Group Work

Group work is an essential part of classroom pedagogy. It teaches students to collaborate together and accomplish their assigned role/work on time and completed. After students graduate from school and enter the work force they are going to have to work with other people; learn how to deal with different opinions, personalities and how to take advice. Students do plenty of individualistic work in school; they must expand their horizons and learn how to work together on a project. I know, from my own experience, that group can be challenging. I like to work independently; I get the job done how I like it and when I like to do it. In group work that all changes; students must complete work on a set time schedule that the whole group agrees on together. It is challenging! I think that is the purpose of group work.

As a teacher students will receive two grades during group work: an overall group grade and an individual grade based on the amount of work they accomplished throughout the project. The intensity of group work will vary in my classroom. Some days I divide the class into groups of four or five. Each group will receive a primary source reading on the topic of today's lesson. A member(s) of the group will share what the document states and why we are studying it today. Other days students will be assigned projects in groups. It requires multiple lesson days with research on computers, presentations, posters, essays, collages, etc. Students will be assigned specific roles and must accomplish their task or it will hurt the whole groups progress through the assignment. I want my classroom to have a variance of individual and group work, in order to meet the needs of my students; expand their knowledge base and learning techniques.  

Unit Plan

I understand the purpose of the Unit Plan; to learn how to collaborate well with other teachers in designing lesson plans and to think outside the box- incorporate material from other subjects into my content area. I have to say those two responsibilities cannot be completed by researching facts and data. The unit plan needs direction, coordination and a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of drafting, revising, and reviewing! Let me start from the beginning.
     After launching a topic idea that dipped into Spanish, earth science, and social studies we were getting lost in space. We outlined topics for our three lessons and we felt like we were making progress. Nonetheless, the lessons, because three teachers were adding to it, got out of hand. They were too general, and encompassed tons of activities that would never have fit within a days class. We regrouped and narrowed our focus.We switched lesson plans and designed technology-based activities. (Not easy to say the least). We regained our course and saw the light at the end of the tunnel.
However, creating this unit plan would have been a lot easier to do it by myself. Every time I wanted to change a aspect of the lesson I had to find out from my other partners if it was okay to do. Sometimes I would change a piece of a lesson and it would confuse them. Sometimes someone else would change a piece of the lesson and it would confuse me. We always had to have committees about what task each person was going to do. In the beginning we did not write down and assign tasks. It made it very difficult to make progress. We were counter-productive. We learned our lesson and directly stated each teachers role in the unit plan. Things from then on have been a smooth ride. I have learned various things from this lesson; be direct, write down everything, and be patient!

Elluminate!

The Elluminate session for last class was different. I liked how we learned about Elluminate a couple of classes before and then actually experienced the inner-workings of the program. I learn best by experiencing and doing. Elluminate reminds me how far technology has come. No longer a need for classrooms but virtual classrooms. I liked the session because it opened my eyes to the level of technology and innovation around the world. Technology creates new avenues of learning. On the other hand, Elluminate seemed counterproductive. Some people had technological difficulties with signing into the program or using the required functions within the program. The whole class had to wait while the Professor fixed the problem. The time gets eaten up quickly. Another problem was figuring out if all participants were on the same page. We had to click the check-mark button confirming we were understanding what the Professor said. Once again, this eats of time- time, that if the lesson was conducted in a physical classroom, would have been preserved. I did like how we interacted with the program and the professor. Instead of listening to a lecture the whole time, we got assignments to complete. And by posting our findings the professor knows if we understand the assignment. I like lessons that change direction; it keeps me involved and at attention. Overall, the session was a success but I would much rather have a lesson taught in a physical classroom.