Session+7

= = =7.1 - Collaboration=
 * = What is collaboration? =
 * Collaboration is working together on a process or a product. It is based on the idea that two heads (or three or four, etc.) are better than one. Through collaboration, students are able to learn from each other and build on their strengths as individuals and as a group to enhance learning.
 * What are 3 ways in which students collaborate in your classroom and are they successful?
 * In my classroom, students collaborate every day in one way or another. Usually, it is because I explicitly ask them to, but I find that most students are naturally inclined to work together and often do so without prompting. Some ways in which students collaborate include: 1) Before Reading: Group WebQuest or other focused research assignment to become "experts" on a specific area of background knowledge for a text. 2) During Reading: Group work to review / present a piece of a text or complete whatever a given day's activity might be. 3) After Reading: Group projects as major assessments, usually assigned at the end of a unit, such as writing and performing original skits/plays/short films inspired by a text.
 * Are these collaborations successful? Usually, but not always. I am a big fan of collaboration in the classroom. Whether it's working with a partner to complete a short activity, or as part of a group of 4-6 individuals on a long-term project, I find that students learn more when they work together. In addition to mastering whatever skills or content the particular assignment calls for, collaborative efforts necessarily require students to learn how to work together - a 21st Century skill that will help them in life and will benefit society as a whole. As with everything else we have discussed, in order to capitalize on the promise of collaborative work, teachers need to model, scaffold, and create quality assignments. The way in which students are grouped together is also important. When collaboration is unsuccessful, it is usually because one or two members of a group did not or could not contribute their fair share, or others took over and steamrolled over their peers. Also, there are always students who dread working with others. While I like to accommodate students who may work better on their own, these are often the individuals who need that extra push to learn how to collaborate. Sometimes, they come away feeling better about the prospect.

=7.2 - Video Response= media type="custom" key="10018005"


 * How can expanded use of technology help develop depth and breadth for our students?
 * Technology can help develop depth by providing information and resources that enable students to develop expertise. Similarly, because technology increasingly puts the world at our fingertips, it facilitates learning and interest in a broad range of things.


 * What is the difference between cooperation and collaboration?
 * Randy Nelson explained this well. As he put it, //cooperation// is something that simply allows a group of individuals to work without getting in each other's way. This does not inherently build upon or improve the skills or output of any of these individuals. In contrast, //collaboration// calls for working together in a way that actually amplifies each individual's contribution


 * What are the challenges in getting students to collaborate rather than just cooperating?
 * There are many! Hopefully, they covered cooperation in kindergarten. Learning to collaborate involves maturity, awareness, and willingness. Every member of a group must be on board in order for collaboration to be successful, and this is a challenge when working with students, some of whom, on any given day, don't even want to be in the building. I think a good place to start lies in the other three keys to success: depth, breadth and communication. If students are able to draw on their expertise (depth), spark an interest in a variety of things, including the topic(s) at hand and the ideas/expertise of their fellow collaborators (breadth), and, finally, are able to exchange ideas effectively (communication). Developing these pieces is indeed a challenge, but at least provides us with an avenue through which to teach collaboration.

=7.3 - Voicethread Definition=

Voicethread is a type of interactive slideshow. I think it would be tremendously useful in my classroom as a new way to discuss and interact with texts and images, and I am already thinking of many possibilities for doing so. I appreciate the fact that users can comment in five different ways, because students can use the medium to which they have easiest access to or the one with which they feel most comfortable. This is yet another good way to get students communicating. Quiet students can share ideas they may not have shared in traditional class discussions and people from all over the world can be invited into the discussion. I also like the fact that it is all recorded for future review / posterity. It's great that students only need access to the site. As we have all mentioned, even having access to a computer can be challenging in some cases, but at least this doesn't require too many other programs to work, as we know that leads to more potential problems.

=7.4 - Immigration Voicethread=

This was great! It was wonderful to hear students expressing their ideas in their own voices, and it seems that the Voicethread format encouraged them to work on communicating clearly and thoughtfully. The Voicethread is a great record of these student's points of view and what they have learned about Governor Brewer's law. One thing that I thought could have been improved is having students respond to each other's points more directly. Instead of simply recording their own prepared remarks, they could have taken advantage of this format to engage in a more authentic discussion through an exchange, rather than a report, of ideas.

=7.5 - Voicethread in the Classroom=

I am excited to use Voicethread in my classroom, and can think of a long list of ways to do so. I could have students respond to an image, passage, poem or other text and discuss it via Voicethread. I do a lot of student-run discussion in my class, and this would be a nice version of that... or perhaps a component of a larger "in the flesh" discussion. Students could respond to something as homework, and we could review the responses as a class the next day, possibly as a springboard into a Socratic Seminar or a writing assignment. Voicethread doesn't seem to lend itself to very in-depth discussions for large groups, but I could imagine putting students in pairs or groups of three to get into a subject in more depth, responding to each other's ideas, etc. The list goes on and on....