Getting Ready for Your Cooperative Learning Assignment

Weeks before the CI rotation activities

r 4-6 social skill builders with the children: use T-Charts for language

r teach and practice group roles in your regular teaching activities

r watch the children for evidence of their multiple abilities, record them

r post norms and roles for kids to refer to

r prepare kids for oncoming "collaborativeî" work; use of "CI" language?

Days before doing the CI rotation activities

Are you thinking about

r delegating authority and mixed expectations for competence

r looking for non-participators and thinking about their specific abilities

r evaluation criteria tied to big idea/essential question

r performance tasks to report out their findings from the activities

r slowly working into teaching several different activities simultaneously

everyone doing same thing; then two activities, four activities

r practice multiple ability treatments

r practice assigning competence

r write activity, resource, and perhaps individual report cards

r gather and assemble materials, set up boxes, create role cards

r draft pre/post assessment

During the Collaborative Rotation

Keep in mind the three phases: orientation, rotation, and wrap-ups

r carry a clipboard, take notes re: abilities, norms, to use in O / WU

r keep your interactions with groups shortm donÍt hover

r avoid lecturing

r intervene if you have to; use role players as first line of intervention

r reinforce norms

no one is as smart as all of us together

no one is good at all the abilities

everyone is good at something

you have the right to ask anyone in your group for help

you have the duty to assist anyone who asks for help

everyone cleans up

r assign competence: (1) name, (2) ability, (3) how it helps group goal

r have kids report out following roles

r talk about multiple abilities tied to specific activities

r call attention to solutions you want everyone to hear

Ver 1.3

10/20/06

CBone