Saturday, November 21, 2015
Thursday, November 19, 2015
How to make an effective group
I don’t
stop telling my students the words of Tom Peters “Today we live in a project
world and, if you are in a project world, you’ve got to be a great teammate .”
I try to learn them to contribute the group work by being a part of their team
or group.
The
first rule to be a good teammate is to communicate, communicate,
communicate. If any of them has a
problem with someone in their group, I ask them to talk to them about it. As
they shouldn’t blame others and they should support group member's ideas. If a
teammate suggests something, always consider it – even if it's the silliest
idea you've ever heard! Considering the group's ideas shows that the person is
interested in other people's ideas, not just their own. And this makes them good team members. After all, nobody likes a
know-it-all.
Another
rule is no bragging! Don't act like a superstar – that is what I say.
Sometimes it happens with my children and it comes to the situation that a
group doesn’t want to have those “supers” among them.
Another
thing I always ask my students is to listen actively and to look at
the person who's speaking to them, nod, ask questions and acknowledge what's
said by paraphrasing points that have been made. If they're unclear about
something that's been said, I advise them to ask for more information to clear
up any confusion before moving on. Everybody knows that effective communication
is a vital part of any team, so the value of good listening skills shouldn't be
underestimated.
And the
last rule but not the least is to get involved. I do tell my
students to share suggestions, ideas, solutions and proposals with their team
members.
Follow these tips:
• Create
the groups based on student personalities and skill sets.
• Make sure students understand the value of group work by having a session with them about why group work is important.
• Have a team skills training session so that students know how to work well with each other.
• Provide an environment that builds mutual trust by…:
• Make sure students understand the value of group work by having a session with them about why group work is important.
• Have a team skills training session so that students know how to work well with each other.
• Provide an environment that builds mutual trust by…:
- having the group assign roles.
- having the group decide their means and frequency of communication.
- having the group create a process for conflict management and resolution.
• Assess the students as a group AND as individuals. You can also evaluate the final product, as well as the team process.
• Consider involving students in the assessment process by having them submit documentation about their group process as well as a variety of evaluations (team, peer and self).
• Provide sufficient external support by planning how you will support groups/students that have poor attendance, don’t do their share of the work, receive poor peer evaluations or that can’t resolve a conflict.
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Jigsaw Reading Activity
I would begin Jigsaw technique with teacher
modeling. If my students were not familiar with this activity, I would explain
to them that they would be working in different groups: a jigsaw or home group,
made up of students who have read different texts, and expert group that all
reads the same text.
Then,
with a piece of text appropriate for my group of students, I would read and
think-aloud as if I were working in an
expert group, focusing on thought processes such as:
How can I put these ideas into my own words?
How will
I tell the members of my jigsaw, or home, group about this material?
To
prepare students for returning to their home,
or jigsaw, group, I would demonstrate
thinking they could use to monitor their performance there:
Do
people understand what I’m saying?
Then I
would organize students in their home or jigsaw groups and share with them the
learning goal or guiding question for the lesson. I would remind them of
the modeling they saw. After appointing the roles I would check their
understanding by asking:
·
Will
everyone who will be experts raise your hand?
·
Can
those responsible for the group work stand up (Leaders)?
·
How
much time will you have for reading?
http://www.adlit.org/strategies/22371/ Teachers
can use the following steps when developing the jigsaw strategy for a class:
1. Introduce
the technique and the topic to be studied.
2. Assign
each student to a "home group" of 3-5 students who reflect a range of
reading abilities.
3. Determine
a set of reading selections and assign one selection to each student.
4. Create
"expert groups" that consist of students across "home
groups" who will read the same selection.
5. Give
all students a framework for managing their time on the various parts of the
jigsaw task.
6. Provide
key questions to help the "expert groups" gather information in their
particular area.
7. Provide
materials and resources necessary for all students to learn about their topics
and become "experts".
8. Discuss
the rules for reconvening into "home groups" and provide guidelines
as each "expert" reports the information learned.
9. Prepare
a summary chart or graphic organizer for each "home group" as a guide
for organizing the experts' information report.
10. Remind
students that "home group" members are responsible to learn all
content from one another.
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
MIXED ABILITY CLASSES
MIXED ABILITY CLASSES
Actually, all our students are individual. They
have different names, different appearance, different age and gender, different
background. They are different in their character, their interests and their
likes and dislikes. Naturally, every our student processes and learns new
information in different ways. It means that all of them have different
learning styles out of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic ones. As we deal with
the problem of mixed ability classes, we should realize how to learn and what
methods of learning best fits our students. Understanding this can help
maximize time you spend teaching by incorporating different techniques to meet
the classes objectives.
We know that mixed ability classes are those
made up of students of different levels of proficiency. It means that students
may have different strengths, weaknesses and approaches to learning. They may
respond differently to various teaching methods and classroom situations. According
to Georgina Ma http://www.witslanguageschool.com/NewsRoom/ArticleView/tabid/180/ArticleId/58/Teaching-Tips-Mixed-Ability-Classes.aspx we can outline the next reasons for mixed
ability classes:
·
Age or
maturity
·
Intelligence
and multiple intelligences
·
Learning
style
·
Language
aptitude
·
Language
levels
·
Mother
tongue
·
Learner
autonomy
·
Motivation or attitude towards the subject
·
Cultural
background
Basing
on Richmond Publishing According to Ur (1991: 303), some of the challenges
teachers of mixed ability classes may face include:
·
Discipline
- Teachers may find their mixed ability classes are chaotic or difficult to
control. Discipline problems occur when learners feel frustrated, lose
concentration, get bored, or behave in a disruptive manner. Some reasons why
mixed ability classes may be more difficult to control may be because different
learners may find the subject matter easier or more difficult to grasp, weaker
learners may require more assistance from the teacher, or more advanced
learners may dominate aspects of the lessons.
·
Interest
– Learners may differ in their learning styles, motivation and interests.
Teachers of mixed ability classes may find it difficult to provide content and
activities that are motivating and interesting to all learners in a
class.
·
Effective learning for all – In mixed ability classes it is difficult to
provide effective learning for all learners. The content or activities in a
lesson may be too easy for some and too difficult for others.
·
Materials
– Materials are usually rigidly aimed at a certain kind of learner and may not
offer teachers options or flexibility.
·
Individual
awareness – Teachers may find it difficult to get to know and follow the
progress of all learners in a class. In classes where there are many
differences, teachers are not able to devote time and attention equally to all
learners (Šimanová, 2010).
·
Participation – In mixed ability classes, more advanced learners tend to participate
more actively than weaker learners. Lack of participation or attention from the
teacher, may further affect weaker learners proficiency in the subject.
·
Correction
– Teachers may feel overwhelmed by the marking load and may also not feel
equipped to deal with the errors made by a student. For example a subject
teacher may not feel comfortable correcting a learner’s language errors.
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
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