Britta Dokes
Johnson & Johnson Cooperative Learning Lesson
4th Grade Science Lesson
My CL lesson was used during Science. We are
studying Electricity and had some prior reading experiences as group readers.
For this lesson I grouped students by ability since we were using leveled
readers. Students were in groups of 2, with each one having the roles of
reader, note taker, and reporter.
During this lesson students are taking turns reading
a leveled reader about electricity with a partner. Students are responsible for
reading, paraphrasing what was read, taking notes during reading, writing a
summary, and reporting what they read to the class. This took 3 class periods,
45 minutes each. Some students decided to read and summarize after each
paragraph, some after each page, and others after each chapter. Coincidentally,
this appeared to be scaffolded by reading ability. We used 3 different levels
for our readers: On Level, Above Level and Below Level.
The
5 Elements of Cooperative Learning
Positive Interdependence:
Students are held accountable by having to
paraphrase what their partner is reading.
Class Dojo is utilized for recording teamwork,
helping others, and on task behavior.
Students earn tickets for on task/ teamwork
behavior, which they can use to buy reward coupons.
Individual Accountability:
Each student is responsible for reading one part of
the text, paraphrasing what their partner read, summarizing that part of the
text, and presenting their part to the class.
Students are scored on their part of the note taking
and presentation of information.
Face to Face Promotive Interaction:
Students are required to take turns paraphrasing
what their partner read and to help partners with this task if they are
struggling.
Students help partners with reading by helping sound
out unfamiliar or difficult words.
Students are sitting eye to eye, knee to knee for
this task.
Interpersonal and small group skills:
Students use the GAT2 steps for conflict resolution.
They use “I” Messages, Think it through sheets, or
the peace path to solve any problems that may arise.
Some students will use the Stop and Stay cool steps
for calming themselves when needed.
Students had to learn that you have to get along
with others even if you might not like them, or would not usually choose to
interact with them.
Group Processing:
Students will summarize from their notes and share
with their class.
After the presentation of their summary classmates
can ask questions or ask for clarification.
We talk about what worked well in their groups and
what we need to work on.
Usually students fill out a self-and-team
evaluation.
How
has your perspective changed from the first session of J&J cooperative
Learning? If it has not changed, identify why it has not.
I don’t think my perception has changed since
starting the class. I have always used cooperative learning strategies in my
lessons. I use many of the Kagan structures since I took a post graduate class
for my master’s degree. My year always starts off with class building and
teambuilding activities. I did realize however that I need to brush up on
making students more individually accountable for their learning.
What
were the best and worst experiences of your cooperative learning lesson?
The best experience was when I would conference with
my teams and realized that they not only had a thorough understanding of the
material, but also worked together to help each other when they did not
understand or had difficulty with reading.
The worst experience was when some teams would spend
a long time arguing about who was at fault for not getting things done. We are
using the Getting Along Together2 curriculum school wide and we do not yet have
a good enough grasp on using the program efficiently!
How
does cooperative learning prepare students for success in and out of school?
Cooperative learning prepares students for life. We
have to learn to work with many different personalities throughout our school
and professional careers. If we teach our students how to work cooperatively
now they will learn many social skills such as the 5 elements of cooperative
learning. They will be able to work well with others and that will enable them
to go further in their careers. It does not matter how great you are in your
chosen career field, if you cannot work with others employers will not put you
in a position of power. I always make a connection to the Big Bang Theory.
Although Dr. Sheldon Cooper is a genius, he has no social skills and spends
most of his time at work or home with a limited amount of people. He does not
know how to interact with others and has no concept of when he is being
offensive. He thinks he is always right, does not have to apologize, and
everyone else is inferior to him. If he had to interact with people on a
regular basis, he would probably not have a job because he never learned to
cooperate.
