During today's class, we completed our Jigsaw Native American Project. This project was an extremely effective way to learn about Native American Tribes. The jigsaw method of teaching and learning information begins with the creation of a "base group." A base group is comprised of four to six students (in our class's case six students per group). This base group establishes who will research and present on what topic. For our class, each member of a base group presented on a specific Native American tribe: Mohawk, Cayuga, Seneca, Mohican, Munsee, and Oneida. Each person then split to meet with "expert groups." An expert group focused their research specifically on one particular tribe.
The information we were instructed to find included the history, geography, culture, clothing, food, habitat and famous people for our assigned tribe. We also were asked to focus on the question: "How did geography influence the Native Americans?" My group focused on the Seneca tribe. The information we compiled can be viewed through our Google presentation. In completing this research, our group decided that geography impacted the Seneca tribe in a variety of ways. The region this tribe lived in allowed its people to hunt, fish and gather, experienced seasonal weather that allowed for a change in clothing, and provided opportunities to trade with nearby tribes.
After we had compiled all of our research together, we moved from our expert groups back to our base groups. Each tribe expert presented to the base group. Dr. Smirnova encouraged that we still use the format of a lesson during this brief presentation. During this time, we introduced our topics and probed prior knowledge, developed the lesson through direct instruction, allowed time for comparison and discussion, and assessed the skills learned through an assessment.
This activity allowed me to learn more about the Seneca tribe in particular, but also the other Native American tribes that were presented to my base group. My knowledge of Native American tribes was limited to what little instruction I received in elementary and middle school, regarding the interactions between the native peoples and pilgrims, the three sisters, and longhouses. Through this activity, I learned more specific aspects of Native American cultures, about famous people within each tribe and the impact geography had on each tribe.
As a future teacher, I plan to use the method of jigsaw learning. I believe that it gives students the ability to become "experts" on a particular topic, which would improve their self-efficacy and self-esteem within a classroom. This type of activity also allows students to practice positive interdependence, by showing them that they all have responsibilities that effect other members of the group. I would use this activity to study the thirteen colonies, European countries, particular cultures, etc. Broad topics, such as these, can easily be divided into main points (New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, or England, Ireland, France, or religion, stories, language). These main points could be researched by expert groups, and then presented to base groups to get a fuller picture about a topic.
Wednesday 11/20/13:
During today's class, we participated in two current event lessons.
The first lesson, conducted by Madison, Brittney and Liz, focused on sequences of events. The teachers first began the introduction portion of the lesson by reminding students about the other current event lessons and talked about what current events are. They also activated prior knowledge by asking "Who can give me the definition of the word sequence?" The ladies transitioned from the students' responses to examples of sequences. We were asked to connect the word sequences to our own lives: getting ready in the morning, how we study, ways to get to school. The teachers moved into the development of the lesson by explaining that we will be putting a current event article into a particular sequence. Our class was asked to read the article prior to class, but in a full class application the teachers would have read the article aloud to the students. For the guided practice portion of the lesson, our class was divided into two groups. We were provided with a sheet of poster board, sentence strips and tape. We worked cooperatively and referenced the article in order to place the sentences in order according to the sequence of the current event article. After we had ordered and taped down the sentence strips, the two groups came to the front of the room to share their answers. We compared our order of sentence strips to the correct order of sentence strips. For the closure, the teachers asked if we had any questions about the activity. We also were asked if we found the activity difficult or easy to complete. The teachers also asked us to reflect on what a sequence was to wrap up the activity.
This was a well-executed mini lesson! I think that the three ladies who presented were well prepared to teach, had all the necessary materials, and spoke clearly. They were working on a condensed schedule, but the activity did not seem rushed. I like that the activity involved the entire class and was engaging throughout. I feel that this would be an activity that could be applied across subject areas. It would be especially beneficial in social studies teaching because it provides an alternative to traditional timeline instruction when learning dates or sequences of events.
The second lesson, conducted by Catilyn, Anne, Tara and James, focused on identifying the difference between fact and opinion. The teachers began the lesson by asking if the class to provide the definitions for fact and for opinion. After the class had provided these definitions, the teacher offered examples of facts and opinions on the PowerPoint, and then asked us students to expand with our own facts or opinions. We then moved into groups of three or four students to discuss an article about Veteran's Day. Each member of the group was assigned a role: manager, time keeper, recorder and speaker. We listened to James read the article aloud and picked out two facts about the article. We then were instructed to form an opinion based on the article and record it on an accompanying worksheet. After we had recorded our facts and opinions, we shared our findings with the class. To conclude, we discussed why teaching the difference between facts and opinions would be important to teach students.
This lesson was great, but time constraints limited how much we as students were able to take away from the activity. I think that if we had had more time to complete it, it would have been more meaningful and would have provided us with a better idea of how to execute the activity as a full class. Overall, I believe that this teaching technique is important to teach students because we are now living in an extremely digital world. Our students will be bombarded by information, and need to begin learning how to separate fact from opinion.
Friday 11/22/13:
During today's class, we were provided with the opportunity to use the class time as an open workshop to complete any work for our final portfolio. Ericka, Alex and I used this opportunity to begin planning our mini lessons. We decided to create lessons on a debate between colonists and the British, a scavenger hunt to find missing generals and a direct instruction lesson about the events prior to the American Revolution.
We used this class time to work on our second activity: the scavenger hunt. Our lesson can be found HERE. Our objectives for this lesson were: 1)
Given a computer with predetermined websites and an accompanying fact/hint worksheet about a “missing” war general, students will research information about the particular war generals in order to provide the correct name of the general with 100% accuracy; and 2)
Given information found through research, students will present their findings to the class by providing three details that led them to the conclusion of who the “missing” war general is. To meet these objectives, we planned to introduce and pre-assess student knowledge of generals in the American Revolution. As teachers, we would model the research process through use of a familiar figure to fourth grade students: Selena Gomez. We would observe the fact list and then use provided websites to validate our facts. After this modeling activity, we would move into the activity by dividing the class into groups. Each group would be provided a fact sheet that would provide hints about who the general was. They would research through provided websites, then share their findings with a class.
This activity would be fairly easy to carry out within a full class application. Students would be able to be engaged in the activity from start to finish. They would be able to work collaboratively with peers and be able to share findings. They would also be able to expand their inquiry skills through this activity.
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