Research Topic: Google Sites in the classroom to improve teacher-student and student-student collaboration (Article 1)

 Title:  Deeper Learning: A Collaborative Classroom Is Key Author: Rebecca Alber Location: https://www.edutopia.org/blog/deeper-learning-collaboration-key-rebecca-alber This source is relevant because it discusses the importance of collaboration along with skills to collaborate clearly. 


Summary: 

According to Alber (2017), “Teach students how to listen and ask good questions with these exercises designed to scaffold deep, meaningful collaboration” (para 1). This quote struck my attention right way because some students know how to “talk” to classmates, but they are not truly collaborating. This article dives into the importance of not only speaking, but listening, too. I will break down the main headings and what they cover. 


The first heading is, “establish group assignments” which covers being creative, doing your part, and accountability. The second heading is “teach them how to listen” which discusses skills such as making eye contact, showing empathy, and waiting your turn to speak. The third heading is “teach them the art of asking good questions” which covers how to ask more open-ended questions that expand on something, not just “yes or no” questions along with providing proper wait time for answers. The fifth heading is “teach them how to negotiate” which covers not needing to be the loudest, but the most patient and willing to think under pressure. The sixth heading is “model what we expect” which coverst that teachers need to be daily role models of all of these collaboration skills. Finally, the final heading is “group brain power” which dives into getting students to be higher-level thinkers who are able to synthesize and analyze situations and discussions. 


Reference: 

Alber, R. (June 19, 2017).. BLOG: Deeper learning: A collaborative classroom is key, Edutopia. from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/deeper-learning-collaboration-key-rebecca-alber

Comments

  1. Much2LearnMarch 15, 2021 at 6:23 PM

    Teaching them the art of asking good questions is something I always have struggles with getting my students to do. Finding great models helps, and videos of students performing models helps too, but is not always easy to find.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mrs. BMarch 22, 2021 at 12:32 PM

    This is a great source to help with student collaboration. When reading your summary and then the blog post, I kept going back to section that discusses teaching students to ask questions. I hadn't really thought about it before but I am finding students do not know how to ask good questions. Many students ask yes or no questions but don't ask for a why. This is definitely something I need to be learn to be better at doing and modeling for my students. How do you think you will incorporate these collaboration exercises into your lessons?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mrs. BMarch 22, 2021 at 12:37 PM

      I also wanted to add that I think these collaborative skills develop at different rates for different students. The constant modeling and opportunities provided for students to collaborate with others will help them better develop their skills. Grouping students with various skill levels or assigning group members "jobs" in their group and rotating the jobs will help students build their skills. Many students will want to avoid the "jobs" that are their weak areas but these areas also need to be developed to create a stronger team member.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Pandemic factoring into the use of Zoom/Google Meet (Learning Activity 7-5)

Before the Pandemic I can honestly say I never used Zoom or Google Meet before. Since the Pandemic, I used Zoom a handful of times and Google Meet more than I can count. Last year once March 13th came around and schools were shut down, we had meetings weekly with our virtual students as well as with my team teachers. The faculty meetings and team teacher meetings were held on Zoom, but the student meets were on Google Meet. There are so many benefits of having a tool right on hand to connect with others. You can share screens, show your face, present awards, teach lessons, and so much more.  Having both in-house students along with virtual students poses a challenge at times. However, tools like Google Meet make it easy to allow virtual students to still be “with” their classmates. Moving forward I will continue to use Google Meet for weekly virtual meetings, when collaboration is needed between in-house students and virtual students, and for mini lessons with students.  Over the summe
Read more

An Image Says it ALL (Learning Activity 6-1)

Image
Once my students create their blog link on their Google Site. I plan to start with them adding a Flickr photo, citing it correctly, and telling me why they chose the photo. My students love to search for images, but think they can just download them and use them. I think it is important to show them a proper web tool to use and how to cite it properly. I also am interested to see what and hear why they chose what they did. There are many other ways Flickr could be used in the classroom. Students can use it to search for images to use on projects or interactive assignments.  I chose an ocean. It is my happy place. I can picture myself laying on the beach, listening to the waves without a care in the world. This is more than just water and a sunset. I think it is calming and beautiful. I look forward to introducing my students to this web tool.    Cuba Gallery. (2011, February, 4). Ocean. Cuba Gallary’s Photostream. Retrieved from https://flic.kr/p/9fyftm  
Read more

Rising Technologies in the Classroom (Learning Activity 3-1)

Technology has been on the rise in education over the past decade. However, the recent pandemic has expedited the use of technology in the classroom. Our school was in a slow transition to virtual learning learning, but now that transition became rapid as we need virtual classrooms set up on a daily basis for both face-to-face and virtual learners. The use of Chromebooks along with Google Suite helps this process due how user-friendly the products are. Many resources online now have automatic connection to the Google Classroom platform which makes delivering lessons easy. Furthermore, the grading system my school district transitioned to also has a built in feature to connect right to Google Classroom where grades are imported with the click of a button! A silver lining to the craziness of the pandemic is that it moved my school district much closer to where we need to be to prepare our students for the future of rising technology. I feel as though I get better daily with technology an
Read more