PME 811- Blog Post #4
- Riley Victoria
- Oct 4, 2019
- 2 min read
I hope you are still following along with my discovery toward a student-centered classroom. I wanted to give you a little insight on what my virtual lessons look like. Here is a link to a recording of a 4th grade below basic 30-minute math lesson I taught on Thursday, October 3rd. Enjoy!
Click this link to watch my lesson:
It just so happens that attribute #2 of student-centered learning, according to Iowa Core’s Literature Review on Student-Centered Classrooms is collaborative learning. I challenge myself to reflect on my teaching and dig deeper into collaborative learning. Am I providing enough opportunities for students to collaborate? Is partner work considered collaborative learning? What is collaborative learning and what are the benefits of collaborative learning in the classroom?
Panitz (1999) states, “Collaboration is a philosophy of interaction and personal lifestyle where individuals are responsible for their actions, including learning, and they respect the abilities and contributions of their peers.” Vygotsky (1978) adds “that learning is highly social and thus influences the development of the brain. What children can do with the assistance of others is even more indicative of their mental development than what they can do alone (p. 85).” The Student-Centered Classrooms Literature Review by Iowa Core explains that collaboration activities like partner work also help students learn give-and-take, speaking and listening, and social skills that are key ingredients we need for survival.
Reflection of my lesson based on my knowledge of collaborative learning:
If you skip the first 7 minutes and 30 seconds of the lessons and pass through our warm-up and expectations, we begin the mini lesson and partner work portion.
Although technically collaborative learning does not occur until the partner work happens toward the end of the lesson, I think the lesson has a lot of student-led moments. Based on Panitz’s quote about collaboration, I question if my mini lesson or instruction portion is also a version of collaborative learning. This small group of students are helping me teach my lesson by contributing to the lesson and contributing to peers to learn how to make equivalent fractions. What are your thoughts?
Partner work, which is collaborative learning starts at the 14:30 minutes mark. The way partner work is structured in this lesson was based off an exit ticket the students took the previous day. So, a small group stayed with me who had not mastered (70% or higher) equivalent fractions and the others did partner practice.
I think my highlight of collaborative learning is at 22:30 minutes into the lesson where a student helps another student solve the problem. At this point, I actually went and checked on the other groups to make sure they were completing the work and understanding! To my surprise, the groups were all working and collaborating too! I just loved how Dahlia stepped up as the teacher and explained to the students how to solve the problem.
Sources:
Panitz, T. (1999). Collaborative versus cooperative learning: A comparison of the two concepts which will help us understand the underlying nature of interactive learning. Retrieved from http://home.capecod.net/~tpanitz/tedsarticles/coopdefinition.htm
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of the higher psychological processes.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Literature Review: Student-Centered Classrooms, Iowa Core, Pages 1-12
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