All the research that I read says that collaboration is the most effective way to engage at risk students in the classroom. This is important since collaboration is one of the four key skills needed in 21st century learning. My question revolves around how to use it in the classroom to engage a specific population of students. The problem that I am currently facing is the question of Collaboration and How? The how of collaboration is three fold in all the articles, blogs, and teachers/administration I have talked to.
Step 1: Put students into groups
Step 2: Assign the students roles in the groups
Step 3: Have the students complete a project.
In my recent blog for ED791 I discussed the skills needed for students to collaborate successfully and many of the schools that are leaders in using the 21st skills embed teaching collaboration. Below is rubric from a school in NYC about what collaboration looks like in practice:
Step 1: Put students into groups
Step 2: Assign the students roles in the groups
Step 3: Have the students complete a project.
In my recent blog for ED791 I discussed the skills needed for students to collaborate successfully and many of the schools that are leaders in using the 21st skills embed teaching collaboration. Below is rubric from a school in NYC about what collaboration looks like in practice:
I listed seven, but there are 15 identifiable skills required for collaboration. The question I am currently working on is: Do I teach these skills separately and explicitly with small post-hole projects to gain practice and confidence or embed them into the large scale inquiry based project. The school I am currently teach in is not an Inquiry based school and the majority of the students are collaboration neophytes. The word collaboration is used in the school but no teacher teaches how to collaborate: outside of the three steps mentioned prior.
I strongly feel that collaboration is the most vital skill of the 21st century skills for students to learn. To effectively collaborate, students need to critically think, communicate, and be creative. The following image highlights how important collaboration is.
I strongly feel that collaboration is the most vital skill of the 21st century skills for students to learn. To effectively collaborate, students need to critically think, communicate, and be creative. The following image highlights how important collaboration is.