{"id":2,"date":"2013-10-10T03:36:52","date_gmt":"2013-10-10T03:36:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/timrollwagen\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2013-11-23T15:36:31","modified_gmt":"2013-11-23T15:36:31","slug":"cooperativelearning","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/timrollwagen\/cooperativelearning\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooperative and Collaborative Learning in my Classroom"},"content":{"rendered":"

For years, I thought I was doing my best, getting students to work together on projects, in class, and during activities. \u00a0What I thought was collaboration,\u00a0<\/strong>fostering better engagement, was actually ‘group work’ where students were allowed to slip through the cracks within their groups. \u00a0As mentioned in previous posts, I attended the GLACIE conference last year in Toronto and Dr. Vern Minor<\/a> from Kagan\u00a0opened my eyes in the Advanced Cooperative Learning session. \u00a0Engagement looks and sounds so different then students simply working in groups or sitting in rows with their eyes at the front (Though there is a place and time for these). \u00a0Structure ends up being the most important aspect of your classroom activities.<\/p>\n

So what does structure really mean?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Structure refers to many things. Examples include, assigning roles for every member of the group, timing activities, setting individual tasks where sharing is required with others around them, setting specific goals and expectations. By following intentional structuring of lessons and activities, engagement increases, and therefore overall achievement follows.<\/p>\n

Kagan<\/a>, refers to 4 major categories to ensure engagement in your class, referred hereon as PIES<\/p>\n