Cooperative Learning

Unfortunately, there is usually only one full-time teacher in your classroom. It would be nice if there were twelve of you so that you could give students the one-on-one or small group attention that they need sometimes. But the reality is... its just you.

The next best solution, right behind cloning your self, is to use cooperative learning strategies in your classroom. One of the best things about cooperative learning is that students are working and learning from each other. It enables students to truely 'own' the leadership and responsibility of their knowledge. In addition, cooperative learning keeps everyone accountable for their participation.

Think-Pair-Share: You ask students a question, they think about it (wait time), then they share their thoughts with each other.

Jigsaw: Put students into groups of 3 or 4. Within each group, the students all get numbers. All of the 1's go to one corner of the room, 2's go to another corner, etc. At each corner, students are gathering different information to take back to the group. For example, each corner of the room will be studying a different section of the Periodic Table of Elements. Then all of the group members will come together. The 1 will share what they learned, 2 will share what they learned, etc.