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Back to Table of Contents for On Course Across the Curriculum
1.
Strategy: Jigsaw Educator:
Zeporia N. Smith, Faculty, Education, Montgomery College, Implementation: In this class for future teachers of reading, I place learners in Home Groups of five members. I announce that each group will be contributing a one-page handout of strategies for teaching children to read. Step A: Each member of a Home Group chooses to become the group’s expert in one of the following components of literacy development: 1) Phonics 2) Phonic Awareness 3) Vocabulary 4) Fluency 5) Text Comprehension. To develop expertise, students read the publication Put Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read available from the National Reading Panel (http://www.nationalreadingpanel.org). Step B: Students meet in expert groups to discuss their findings, identifying the best strategies for teaching their chosen component of literacy development. Step C: Upon returning to their home groups, students create a one-page handout that explains five teaching strategies, one for each of the five components of literacy development. After each group presents its handout to the class, all of the handouts are placed in a binder for future reference by this and future classes. 2.
Strategy: Wise Choice Process Educator: Leigh Ann Haefner, Faculty, Education, Penn State University, PA Implementation: Give students a scenario or case study of a young child acting out in an elementary (or any level) classroom. The behavior should model an act of frustration or boredom and resulting in what is perceived as off-task behavior. Have students then describe how they could facilitate this child through the Wise Choice Process. They should describe how they would work with the child to identify possible choices and likely outcomes. Since my students are learning to be teachers, this activity enables them to learn the process as well as how to use it as a tool with young learners. |