Welcome to a new week, readers!
Today we will be sharing the tenets of one of the essential Kagan strategies to use in the classroom in order to foster cooperative learning among students. Kagan strategies are a great resource for a variety of learners in the classroom, especially those students who fall into the English Language Learner (ELL) category. I have found using Kagan in the high school ELA classroom to be very successful with my students when used consistently, productively, and meaningfully.
Rally Robin is considered the "bread and butter" of the Kagan strategies. In addition to being one of the most commonly known of the cooperative learning strategies, it is also relatively easy to implement and utilize for a plethora of learning activities. In this activity, students "take turns responding orally... and state responses and solutions to a given question(s) in pairs" ("Cooperative Learning Resources"). One of the great features of this strategy is how well it lends itself to teambuilding. Students can be categorized into groups based on interest or ability level. Once organized, they have an opportunity to consider a question, digest it, and share their responses with a partner. In this fashion, all students have the chance to participate, all voices are heard, and particularly salient ideas or follow-up comments can be addressed from the partner discussion in a whole group discussion with the rest of the class. An online timer can prove useful in many Kagan activities so each student is required to participate for a set amount of time; this can make sessions more productive and reduces off-task behavior or discussion.
Students who fall into the ELL category can also benefit by working with partners that can assist them with the learning experience. No students are able to "hide" with this method; students are thus prompted to participate cooperatively and engagingly. They can even seek help from a peer before going to the teacher for additional assistance. In fact, Smith, Sheppard, Johnson, and Johnson (2005) discuss the value that cooperative learning strategies like Rally Robin offers toward peer relationships and engagement in the classroom. Students who are provided with ample opportunities to discuss their learning and work through problems they encounter with others are significantly more likely to have an active investment in their learning. By moving from reactive to proactive learners, they are able to recognize their own achievement that has been supported--rather than simply instilled--by a teacher or a classmate.
There are numerous ways to implement the Kagan strategy of Rally Robin into the Language Arts classroom effectively. I often find that having students practice vocabulary with one another, work through a fun brain break problem during a lesson, or describe characteristics of a specific character or story to be great starting points. Some examples through which students might "alternate generating brief oral responses" in order to learn from one another include listing adjectives to describe a specific figure from a story, sharing steps of the writing process, or describing a particular plot point that might foreshadow further events in a text (Clowes, 2011). Utilizing these techniques also enables students to grapple with difficult parts of a text on their own terms. While whole class discussion is a common and effective form of communication in the classroom, it limits the number of students who can actively participate at one time. Rally Robin enables all students to share their thoughts and raise their concerns with a question that can then be shared on a larger scale if so desired.
One experience that I have had in my own classroom in which I felt Rally Robin is used very well occurs during the first weeks of school when I am introducing plagiarism to my students. I provide all student partner pairs in their Kagan learning groups with a sample text or passage (often a page or so long). Afterwards, I provide each pair with a set of writings that draw upon the original passage or use it as evidence in some shape or form. Students are asked to work together in Rally Robin to discuss whether the pieces of writing are plagiarized based on our established definition and how heavily they draw on the sample text, whether they are cited properly, etc. I find that students often struggle with this topic initially, but begin to better understand once they can seek support from their partners to review the problems together. Smith et al. (2005) emphasizes that students are better able to retain information through "active and collaborative learning" that enable them to "apply their knowledge" (p. 12) on realistic issues such as plagiarism, especially when they know a partner is relying on their participation as well.
I am continually seeking new ways to integrate Rally Robin into my lessons, and I find that I am almost always able to do so at least once each day with my students. Ensuring that a positive classroom environment has been established is successful to this technique because students will be working frequently with one another and in close capacity. Yet courtesy of its team-building prowess, the very use of Rally Robin helps cultivate good feelings among students while providing them with the opportunity to learn from one another. While I take advantage of this strategy in my English classes, this technique can be implemented in many different content areas. Math students might take turns sharing different combinations when working with fractions or denominators, science teachers might have students share the steps of the scientific process or an experiment, and history teachers can encourage students to discuss a historical figure together in detail ("Cooperative Learning Resources"). The options and potential learning experiences are endless with this strategy!
I hope that you are convinced of the value of Rally Robin, teachers, and if you do not yet use it in your classroom, that you try to do so soon! If you do implement this Kagan strategy frequently already, how do you go about it? More information on Kagan can be found via the link below to their online magazine forum.
http://www.kaganonline.com/online_magazine/
We will examine a modified version of Rally Robin, Rally Coach, next month! Until then, see you, and happy teaching!
Sincerely,
Ryan
[email protected]
References
Clowes, G. (2011). The Essential 5: A starting point for Kagan cooperative learning. San Clemente, CA: Kagan Publishing. Kagan Online Magazine. Retrieved from www.KaganOnline.com
Round Robin and Rally Robin. (2016). Retrieved from CooperativeLearningResources.weebly.com.
Smith K., Sheppard S., Johnson D., & Johnson, R. (2005). Pedagogies of engagement: Classroom-based practices. Journal of Engineering Education. 1-15.
Today we will be sharing the tenets of one of the essential Kagan strategies to use in the classroom in order to foster cooperative learning among students. Kagan strategies are a great resource for a variety of learners in the classroom, especially those students who fall into the English Language Learner (ELL) category. I have found using Kagan in the high school ELA classroom to be very successful with my students when used consistently, productively, and meaningfully.
Rally Robin is considered the "bread and butter" of the Kagan strategies. In addition to being one of the most commonly known of the cooperative learning strategies, it is also relatively easy to implement and utilize for a plethora of learning activities. In this activity, students "take turns responding orally... and state responses and solutions to a given question(s) in pairs" ("Cooperative Learning Resources"). One of the great features of this strategy is how well it lends itself to teambuilding. Students can be categorized into groups based on interest or ability level. Once organized, they have an opportunity to consider a question, digest it, and share their responses with a partner. In this fashion, all students have the chance to participate, all voices are heard, and particularly salient ideas or follow-up comments can be addressed from the partner discussion in a whole group discussion with the rest of the class. An online timer can prove useful in many Kagan activities so each student is required to participate for a set amount of time; this can make sessions more productive and reduces off-task behavior or discussion.
Students who fall into the ELL category can also benefit by working with partners that can assist them with the learning experience. No students are able to "hide" with this method; students are thus prompted to participate cooperatively and engagingly. They can even seek help from a peer before going to the teacher for additional assistance. In fact, Smith, Sheppard, Johnson, and Johnson (2005) discuss the value that cooperative learning strategies like Rally Robin offers toward peer relationships and engagement in the classroom. Students who are provided with ample opportunities to discuss their learning and work through problems they encounter with others are significantly more likely to have an active investment in their learning. By moving from reactive to proactive learners, they are able to recognize their own achievement that has been supported--rather than simply instilled--by a teacher or a classmate.
There are numerous ways to implement the Kagan strategy of Rally Robin into the Language Arts classroom effectively. I often find that having students practice vocabulary with one another, work through a fun brain break problem during a lesson, or describe characteristics of a specific character or story to be great starting points. Some examples through which students might "alternate generating brief oral responses" in order to learn from one another include listing adjectives to describe a specific figure from a story, sharing steps of the writing process, or describing a particular plot point that might foreshadow further events in a text (Clowes, 2011). Utilizing these techniques also enables students to grapple with difficult parts of a text on their own terms. While whole class discussion is a common and effective form of communication in the classroom, it limits the number of students who can actively participate at one time. Rally Robin enables all students to share their thoughts and raise their concerns with a question that can then be shared on a larger scale if so desired.
One experience that I have had in my own classroom in which I felt Rally Robin is used very well occurs during the first weeks of school when I am introducing plagiarism to my students. I provide all student partner pairs in their Kagan learning groups with a sample text or passage (often a page or so long). Afterwards, I provide each pair with a set of writings that draw upon the original passage or use it as evidence in some shape or form. Students are asked to work together in Rally Robin to discuss whether the pieces of writing are plagiarized based on our established definition and how heavily they draw on the sample text, whether they are cited properly, etc. I find that students often struggle with this topic initially, but begin to better understand once they can seek support from their partners to review the problems together. Smith et al. (2005) emphasizes that students are better able to retain information through "active and collaborative learning" that enable them to "apply their knowledge" (p. 12) on realistic issues such as plagiarism, especially when they know a partner is relying on their participation as well.
I am continually seeking new ways to integrate Rally Robin into my lessons, and I find that I am almost always able to do so at least once each day with my students. Ensuring that a positive classroom environment has been established is successful to this technique because students will be working frequently with one another and in close capacity. Yet courtesy of its team-building prowess, the very use of Rally Robin helps cultivate good feelings among students while providing them with the opportunity to learn from one another. While I take advantage of this strategy in my English classes, this technique can be implemented in many different content areas. Math students might take turns sharing different combinations when working with fractions or denominators, science teachers might have students share the steps of the scientific process or an experiment, and history teachers can encourage students to discuss a historical figure together in detail ("Cooperative Learning Resources"). The options and potential learning experiences are endless with this strategy!
I hope that you are convinced of the value of Rally Robin, teachers, and if you do not yet use it in your classroom, that you try to do so soon! If you do implement this Kagan strategy frequently already, how do you go about it? More information on Kagan can be found via the link below to their online magazine forum.
http://www.kaganonline.com/online_magazine/
We will examine a modified version of Rally Robin, Rally Coach, next month! Until then, see you, and happy teaching!
Sincerely,
Ryan
[email protected]
References
Clowes, G. (2011). The Essential 5: A starting point for Kagan cooperative learning. San Clemente, CA: Kagan Publishing. Kagan Online Magazine. Retrieved from www.KaganOnline.com
Round Robin and Rally Robin. (2016). Retrieved from CooperativeLearningResources.weebly.com.
Smith K., Sheppard S., Johnson D., & Johnson, R. (2005). Pedagogies of engagement: Classroom-based practices. Journal of Engineering Education. 1-15.