Thursday's Cooperative Learning #7

 

I am off to do a little bit of hiking today... hopefully it won't be unbearably hot or raining. I am also done with my 3rd Reading Endorsement class. Last night was my last one for the summer! Only 2 more courses to go for the fall and spring.

 

So with that said, this will be a quick post. I want to go over a strategy I use with my kinders that Kagan calls "Sage N Scribe". I pair students up to work together. Partner A has a pencil to write and Partner B tells Partner A how to solve the problem. Partner A writes what Partner B tells him. If he does not agree, he may coach. Then they switch roles. I've used this with our alphasmart projects or making words activities. On the alphasmart Partner A will write Partner B's response. Then they switch roles. Since I only have 10 alphasmarts, this gives my whole class an opportunity to use technology in the given time frame. With Making Words, Partner A has the letters and Partner B has the paper. Partner A explains how to make the word, and then Partner B writes it down. Then they switch roles. Sometimes, my students partner up and use this strategy when working with math problems.

 

I have my partners write in different colors. This is a management technique with cooperative learning strategies. Each child writes his name in a different color than his partner. That way when I am checking their work, I know who wrote the work.