D&Z Chapters 6 and 7

After reading D & Z chapters six and seven, there were a couple of things I wanted to touch upon. I wanted to talk a bit about the jigsawing activity presented in chapter six, and the idea of creating a classroom community presented in chapter seven.

I really enjoy the idea of jigsawing as an activity that can be implemented in the classroom. I remember doing a jigsaw activity last year in SED 406. I enjoyed it, but I felt it went a little too quick, and I didn’t have enough time to formulate my thoughts. For that reason, if I were to implement this strategy in my classroom, I would ensure students have enough time to read the article, understand it, and be able to formulate their thoughts in such a way that they are able to present it to the rest of the group. I didn’t like the way it was implemented in chapter six, in the english lesson. I feel as though a novel is best understood when read individually, from cover to cover. I feel as though if I did a jigsaw activity with a novel, I would miss some key facts, events, and characters.

However, for history, I think it works a bit better. I liked the history example in the book, and I think it would also be useful when learning about amendments, laws, and historical figures (etc). I’ve been trying to think about ways to implement jigsawing in a science classroom… I was thinking something like constellations or elements from the periodic table. If anyone has any other ideas, I am eager to hear them! I’m finding it a little difficult to come up with something biology related, as I feel a lot of the content is important for every student to study and know. Overall, I think jigsawing is useful in the classroom once in a while, but it definitely should not be used constantly.

A second point I wanted to elaborate on was creating a classroom community. In chapter seven, Daniels and Zemelman explained that “we need to make the classroom a community, a place where students feel safe to take the risks involved in learning, where they see it connected with their lives, and where they help and learn from one another instead of working only as isolated individuals. And we do this not just to make students feel good, but to enable them to learn meaningfully in our subjects, through reading as well as the many other avenues we use in our teaching (204).” I think this is really important because I have sat in various classrooms, where I’ve felt intimidated to speak, or scared that what I say might be laughed at or critiqued. I think we have all felt this way at some point… it definitely isn’t a welcoming feeling. I think it is important to form some type of contingency contract where students know the rules of the classroom, and they collaborate along with the teacher to create these rules. When I was at URI, I took the equivalent to CEP and the professor I had was amazing. She brought up something she did in her own classroom in order to create a strong community. She took poster paper the size of the entire wall, and the class came up with rules in a collaborative manner. If they agreed to comply with the rules, they signed the paper that the rules were written on. This way, they understood exactly what was expected, and helped create their own classroom climate. I have considered doing this in my own classroom so that all students feel welcome and comfortable. I want my students to be able to voice their opinions without worrying whether or not they are being judged. This way, my students will be interacting, engaging, and learning in a meaningful way.

Here is an example!