Assignment form:  Artifact with reflection form

 

Artifact and Reflection Form

 

Name: Julie Henks                 

 

Artifact number: 2

 

Title of artifact:  Cooperative Group Lesson #1 Summary

Course number and name: Engaging Students with Brain Compatible Teaching MAT 728

 

Type of artifact Lesson Summary/ Student work

 

Write a brief description of the artifact

This artifact is a summary of the first cooperative learning group lesson plan I incorporated into my classroom. The artifact summarizes the objective of the lesson and what was expected of the students during the time they worked in their groups. The artifact also summarizes how the students interacted with each other in their cooperative groups.

 

 

Professional and/or Learner Outcomes Represented by this Artifact

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

This artifact represents the outcome of creating a cooperative group lesson that allows students to work together to complete an assignment during writer’s workshop.  They also learned how to work cooperatively in groups.

 

 

Report of Outcomes Attainment

Describe the results obtained and shown on this artifact.

The results of this artifact show that I was able to create a cooperative learning group lesson and implement it into my classroom. It shows that all of the groups of students worked well together and completed the assignment. I was able to assess my students work on an individual level as well as a group level.

 

 

Reflection on the process

This artifact demonstrates that I learned how to create an effective cooperative learning group lesson plan and implement it into my second grade classroom. I learned that it takes a little more work to get your students prepared to work in groups than it does just to hand them the assignment and give them directions. First, you have to really think about the students in your class and see which ones will work together best.

I learned that when I group my students according to who I think will work well together they did work well together. I learned that when I fully explain an assignment to my students they are capable of going back to a group and completing that assignment. Overall, I learned that my students really enjoy working in cooperative groups and as the year continues I will plan more cooperative group lessons.

            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.

      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 artifact 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 I worked hard to group my students with others they would work well with. I also made sure that I had high and low students in each group, so they could help each other out. 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. 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. By allowing them to work in cooperative groups they had the opportunity to work with someone else and hear the directions from a classmate and have encouragement from others in their group. 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

National Board of Professional Teaching Standards. (2008). What teachers should know and be able to do. Retrieved March 30, 2009 from http://www.nbpts.org/UserFiles/File/what_teachers.pdf

 

Cooperative Group Lesson #1

Lesson summary

 

The first cooperative learning group lesson I incorporated into my classroom was a writer’s workshop lesson. Before assigning the students to their groups I explained the assignment. Each group would be given a different punctuation mark (period, question mark, exclamation mark, comma, ellipses, and apostrophe). They were to then create a character out of the punctuation mark and draw it on a white sheet of paper. Once they had shown me their design they were given a large piece of cardboard and some paint. Next, they had to paint their design on the cardboard. The next day they got back into the same groups and discussed the uses of their punctuation mark and some examples. They had to write them down on a sheet of paper. After all of the groups were finished everyone came to the carpet to share. Each group had to stand up and share their painted punctuation mark, tell us what it was, explain the uses, and read one of their examples.

            Once I was finished explaining the assignment I divided the students up into groups of three or four, I wanted to pick the groups for the first lesson. We then quickly reviewed the norms for working in cooperative groups and the students were off to work. I walked around the classroom and could hear them assigning roles to everyone. All of the groups did a great job of taking responsibility for their role and doing what they were supposed to be doing. It was interesting to hear all of the nice things they had to say about each other. When it was time to share their work I found it interesting that most of the groups decided to split up the talking. One student would introduce it, one student would tell the uses, and the other student would share an example of how it can be used. When the groups were done the other students did a great job of applauding them and saying nice things about their paintings.

            This cooperative group lesson went very well with my students. They did a great job of working together and doing their part in the group. I was very pleased with them. My students were excited to try another lesson.