Recently I read this article in the Annual Edition Critical Reading in the content areas on improving young adolescent literacy through collaboration. The article dealt with how schools can use collaborative learning to get students to share their thinking, engage discussion and solve various types of problems. The writers’ also highlighted research done by Johnson and Johnson (1991) and Slavin (1995) which show that students involve in collaborative learning situations score higher on achievement test than other methods.
The article also dealt with ways in which collaborative learning benefits students such as improving self esteem, motivate students, built positive attitudes and a decrease dependence on students and many more benefits.
I decided to talk a bit about collaborative learning because I am not a strong individual in using the technology so I need the guidance of others to get me along the way. Sometimes it can be a bother to some when you need to constantly ask how to do something even if they may not say so. In the group assignment on creating a concept map I did understand the creation of the concept map better and even learn a little more from my peers who were a little more verse so I felt more at ease in doing the concept map and I felt that I benefited so much more in working with the group than if it was left up to me to create the concept map on my own. The level of accomplishment that I now feel would not have been possible if left to work on my own. I am a strong believer of collaborative learning in various subject areas not only reading so that our students will feel a bit of success.
Hi Lynette,
ReplyDeleteI could empathize with your situation and that's the reason why we as teachers need to encourage more collaborative work among students. The use of blogs and wikis are ideal technological tools which lend themselves to collaborative work. Blogging and using wikis provides students especially introverts with opportunities to share their ideas and comments without feeling intimidated. These media motivate students in literacy as they are required to read, write, create and produce projects that are meaningful as well as authentic to them. They make learning real.