Assignment form:  Artifact with reflection form

 

Artifact and Reflection Form

 

Name: Julie Henks                 

 

Artifact number:  Three

 

Title of artifact:  Cooperative Learning Group Lesson #1 Summary

Course number and name: MAT 723 Action Research in the Effective Classroom Environment

 

Type of artifact  Lesson Plan summary

 

Write a brief description of the artifact

This artifact is a summary of the first cooperative lesson plan I incorporated into my classroom. The lesson plan summarizes what the objective of the lesson was and what the students had to do to complete the assignment. It also summarizes how the students interacted with each other during the lesson.

 

Professional and/or Learner Outcomes Represented by this Artifact

Relate this artifact to your listed professional and/or learner outcomes.

I created a lesson plan that incorporated cooperative learning groups effectively into my classroom. My students were engaged in a cooperative learning lesson, and successfully completed the assignment.

 

 

Report of Outcomes Attainment

Describe the results obtained and shown on this artifact.

This artifact shows that I was able to successfully plan a cooperative learning group’s lesson plan that my students would benefit from. I was able to arrange my students into groups that would work best for each student. This artifact also shows that my students were able to work in a group and complete and assignment as a group.

 

 

Reflection on the process

 

This artifact demonstrates that I learned how to plan a lesson incorporating cooperative learning groups into my classroom. I learned how to group my students so that they would work together and gain the most from the lesson. It demonstrates that I was able to look back at the lesson and summarize what the students were supposed to do and how they completed the assignment. Through this first lesson I learned that not all of my students were able to get started right away on a group project, some of them struggled in the beginning; however, they did finally work together and complete the assignment on time. I learned also that several of my students really enjoyed working in cooperative groups and they enjoyed working with the person they were placed with.

This artifact represents that I have made the change to use cooperative learning groups in my classroom. I wanted to start incorporating cooperative learning groups into my classroom; however, I was unsure of how to do that effectively. I researched and found the information that would help me find the best way to incorporate these lessons. From this artifact one can see that I took the first big step in creating a cooperative learning group lesson plan to make that change in my classroom. One can see that I made the change of allowing my students to work in cooperative groups to help them learn their best. I changed from the traditional every student works on their own to students working in cooperative groups. As I continue my teaching I will continue to add more and more cooperative learning group lessons into my daily lesson planning.

I researched cooperative learning groups before beginning to implement them into my classroom. The researching I did can closely relate to the program outcome “candidates draw from their knowledge of education theory and research to undergrid the formal and informal education process that impact P-12 students’ learning and the environment, because researched several websites and articles to find the correct information on how to effectively incorporate cooperative learning groups into my classroom. This artifact also relates to the course outcome, “synthesize and evaluate the action research process and the results of their studies, because after teaching the lesson I was able to look back at what I had done and the students had done and summarize what the outcome of the lesson was. I was also able to relate my research to the summary of the lesson plan.

This artifact allowed me to show evidence of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Five Core Propositions. First, by showing that I am willing to try new teaching methods in my classroom. I was willing to try incorporating cooperative learning group lessons in my classroom. Proposition #4 outlines this by saying, “NBCTs model what it means to be an educated person – they read, they question, they create and they are willing to try new things,” (NBPTS, 2008, Proposition #4, para 1).  Second, I examined my classroom to see what things needed to be changed to help my students learn to the best of their ability and I incorporated my new findings into my classroom. Proposition #4 outlines this by saying, “They critically examine their practice on a regular basis to deepen knowledge, expand their repertoire of skills, and incorporate new findings into their practice,” (NBPTS, 2008, Proposition #4, para 3). Through this artifact I am able to demonstrate that as a teacher I am willing to try new instructional strategies in my classroom and research to find new information that will help me to incorporate the new strategies in the best possible way.

                   

 

     

 

 

References

National Board of Professional Teaching Standards. (2008). What teachers should know and be able to do. Retrieved April 1, 2008, from http://www.nbpts.org/UserFiles/File/what_teachers.pdf

 

Cooperative Learning Group Lesson #1 Summary

 

The first cooperative learning group lesson plan I developed went very well for being the first time. The objective of the lesson plan was for the students to invent a new sport with Bulls and Matadors, including in their description of the sport: the name of the sport, who is involved, how the game is played, and who the audience would be. The students worked in groups of two. They had 25 minutes to invent their new sport. Before beginning I reminded them that both group members had to have input in the decisions. They both had to share their ideas and as a group decide on the final outcome. They both had to share ideas about how the game would be played and who all would be involved. Only one of the members was required to write.

            I divided the groups up according to academic ability as well as behavior. I tried to put students together that would work well together; however, I wanted a student I knew would take charge with a student that may need more help getting started. Some of the groups struggled to get started, but in the end everyone worked well together and came up with great new sports.

            One group came up to me at the end of the time and said, “we were a great team, thanks for putting us together.”

            At the end of the 25 minutes all of the groups had to share their new sports with the class. Both group members stood up and took turns reading and sharing the description of their new sport.

            Overall the lesson went very well and all students enjoyed working in cooperative groups. They were very excited to work in cooperative groups again. “The first key component is promoting interdependence within groups-fostering the perception among group members that they must work together to accomplish the goal. The second key component is holding students individually accountable for demonstrating their understanding of the material. While students should be expected to teach one another and learn material as a group, proving their own understanding must be done individually,” Walters. Within all of my groups the students were encouraged to work together to accomplish the goal of inventing a new sport, and both members of each group were held accountable for doing their part to help create the new sport.

 

 

 

References

Walters, L. (2000 May/June). Putting cooperative learning to the test. Harvard Education Letter.