Strategy 3 Cooperative Learning

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Students studying in classroom

Cooperative learning is an effective strategy for teachers to use in a social studies classroom. Cooperative learning is a group of students working on activities together. This allows students the opportunity to work together to share ideas, perspectives, state and defend their opinion, gather information and create goals as a group. There are many different ways that teachers can incorporate cooperative learning in social studies period. I plan to use cooperative learning in my classroom by having debates, researching and teaching students to be open to another students’ opinion.

The rationale behind cooperative learning is that students can build on other students’ ideas and can work as a group to figure out the best way to solve the task given to them. I will implement cooperative learning at the beginning of the social studies period. I would ask the students to form an opinion on a topic and then as a class we will debate and discuss the issue. To remain neutral as a teacher, I will guide the discussion and encourage students to respect other thoughts and opinion. I could also implement cooperative learning after a short mini-lesson on a topic in social studies. I could divide the class into groups and have each group gather information on a topic and share the what they have learned with the class.  Having the students debate and research in groups shows what I believe to be important about social studies because it allows students to form and support their opinion, teaches students to respect others views and students can collaborate and share ideas together.  This strategy can also be used across disciplines because students can use different experiences in academics to support their opinions and ideas. The students are engaged in their learning because they are excited to voice and defend their opinions to the whole class, and when working in a research group, they have a chance to communicate with their classmates.

I plan to implement cooperative learning at least twice a day in my classroom. During my social studies period, I plan to implement cooperative learning 2 to 3 times a week. I do find that it is easier to use cooperative learning in other subjects, but I believe that students can learn the most when they hear the content material from someone other than the teacher. Students will listen more to their peers, and by using cooperative learning in the class, it will allow students to learn from their classmates. It is important to remember when grouping students together in groups based on ability, not to place a high student with a low student. I plan to group my students by having a low to medium ability group and medium to high group. To differentiate, I would pair those students with a medium level student because it will allow the students to learn other peers. This strategy promotes critical and high order thinking because students are building upon ideas together and forming, listening and respecting opinions.

References

(n.d.). KidStock[Photograph found in Getty Images]. Retrieved July 27, 2018, from https://www.thoughtco.com/classroom-learning-strategies-2081382

Walden University. (2018, July 06). 7 Ways to Teach Critical Thinking in Elementary Education. Retrieved July 27, 2018, from https://www.waldenu.edu/bachelors/bs-in-elementary-education/resource/seven-ways-to-teach-critical-thinking-in-elementary-education

Strategy 2 Writing Activities

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Students studying

Another strategy that I plan to use in my classroom is writing activities. Writing activities will allow the students to think critically about the social studies topic. Having the students write about an event, the students can either write an informational, narrative as if they attended the event, drama or trying to persuade their audience that the event was helpful or harmful for the countries future. Writing activities gives the students the opportunity to research the topic and be creative. The writing promotes critical thinking because it will enable students to show their creativity, research the issue and allows the students to show off their understanding.

The rationale behind writing activities is to allow students to think outside of the box about how to use the facts and research to create a writing piece. It requires the students to think about a given social studies topic and how to best use the facts or information in their writing.  I want to implement writing activities during research projects, individual work time and possibly even group work.  When implementing writing activities during research projects, I would have the students either research an event or controversial issue. I would have the students write an informational piece, narrative as if they were apart of the event or if it was a controversial issue the student will need to persuade the readers to agree with their opinion. The students must include facts from their research support their writing. I would also have students form groups and write a drama and have them act out the play. This strategy is very valuable because it can be used to connect social studies to writing and it promotes critical thinking. It requires students to think more in-depth about the social studies event or topic.

Writing activities can keep my lesson fun and enjoyable for students because it allows the students creativity and show their deeper understand. Having the students express their understanding through writing will show the teacher who truly understands the content. Even though this strategy promotes critical thinking of the students, but it also places more stress on the teacher. The teacher will have to read each students’ work to check for understanding. I believe that it is worth the teacher’s time to read each writing because writing allows the students to think critically. To differentiate, I would provide those students with a graphic organizer to help the students organize their idea and fact for their writing. This strategy requires the students to think critically because it gives them the opportunity to research, write about what they learned and allows creativity.

Platt, T. (n.d.). Writing [Photograph found in Getty Images]. Retrieved July 27, 2018, from https://www.thoughtco.com/quick-writing-prompts-p2-2081846

 

Strategy 1 Graphic Organizers

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Flowchart variations - illustration

One strategy that I plan to use in my classroom is using a graphic organizer to promote high-level thinking. There are many forms of graphic organizer and teacher can design a template the fit their lesson plan. I want the students to use the graphic organizer to research and record information they find from their research. Using a graphic organizer allows the students to gather their information and keep in organized.  Graphic organizer promotes critical thinking because it will enable the students to collect information on the topic and sort the information into groups, rows, columns, sections and many more. How the students decide to organize the information that they gather is what is considered critical thinking.

The rationale behind graphic organizer is it allows students to group the information that they gathered in a meaning way that helps them understand it. It requires the students to think about social studies and how the different pieces fit together. I want to implement graphic organizers during research projects, individual work time, group work or when asked to read informational text. I would have the student or group of students research a social studies event, and have the student use the organizer that I provided to organize their learning of the event. I would also use this strategy when students are reading for information about a social studies event. I would give the student with a chart and ask them to organize the facts while reading. This strategy is very valuable because it can be used in everyday learning in the classroom, can connect social studies to other subjects and promotes critical thinking. Graphic organizers are also easy for the teachers to plan because the students can make it. The strategy also helps the students to keep work neat and organized instead of scattered and lost.

Graphic organizers can keep my lesson engaging for the students because it allows the students to be active in their learning. They also benefit me as a teacher, because it shows me who is truly understanding the content presented to them. The graphic organizers that they create during social studies can be used in other content areas. It can help connect across disciplines because students can use their gathered information on the graphic organizers to write informational writing and read other books about the events to collect even more information. To differentiate, I would provide those students with websites, books or other sources to find their facts for the organizer. I would also provide those students with a graphic organizer with charts or webs help organizer their thoughts. This strategy requires students to thinking critically by gathering information, reading for information but most importantly classifying that information.

References

Graphic Organizers [Photograph found in Getty Images]. (n.d.). Retrieved July 25, 2018, from https://www.verywellfamily.com/examples-of-graphic-organizers-2162277

O’Donnell, C. (2017, September 26). How Graphic Organizers Increase Critical Thinking. Retrieved July 26, 2018, from https://classroom.synonym.com/graphic-organizers-increase-critical-thinking-26356.html