As an instructional coaching team in my school district, Waukee Community School District, we have worked on creating an Instructional Playbook for our secondary buildings. The intent of this work is to provide clarity and visibility around instructional strategies that are research-based.
I created this Keynote resource to live alongside this work. So often as educators, we are faced with limited time, resources, materials, etc. This resource offers over 20 different collaborative learning strategies that can be adapted to any content area. By clicking the + Add Slide button to add a new template of each of the strategies. Multiple strategies also have additional nested slides that cover all the components of each collaborative learning strategy. This resource offers quick tips, media placeholders, text placeholders, video, audio, and numerous other ways for students to showcase their thinking and learning. It’s ready to be used in your classroom tomorrow!
What is Collaborative Learning?
- Collaborative learning is a phase during which students learn interdependently – through effective communication, leadership, and negotiation–to consolidate their thinking, expand their understanding, and achieve common goals.
What is the purpose of Collaborative Learning?
- Collaborative learning creates opportunities for students to consolidate their thinking and expand understanding of their learning by interacting with peers, discussing ideas and information, and problem solving.
Additional Considerations:
- Collaborative learning is not typically a time to introduce new information or material to students. Teachers may use collaborative inquiry to foster curiosity, activate background knowledge, and set the stage for new learning. Students encounter new ideas, content, and perspectives as they negotiate their thinking with their peers.
- During this phase, intentional modeling of developmentally appropriate executive functioning or soft skills such as communication, leadership, negotiation, compromise, teamwork, flexibility, and attitude are important.
- Both group work and productive group work are useful and necessary in learning – neither is “better” than the other; they serve different purposes.
Teacher Actions:
- Provide and maintain a clear purpose, aligned to learning target(s)
- Intentionally include tasks (think, say, do) that create opportunities to encourage, extend, and expand on one another’s thinking through sustained interaction with at least one other person
- Intentionally plan and communicate how and with whom students will collaborate interdependently
- Notice students’ actions and responses in order to monitor progress to determine next steps
- Provide timely support to groups or individuals who may be struggling or need extension
Student Actions:
- Communicate the what, how, and why of the learning
- Engage in a task (think, say, do) with at least one other person
- Basic Group Work or Productive Group Work
- Demonstrate individual accountability using academic language to fulfill the group’s goal
- Monitor their own thinking while encouraging, extending, and expanding on one another’s responses
Supporting Research:
- Hattie: Jigsaw 1.2, Reciprocal Teaching .74, Cooperative v. Individualistic Learning .55, Classroom Discussion Hattie .82
- Fisher and Frey - Better Learning Through Structured Teaching (p. 73-102) and Welcome to Teaching (p. 129-186)
- Marzano - The Handbook for the New Art and Science of Teaching (p. 150-162)
- Goodwin and Rouleau - The New Classroom Instruction that Work (p. 77-82)
Attach up to 5 files which will be available for other members to download.