Puzzles. Life is full of them. I'm excited to learn some new content reading strategies to use in my future class. There were three strategies presented in my EDUC338: jigsaw puzzle, frontloading, and choice board. I love them all, but I think I would use the jigsaw puzzle strategy the most. It is simple to use and gets the students to collaborate with one another.
How does the jigsaw puzzle reading strategy work, you ask? This method is a way to organize the classroom into groups. Let's say we were going to learn about George Washington. The teacher would find an article or short biography of George Washington and break it up into sections. Let's pretend there are three sections: his family life (Group 1), life during the American Revolution (Group 2), and life as the president (Group 3). Each group will be responsible to read the section they are assigned and be able to share the main points with their group. They will be able to talk about how to present their section to the whole class and possibly choose a speaking representative. The teacher can walk around and observe each group to make sure they are on task. This is a simple and effective strategy that I can't wait to use! Which strategy would you choose?
How does the jigsaw puzzle reading strategy work, you ask? This method is a way to organize the classroom into groups. Let's say we were going to learn about George Washington. The teacher would find an article or short biography of George Washington and break it up into sections. Let's pretend there are three sections: his family life (Group 1), life during the American Revolution (Group 2), and life as the president (Group 3). Each group will be responsible to read the section they are assigned and be able to share the main points with their group. They will be able to talk about how to present their section to the whole class and possibly choose a speaking representative. The teacher can walk around and observe each group to make sure they are on task. This is a simple and effective strategy that I can't wait to use! Which strategy would you choose?
I really like the example you gave for the jigsaw strategy. I did not use this strategy, nor have I ever, but the way you laid it out makes a lot of sense here. I like the idea of having students paired up for an activity like this and breaking down George Washington's life into 3 sections and learning about that.
ReplyDeleteFirst, let me say, I love the layout of your Blog and the colors; very cute. Next, I would have to say that I like all the strategies about equally. I feel like they all three perform some different learning strategy. I also found a strategy called the "fishbowl" strategy; I really liked. This is a link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkWl9b0FZSE You could even use this strategy in a similar manner to the jigsaw strategy. I do like the idea of using the jigsaw strategy to cover Social Studies material; as there is typically a lot of material to cover anyway. I feel like the jigsaw strategy would cover all the Historical materials in a shorter amount of time. Thank you for your example you posted.
ReplyDeleteI am excited to have you in another class! I am also excited that it isn't an English class :) I am a fan of the jigsaw method as well. I also like that it is simple yet yields great results due to the collaboration of others. Comprehension is always the end goal and this method helps get to that point by assigning smaller segments and allowing groups to work together to gain a better understanding of the material. My students lose focus very easily and get discouraged by difficult text. I think if I were to use this method, they would be more apt to be engaged for a long period of time.
ReplyDeleteKim,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all LOVE the title of your blog "Thinking the Impossible" I am a 90s kid so I grew up watching Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable! I agree with you that the jigsaw reading method is probably the one I will use the most within my own class and I love that it gives students time to read the article, think about what they read, and reflect and share with their peers. I think this strategy encompasses many important strategies that will be beneficial to students. I love the way you broke down what this is so that someone who had no clue what jigsaw reading was would have a firm grasp on what it is after reading your blog. Great post!