Assignment form:  Artifact with reflection form

 

Artifact and Reflection Form

(Complete this cover form for each artifact.)

 

Name: Julie Henks                 

 

Artifact number: 3

 

Title of artifact:  Cooperative Learning Group Lesson 3

Course number and name: MAT 735 Meeting the Needs of Diverse Students

 

Type of artifact: Cooperative Group Lesson Summary/ Student Work

 

Write a brief description of the artifact

This artifact is a summary of the third cooperative learning group lesson I incorporated into my classroom. The summary describes what the students were expected to do and how the students reacted during the lesson. The summary also takes a third look at how my ELL student worked with the others in his group.

 

Professional and/or Learner Outcomes Represented by this Artifact

This artifact demonstrates the outcome of creating a cooperative learning group lesson plan to teach and review with my students about three different types of soil they have been studying in science. The students gained the knowledge of knowing the three types of soil, how they feel, what they look like, and what they are used for. Students also learned how to work cooperatively in groups.

 

Report of Outcomes Attainment

Describe the results obtained and shown on this artifact.

This artifact demonstrates that I was able to create a third cooperative group lesson plan and incorporate it into my classroom successfully. It demonstrates that the students in my classroom, including my ELL student, were able to once again work cooperatively in their groups to complete an assignment. It demonstrates that with the help of an aid and support from two other students my ELL student was able to successfully complete his part of the assignment and clearly understand what was being asked of him.

 

Reflection on the process

This artifact demonstrates that I learned how to successfully incorporate a cooperative learning group science lesson on soil into my classroom. I learned that with the help of and aid my ELL student can work with a small group of students to complete an assignment. He needs his aid with him, to help explain the words he does not know or understand; however, with a small group of one or two students he can stay on task and work well with them. I learned that all of the students in my class enjoying doing cooperative group activities. All of the groups did a great job, and I will continue to use cooperative groups in my classroom.

I chose this artifact, because it demonstrates that I was willing to make changes in my classroom. I went from the traditional every students works alone to incorporating cooperative groups into my classroom. It shows that I have the ability to create a lesson that will work as a cooperative group lesson. Another change I have made in my classroom is to really look at my students and see what level they are on both academically and behavior wise, before I begin placing them into groups. I was very excited to make this change in my classroom, because as a student I really enjoy working in groups; however, I know that everyone must do their part in order for the group to succeed. This artifact also demonstrates that I am willing to change the way in which I pick students to be in each group. Most of the time I will place the students in a group I believe they will work well in; however, every once in awhile I will let the students choose and see how well they did.

Through this artifact I am able to link the program outcome, “Candidates apply quality principles of leadership, including skills of effective communication, collaboration and motivation to shape change and improve the learning community” with the research I have done on cooperative learning groups. “According to Johnson and Johnson (1993), cooperative learning is the structuring of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other's learning,” Fui Fong HO and Hong Kwen BOO. By allowing my students the chance to work in cooperative learning groups they are maximizing each others learning and at the same time they are building effective communication skills. In the groups they have to learn to work together as a team and work out problems they have on their own. This will help to build the classroom community. Through this artefact I can also link what I have done to the course outcome, “Use the professional research to determine possible strategies to introduce in the classroom.” I research cooperative learning groups and found a great deal of information to help me find new strategies to incorporate into my classroom. This artifact also links to the course outcome, “Candidates demonstrate knowledge of diverse learners, including all forms of exceptionality, and create instructional opportunities that meet the needs
of all learners,” because worked hard to group my ELL student with a group of students he would work successfully with. All of my cooperative groups were diverse based on their academic levels.

       This artifact allowed me to show evidence of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards the Five Core Propositions. First, by showing that I am concerned for my students’ self-concept and want to motivate my students to learn and work effectively with their peers. I allowed my students to pick their own group members for this lesson, hoping that each student would find someone they would work best with and motivate them to want to complete this assignment. Proposition #1 outlines this by saying, “They are concerned with their students’ self-concept, their motivation and the effects of learning on peer relationships” (NBPTS, 2008, Proposition #1, para 5). I was also able to show evidence by using diverse instructional strategies in my classroom. My students had already been taught how to take data they are given and graph the results, but for some of the students it was still difficult. By allowing them to work in cooperative groups they had the opportunity to work with someone else and hear the directions from a classmate. This shows that I was willing to use a different strategy to help my students better understand the concept. Proposition #2 outlines this by saying, “They are able to use diverse instructional strategies to teach for understanding” (NBPTS, 2008, Proposition #2, para 3). Through this artifact I was able to show evidence of the Five Core Propositions, and all of the planning and implementing was done to benefit my students learning. 

        

 

 

 

 

 

References

[Cite all resources in APA format both in text and in References list.]

National Board of Professional Teaching Standards. (2008). What teachers should know and be able to do. Retrieved November 24,2008 from http://www.nbpts.org/UserFiles/File/what_teachers.pdf

 

 

 

Cooperative Group Lesson Plan #3 Summary

Soil

 

 

            My third cooperative group lesson plan was a group activity to review what the students knew about the three types of soil we have been studying. The three types include: sandy, clay, and humus. The objective of the lesson was for the students to be able to draw, label, and list facts about each of the three soils. Each group was given one piece of plain white paper to do their drawings on. First they had to draw a picture of each soil, and then label the soils, and then underneath each picture they were to list what they knew about each soil. The students decided within their group who was going to write about each soil. Each group had three students. This time I decided to let the students pick their own partners.

            Picking their partners actually worked out a lot better than I anticipated it would. Each group found a spot in the room to work. They gathered their supplies and got busy on the assignment. As I was walking around I could see and hear each of the groups discussing who was going to work on each soil. They did a great job of not arguing over who was going to do each one. They did however; help each other when writing the facts about the soils. All of the groups did a great job working together. Their final projects turned out very good.

             My ELL student was in a group with two other boys and his aid. One of the boys is high and the other is medium. They quickly decided who was going to work on each soil, and they started working right away. J.R. (my ELL student) had a few questions throughout the assignment, but his aid was there to answer for him. The other boys helped him to remember the facts about the soil he was working on. He did know some of them though. He worked very well with his group. I was excited to see that he was able to work well with two other boys. I have attached a copy of his groups’ paper.

            After incorporating these cooperative groups into my classroom I can see that they will be helpful to my ELL student. When he works with the right, small group of students it is very beneficial to him. The students do a great job of helping him when he has questions, and with the help of his aid he understands what is asked of him.

 

See Student Work