5.3 Demonstrate research-based instructional practices for developing oral/ aural language development.
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Kagan: Numbered Heads Together Cooperative learning is a wonderful facilitator of oral language development. Working with ones peers inspires comradery, collaboration, and group pride. Kagan structures offer a wide variety of engaging and interactive techniques that foster this comradery. Students are expected to communicate orally, work as a unit, and decide on a consensus answer.
I have used many Kagan structures in my classroom. Rally Coach, Mix-Pair-Share, and Showdown are frequently used strategies that can be used across a variety of content areas. The students' favorite structure, however, is Numbered Heads Together. In this activity, each group receives a small whiteboard, a dry erase marker, and a cloth. I spin the wheel and call out the number of the person who will be the scribe and who will hold up the board. As we use many Kagan structures in our classroom, each student has a number written on their desk in permanent marker so there is no unnecessary confusion. Once the students know who is writing and who is responsible for sharing the answer, I present them with their question. This strategy can be used across all of the content areas, but I have found it to be particularly useful in English Language Arts. The students, then, put their heads together (hence the name) and discuss the problem. I make sure to give a liberal amount of discussion time so that every students' opinion can be heard. Finally, the student assigned to share the answer lifts the white board, and I check for correct answers and underlying comprehension. Kagan structures were foreign to me at the start of final internship, and now, I cannot imagine my classroom without them. They can be used as fantastic team building tools as well as an engaging way to practice a variety of content. These activities speak to students whose learning styles are visual, auditory, kinesthetic, interpersonal, and even musical. My students have used them with great success, and I look forward to incorporating them into my future classroom. |