Simona Kajtazova - 20/2/15

Reflection about the presentation of the group "Futupasta":

This group decided to do their presentation in the format of PREZI, which I really liked, because it was visually attractive and furthermore, they were the first group that chose this programme. They explained the technique TGT (teams-games-tournaments), which I will analyse it in more detail later in this blog. What I found very interesting was, their methods of meeting and I will definitely try that out with my group also. Namely, they made their reunions or exchanged materials through Skype, Prezi and Google Docs. Additionally, they created their own evaluation sheets, which I must say that I find a very good idea.

Moreover, I will now talk about important facts that are essential when a teacher wants to carry out Cooperative Learning in his class:

Teacher Planning

It is very important that the teacher is concrete when it comes to distributing the tasks for an activity. He has to make his ideas very clear, so the students understand very well what he wants them to do. Furthermore, he has to define each skill and explain, which roles exist and what is the job of each one. He has to start step by step and take care to not overload the students. Additionally, it is essential to often practise the skills, so the students acquire more and better cooperative learning skills. The teacher also has to be scaffolding for his class. That means, to support them during the learning process, while the students, little by little, develop autonomous learning strategies, thus promoting their own cognitive, affective and learning skills and knowledge. This brings me to my next point, the autonomy of the students.

Autonomy

What if the teacher needs to go out for a few minutes and leave the classroom? Can I leave my students alone? Having students that learn on their own and can work autonomously are not a matter of course. But it is important, especially during cooperative learning activities, that the children can learn themselves. It is not easy to learn this skill automatically; actually, a student passes through a few steps to reach autonomous learning:

1.  Conscious although clumsy use of the skill.

2.  Feeling of falseness when putting the skill in practice.

3.  Proper use of the skill, but still mechanical.

4.  Automatic and proper use of the skill.

Group Investigation

This technique is similar to jigsaw but actually more complicated. First of all, the students choose a subtopic, according to their interests. Later, each team is responsible for a different subtopic. Like we did it, the team members have to choose, together with the teacher, general objectives and plan the procedures they will use to fulfil them. Also, they distribute the tasks they need to do. Further, the teams have to develop a plan for their group, which will be their work plan throughout the project. In the end, the groups have to analyse and synthesise their final output, summarize the information and present it to the rest of the class. During or after the presentation the group has to be prepared to answer to any questions, given by the professor or the other groups. Finally, when it comes to the evaluation, it hast o be done by the teacher and the students.

Multiple Intelligences

One reason why it is an advantage to create heterogeneous groups, are the multiple intelligences. This theory was identified by Howard Gardner, he claims that Students possess different kinds of minds and therefore learn, remember perform and understand in different ways. Where individuals differ, is the strength of these intelligences. There are eight different intelligences:

·      linguistic: often think in words, like to read, use words effectively

·      logical-mathematical: think conceptually, like to experiment, like logic games

·      visual-spacial: think in terms of physical space, like to draw

·      bodily-kinesthetic: like movement, like role playing, need physical activity

·      musical: love music, may study better with music in the backround

·      interpersonal: are understanding, interacting with others, like group activities

·      intrapersonal: tend to shy away from others, are the exact opposite of the interpersonal type

·      naturalist: like to explore things, connected to living things, care for nature and human beings

TGT (Teams-Games-Tournaments)

Today we learned important facts about the technique TGT. First of all, it is important that there is NO competition during the game. That means that it is not important, to answer fast or answer as many questions as possible. Furthermore, it is essential that there are many prices, although, not for those who answered the most questions correctly, but these prices are about behaviour. For example: team that works together well, team with creative answers, etc.