Coop.Learning/Effort/Questions Week 4 Part II

Liked the point that the groups have to be well thought out, who can work with who, what are the ability levels, and the right size. I remember putting groups together in a fourth grade classroom and we spend a lot of time trying to get the right groups formed, according to personality and ability (range of ability in each group). Then there is the point about "Cooperative learning should be used consistently and systematically, but should not be overused". I am now reading a book called "Quiet" about being an introvert. Cooperative learning is being pushed, so much these days, because supposedly that is the way of the working world, that the introverts get lost in it. Being a introvert is not all bad and we have to remember that and not push students into working with someone if they really would rather work alone. Last year I helped a Financial Literacy class made Animotos about the risks of credit. The groups were two to three students. They had a rubric, so they knew exactly what they had to do, they were required to complete a storyboard before they could start their Animoto. I think more often than not, students start the web presentation without a clue as to what they really are going to do. I think googledocs is a great platform for cooperative learning, as well as making a wiki.
The chapter about effort was food for thought. It probably would be a motivator for some students to rate their effort and see if they get better grades for more effort.  And to have them do the tracking themselves is brilliant. I am definitely going to try that this next year.
Identifying Similarities and differences. Just recently I had some training in Kagan teaching methods. One of the activities we did was using this concept. It would be too hard to explain what we did, but suffice to say that our brains, even as adults, were working overtime, to form hypotheses and conclusions based on information of similarities and differences, because it is not information regurgitated back, it is forming new information in our minds. In a math class once I held up a piece of paper and said "this is a Polygon" and went on to show more examples of polygons and non polygons. Then I had the students write the definition of a polygon. There were no clues except the shapes. The had to figure out what was alike and different to write their definition. When I student taught I did a lesson on graphing points. One of the fourth grade classes did just find with it and another did terrible. I had to look at why that happen, what did I do different, what did I do the same. We have to take prior knowledge and then construct new knowledge. In other words real learning. Another lesson I do with 5th grade is give the students a list of topics (dogs, cats, space, tress, baseball, ect) and they have to group them in any manner they want and then we talk about the groupings. And the point of this is teaching them about the Dewey Decimal system. Dewey groups like thing together. And what is interesting, most students group the subject pretty close to how Dewey did it. So I was not telling them the 500s are natural thing, they figured it out for themselves.
Homework and Practice I think the recommendations are key to this topic. Communicate expectation, have a purpose, and vary feedback. I think we can all remember assignments that just seemed like busy work. The ones that enhance learning are a little harder. Again when I took this class about Kagan methods our assignment was to try some in class and then write a paper on what did and didn't work. That made me really think about what I would do differently if I did it again.
Generating and Testing Hypotheses In real life I tested a hypotheses that I was going into interviews too prepared and backed why off on my prep and the result was two job offers. Whether my hypotheses is correct or not, I don't really know, but it sure saved me some time! Before I was a teacher I was a dairy farmer, and every day we were testing hypotheses. If we feed the cows this way will they respond with higher milk? If I plant the corn at a higher population will I get more or less yield? If I hire someone to do my bookwork will I feel less stress? I think, as adults, our days are filled with multiple hypotheses that we don't even realize. I am a very linear person, so when I test a hypotheses I list in my head the yes and no, more or less, good or bad, results and make a theory.