely agree that it can be a problem if you are in a jigsaw group with one fellow student who does not put in enough effort to do well. It can cause dramatic changes to the other student's grades if they do poorly on an assignment because of that one student. You have to be careful with this method because age and maturity can play a big role on how a group works using the jigsaw method.
DeleteI think you make an interesting point Miller. The grading of each other was a little difficult because you felt like that your group mates did the best job they could at preparing you, but at the same time it may have not been enough to prepare you for the test.
DeleteThis keeps students (and myself) interested in the material. If you have to make an activity to teach someone about material, you can't just zone out and slack off. It requires knowing the material yourself and making an effort. I think all of these are great ideas to teach students...by having them teach others. I think for my future classroom they would have to be modified slightly depending on the grade I teach but it would probably be effective in most age groups.
ReplyDeleteJigsawing is a good idea for any age as well. I definitely feel like I learned more than I would have instead of sitting down and trying to read a whole chapter myself. Odds are I would skim through and miss a lot but now I feel like I do have the main points of the chapter. This will be helpful in the future in a classroom but also in college in classes or studying.
I agree with you that jig sawing was a lot more interesting than just reading the whole thing by myself. Similarly, I think that this is applicable for all ages and a better way of having the students learn and retain the information.
DeleteI feel the same that through our jig sawing experience, I learned more because I had to know the information to bring it back to you all. I really like the idea of doing it in college classes, because reading a chapter a night means skim a chapter a night. I feel like I gained more knowledge this way as well!
DeleteI agree with you that using jig sawing keeps the students in the interest of learning material. I really enjoyed the point that if this learning style might not exactly work for your future classroom, that you will make adjustments to allow your students learn their material.
DeleteYes, jig sawwing is way more fun than reading a book. I feel like people will get more out of it this way. Plus, you get to make so many creative ideas.
DeleteI found this method of learning interesting. I enjoyed learning from my peers all about the different material that was within the chapter. Using different learning styles is very helpful within the classroom. Some students get bored easily with the lectures, worksheets and the other boring learning styles within the classroom. Sometimes you just need to switch things up once and a while. This learning style of jig sawing would allow the students to just point focus on one thing instead of the chapter as a whole. This can be helpful because the student won't get too stressed about learning all the chapter by themselves. The students within the group would be able to work even harder to teach their fellow peers the section they were designated to teach.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kailyn different styles of learning is very helpful within the classroom. students want fun activities to do in class not just boring worksheets I think that jigsawing makes learn fun and enjoyable.
DeleteI really enjoyed this view on learning (and teaching) in the classroom! As a student, I enjoyed all the different ways the information was presented. It also made me learn the material. These aren't just activities where you can float through without actually doing the reading. You have to understand the material to be successful! As for the jigsawing and evaluating my group, I thought it was good. It's difficult to analyze someone else's work effectively, but I think we did a good job. As a teacher, I am going to incorporate these ideas into my classroom constantly. It's important that the teacher acts as a guide and doesn't hand all his/her kids the answers. These activities allow you to do that, while the students are still learning. Self teaching can be super successful, and I believe these activities will encourage that!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that activities such as jigsawing are very beneficial to the students because it ensures that they actually understand their section of reading and they work as a team to learn the information. It is difficult to evaluate the work of our peers, but that is something we will have to do as a teacher, so it was a good experience to have in the classroom.
DeleteI agree that it was something that made us do the reading, but it was in a way that was kind of fun! I think this was important so that as future educators we can see how that we need to mix it up when teaching for our students to get the most of each lesson.
DeleteActing as a guide is the role that teachers should use as often as they can! By using these tasks to help students reach their goals they become more familiar with the material than they would by just lecture alone.
DeleteI think that doing the peer reviews, in a way forced us to do our best on the activity. We wanted our project to be presentable and the other students in the class to think we did a god job. As a teacher I may have students do a couple activities and use a couple different learning activities so they can find the on that works the best for them. My first learning activity was just a thing o get out of the way but the second one really appealed to me and helped me learn more about the chapter.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way Mike, knowing that I was going to present this work to my peers I wanted to make sure that it was good work and that it was appealing to all my fellow classmates. these learning activities help me better understand the learning process.
DeleteI also found the peer reviews helpful because I personally am more worried about criticism from peers rather than from the teacher, because the teacher grades my assignments all the time, but my classmates complete the same assignments, so it's kind of like a competition. It's also helpful to see someone else's (besides the teacher's) point of view.
DeleteI agree 100%! I personally don't want to do any work that my peers would see as subpar. I want them to see that I worked hard on the project and did a good job.
DeleteI definitely think it's important to let students have some choice on what activities they do. I agree, I really like one of them and the other was just obligatory.
DeleteAs a student, this definitely made me get my work done. I struggle with procrastination largely because I tend to be a perfectionist, and I get stressed out with deadlines and end up ignoring them. I really enjoyed seeing everyone else's work. Had I been a student in middle school, though, I honestly probably would have skipped class if I'd known something like a gallery walk was going to happen. I think it can be really intimidating for students that are shy, or that have perfectionist tendencies. The activities in and of themselves are great, though, and can definitely help students learn the material more thoroughly.
ReplyDeleteI completely understand about struggling with procrastination, and I agree that this activity did help in making sure that each student who participated got their work done. I would definitely use this whenever I had multiple students in my class who struggled with procrastination.
DeleteAs we can tell with mine and your posts Nathanial, we are pretty good procrastinators as well. I was hoping to out grow that some day but it still has stuck with me.
DeleteBlog #3 Response
ReplyDeleteI think that you can use the ideas of having students create their own study tool and be in charge of their learning when having them study for a test. It also is possible for students to create their own tests and them give them to each other for them to take. I think this helps the students learn the information, but in a different way than hearing the teacher lecture. I personally liked it as a student as I feel I still learned about a wide variety of different topics, and I would definitely use this strategy when having students study before a test or even an interactive class assignment in which they would need to know the material.
Yes! The way you described this makes me think that it would be good for jigsawing. Students could each focus on a small part of what needed to be studied, and then have a day of gallery walks with the study tools.
DeleteCreating learning styles activities was actually very fun. Being able to see the different, often kinesthetic approaches, was very useful to me in the fact that as a person that typically does not complete kinesthetic tasks it helped me learn of some approaches that I could offer to my students in order to help meet their learning needs. While creating these activities you have to be able to fully understand the information that you are sharing which could be a very useful tool for my students.
ReplyDeleteI agree! It definitely makes the students know the information to mastery to have them create something with it, rather than just memorize or recite. This helps with actual information retention.
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