Yesterday we had our second session from @T2TUK on Kagan Structures @Rossett. This built on a session that took place last year. This second session gave us a few more examples of structures that we could use in our lessons but more than that it reintroduced us to the ethos of structured collaboration and the learning power of the collective over the individual.
For me the most powerful element of this message is the aspect that when we teach others we understand the content much better, our brains have to work harder to explain to someone else compared with just understanding it for ourselves.
All teachers understand this principle. It is a principle at work right now, as I write this blog, I am trying to convey my experience to someone else, this is making my brain work harder and it would work even harder if you were here discussing it with me.
This is particularly powerful for me as I believe that I could include more collaboration in the learning of my students. So today, with the words and enthusiasm of Elaine @KaganUK ringing in my ears, I have tried to further develop the collaboration in my classroom. I must make it clear, before I begin, that I am not a trained Kaganite (or whatever the plural is) I am not aiming to show how these structures are set up but simply to offer some examples and reflections of how I have tried to use them.
Examples
1) I started by using 'Stand up, hand up, pair up' with my Year 8's looking at WWI. This basically involves students standing up, moving around and discussing a topic with different students in a paired format. I added my own element of @Westylish glamour by making the students do a 'Top-Gun' style high5 rather than just a regular high5.
This proved an interesting and engaging way of getting the lesson going and allowed students to mix with others in the group.
2) I started my Year 12 class by doing a 'Quiz-Quiz-Trade' using the key concepts from the last lessson. I gave each student a concept, got them to 'revise' it whilst I did the register, and then set them off to test their peers, in a paired format (again with the Top-Gun High5's). The students walked around and tested each other and, where appropriate, coaced more information out of their partners.
For me the most powerful element of this message is the aspect that when we teach others we understand the content much better, our brains have to work harder to explain to someone else compared with just understanding it for ourselves.
All teachers understand this principle. It is a principle at work right now, as I write this blog, I am trying to convey my experience to someone else, this is making my brain work harder and it would work even harder if you were here discussing it with me.
This is particularly powerful for me as I believe that I could include more collaboration in the learning of my students. So today, with the words and enthusiasm of Elaine @KaganUK ringing in my ears, I have tried to further develop the collaboration in my classroom. I must make it clear, before I begin, that I am not a trained Kaganite (or whatever the plural is) I am not aiming to show how these structures are set up but simply to offer some examples and reflections of how I have tried to use them.
Examples
1) I started by using 'Stand up, hand up, pair up' with my Year 8's looking at WWI. This basically involves students standing up, moving around and discussing a topic with different students in a paired format. I added my own element of @Westylish glamour by making the students do a 'Top-Gun' style high5 rather than just a regular high5.
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| Two of my Year 8 students completing the 'Top Gun' Style High5 before discussing WWI |
This proved an interesting and engaging way of getting the lesson going and allowed students to mix with others in the group.
2) I started my Year 12 class by doing a 'Quiz-Quiz-Trade' using the key concepts from the last lessson. I gave each student a concept, got them to 'revise' it whilst I did the register, and then set them off to test their peers, in a paired format (again with the Top-Gun High5's). The students walked around and tested each other and, where appropriate, coaced more information out of their partners.
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| My A/S students Quiz-Quiz-Trade about Nazism and the Law |
This starter had three main benefits:
+ It proved a much more engaging way of starting the lesson than simply asking the students individually.
+ It got the whole class involved.
+ It proved to be a great AfL tool as students were able to work out which topics they understood and which ones they were struggling with.
3) I also got my A/S class to use 'Numbered-Heads-Together' to construct a plan for an essay question. This involves groups of four (3 in my small A/S group) producing an answer to a problem. Firstly, they write their own answer, then they stand up and lean in sharing their answer, they can only sit down when they have agreed and come to a concensus.
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| My A/S students 'Numbered-Heads-Together' about the main difficulty in answering an essay on Collaboration and Denunciation within Nazi Germany. |
This approach yeilded three benefits:
+ It increased the confidence of all the group when they agreed on a consensus.
+ It allowed all the students to contribute to the answer.
+ It built up the teams and made the students feel part of something.
Reflections
The structures gave the classroom a real look of collaboration but you need to work hard as a teacher to make sure that the room has a feeling of collaboration too. It might look right but appearences can be decieving and there were a few examples today where the quality of the collaboration wasn't very high. This I am sure will come with time.
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| It looks like effective collaboration but is it? |
In my Year 8 class, despite my best efforts to mix things up, it seemed that a lot of friends had stayed together and I need to make sure that I work harder to ensure a truly random nature of the groupings. I am confident though that, with time, I will be able to get this right.
Elaine @KaganUK was very good at constantly using a timer and giving fixed ideas about how long and how many times we should do an activity. This is something I need to develop over the coming weeks.
Despite these concerns I have already seen the benefit of using these kinds of collaborative structures today.
+ The whole class are involved for more of the lesson.
+ The learning was a lot less teacher-led particularly in my A/S class.
+ The Kagan structures can be dropped into the lesson really easily. They don't need a lot of planning and can be dropped in almost off-the-cuff to reflect a need in the lesson.
+ The students were much more engaged with each other and less with me.
+ The confidence of the students improved.
I am really pleased to have had the training and had a chance to try out these Kagan structures. I love the simplicity, the engagement and the student focus that they bring.
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| The Power of Structured Collaboration is something that has been very evident today. |