As I read the first chapter I found a quote that I felt describes my pedagogy; “ For a teacher, this means building on what students already know, and providing scaffolding that is responsive to the needs of ESL students for the language and tasks they are not yet able to do alone.” (p. 13). I fully believe that drawing on what students (all students) already know is a great way to show relationships, and is a proved fact that students learn better by relating to what they already know. People have a systematic way to store information and when learning something new, if they can relate back and connect it to something they previously understand, they are more likely to remember it.
Nigel was a great example of this (p. 9). He started with a simple statement “try eat lid”. Through conversations with his parents he was able to put together a jointly constructed story. His parents simply asked him for information and helped him restate what he had already said. Nigel knew the information but not necessarily how to put the information together into a coherent sentence. With the help of his mother and father, Nigel constructed a story that anyone could understand without sharing the experience.
As for the communication part of learning, I agree completely with the book. Working in peer groups, pairs or even with the teacher requires different types of interactions. Those kinds of interactions are learned and students struggle with them all the way through college and beyond. This is why some teachers decide to give students roles, through these roles students learn what kinds of things they should be thinking about while in a group. Should there be a facilitator, a recorder, a reporter, a time manager, a task manager? All of these roles may be needed yet students may not always think of these “roles”. Starting at a young age students should be taught how to work in groups, how to work in pairs, how to work with teachers, etc.
I see a lot of opportunities for group work in my classroom. Many times my teacher with give instructions and then students are to work at their tables on whatever it is the teacher asks. By having her students sit at connected tables, students can work with a group, they can talk to their neighbors or some students even choose to work alone. It is quite nice to see that students can do what they deem best, and have the opportunity to work however they feel comfortable.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Suzie, I felt exactly the same way upon beginning to read this section of the reading. One of the best things we can do as teachers to encourage the growth in knowledge of our students is to refer back to that which they already know, that they are already somewhat familiar with. Making our students feel comfortable and at ease in their learning will hopefully allow the material we present to them to shine through, as clearly as possible, to their eager young minds.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that cooperative learning and group work can be an extremely positive method of learning for students and I'm so glad to hear that you have a class that can easily incorporate this method and put it to good use. My classroom works in groups or pairs occasionally, but there are quite a few students who will near refuse to work together. Do you ever experience this problem with the students in your class? I think that group work can still function well for this class, but the members of each group must be decided carefully by my CT. Let me know what you think if you get a chance! :) Thanks!