AEE 412 Weekly Writing #4: Teaching in Groups

We have all had that teacher who has a PowerPoint presentation for everything right? Every day in class they just pull up a new slideshow and lecture for another 50 minutes. How about the teacher who shows a class long video every day. I have had both of these in high school and I am sure you have too. How much constructive knowledge is created when half the class is sleeping through the video? How much information is actually obtained when the students are bored out of their mind. These teachers never really have objectives for the class. As long as they lecture from bell to bell they believe they are doing their job.

Establishing student engagement can be helped by simply telling students where the lesson is going. We tell students this through creating and explaining our objectives. Objectives always begin with an action word. Below is a resource for selecting action words from Bloom's Taxonomy.

Image was taken from teach thought.com.
http://www.teachthought.com/critical-thinking/blooms-taxonomy/14-brilliant-blooms-taxonomy-posters-for-teachers/

If students are given clear and measurable learning objectives, they understand what they really need to focus on. 

The portion of this week's reading from Newcomb and company covered techniques for group teaching. Teaching in groups can be very effective when done correctly. One of the types of group facilitation is discussion. In order for discussion to be effective, the educator must determine what avenue they should take. Class discussion works well for large groups as long as students aren't timid. Usually a couple students take charge and are the only ones to contribute to the discussion. Teachers can also use buzz groups or pair share to facilitate discussion in smaller groups. When students are grouped into small groups they feel more of a need to contribute. This promotes everyone to share their thoughts. After the use of smaller groupings, the facilitator should have each group share out with the rest of the class.

Image was taken from global-english.com.

http://www.global-english.com/news/tips-for-tefl-discussion-classes/

As an educator I believe that discussion through small groups leads to the most growth. I am not opposed to trying larger group activities because of my inexperience in the classroom. However, throughout high school, I have seen many large group activities fall right on their face. I look forward to experimenting with these different techniques over the next year, especially during my semester of student teaching.

References:

Whittington, M.S. (2005). Writing objectives in secondary agriculture courses that challenge

                 students to think. Agriculture Education Magazine. Retrieved from

                 http://www.naae.org/profdevelopment/magazine/archive_issues/Volume77/v77i5.pdf


Newcomb, L.H., McCracken, J.D., Warmbrod, J.R., & Whittington, M.S. (1993). Methods of

                 teaching agriculture. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Groseta, K.J. & Myers, B.E. (2006). Using cooperative learning in formal and nonformal


                 education. Retrieved from https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/WC/WC06200.pdf