This week’s readings discuss ways to increase student-centered instruction in the classroom. Students learn better when they are engaged and when they can analyze and apply the information they are learning (Slavin, 2018, p. 188).
Teachers should be designing meaningful lessons for students who should need to work with the content in order to gain a deeper understanding. Allowing students partners or groups to work with provides them with the opportunity to discuss with and learn from peer interaction. Many professions provide a mentor and allow new employees to learn while on-the-job, cooperative learning is the same concept (Slavin, 2018, p. 189). This allows for timely corrective feedback where a student can learn from his/her small mistakes and immediately correct them before making a large error. Education has traditionally consisted of a teacher telling a student information and providing the student with a book to read that also tells the student the information, yet real learning is much more likely to occur if the teacher acts as more of a guide or mentor who corrects the student along a path of discovery (Slavin, 2018, p. 190).
I use several methods of student-centered learning in my classroom, but I have work to do in order to use it with fidelity. I particularly love the Jigsaw method of learning, yet I have moved away from it in the last few years most likely because it was easier for me to use in US History than in Economics. I plan to find ways to incorporate at least one jigsaw into each of my economics units for next year.
I have never used the Learning Together strategy as a summative assessment. I am interested in learning more about how to hold each student accountable for his/her role in the group in order to provide group feedback. I like the idea of each person in the group assessing each other, for a start.
Another method that I particlulary like for accountability is the Random Reporter. This could be used not only as a method of assessment, but also an information delivery tool. The teacher could call a random reporter from each group and ask them to relay information regarding the assignment/lesson back to the group. This prevents the teacher from having to go to every group to say the same thing.
Slavin, R. E. (2018). Educational psychology: Theory and practice (12th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
Great job on this. You continue to offer very specific and detailed insight into your classroom practices. Your hard work here and your attention to a professional blog/response does not go unnoticed. Keep up the good work and keep in mind your final paper is based upon this work.
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