In order to determine whether what you are having students do is truly Cooperative Learning, it needs to meet all of the qualities of CL, as outlined by the acronym PIES. If it doesn't, it is either independent work or group work, but not true Cooperative Learning. The aim of hitting all of these points is to increase engagement from all students and helping to prevent "hiding" or opting out by some students.
When integrating Kagan structures, you will obviously be asking a lot of content related questions. But don't forget to weave in a lot of "fun" type questions that will help with teambuilding in your classroom. Remember F^3 from my part 1 post: Fun-first and frequent! It won't take a ton of time but it will go a long way to build good connections in students' brains and help students get to know each other and feel like a valued member of your classroom.
Now, without further ado, here are some of the Kagan structures that were presented (and used! at the workshop)--
Rally Robin: probably the most basic and easiest to use quickly on the spot. It is a variation of what has been called "turn and talk" but actually follows the CL model. Basically, you give a prompt and two students take turns responding to the prompt. This is ideal for a prompt that could have many short answers, like a list. Remember, fun first! Try "what are some of your favorite ice cream flavors?" or "what are some places you have always wanted to visit?" Jeff mentioned that it can cause a brain conflict for students to make a single choice of a "favorite" so it helps to use the language "one of your favorites" which I totally get because I have a hard time making a decision myself! It also helps for the idea of Rally Robin where you want them to generate a long list. Some content area questions could include "what comes to mind when you think of science?" or "what are the steps to solve this problem or process?" which is a good one to use as a quick review/processing of a procedure just after you have presented it, especially if they still have access to notes to reference.
Timed Pair Share: like a Rally Robin, but each member of the pair has a certain amount of time to share. This is used for a prompt that requires a longer response, usually each partner shares once and they are given maybe 30 sec to a minute to share depending on the topic. The tip to remember this one is "Topic-Time-Think-Share-Respond-Share-Respond." The teacher gives the topic and how much time they will have to share. Then, give them 10 sec of think time (or more if the topic requires it). Sometimes you may even want to have them write their thoughts since they will be talking a bit longer. Then one partner shares, the other partner gives praise, and they switch. You can give the students some ideas for responses like "Thanks for sharing!" or "One thing I learned listening to you was..." The topics for a timed pair share are more open ended like (teambuilding) "if you could speak to famous person, what would you ask? and why?" or (content) "why study the universe?" When we were brainstorming ideas for a timed pair share, my group members came up with the awesome idea to do a check in for a long term assignment. Have the students respond to "what is your progress? what are your accomplishments, obstacles, goals plans, etc?" I thought about some of my Do Now questions that would work so much better in this format; "using any materials necessary, how would you measure an elephant?" (as intro into the measurement unit), "how do you know if something is alive?" (for intro to characteristics of life in biology), and "what is the smallest thing in the universe?" (for the beginning of learning about the atom in chemistry or the cell in biology). I know that using CL structures for my Do Now time will make our discussions so much more productive! One thing to note--if a student runs out of things to say before their time is up, the partner should ask them questions to get them talking more about their ideas.
Round Robin: same idea as Rally Robin but on a team instead of a pair. Robin=talk, rally=to or two, round=team. For both Rally or Round Robins, you could always end up with a triangle, which is okay too. There are variety of versions of the Round Robin:
Types of Round Robins
- Single Round Robin: once around
- Continuous Round Robin: keep going until teacher stops the discussion
- Think Write Round Robin: students think of their own answer and write it down, then Round Robin to share what they wrote
- All Record Round Robin: everyone writes down everyone else's comment. This could be after a brainstorm where a student makes a list. Then, when someone says something they already wrote, they check it. If they hear something new, they write it.
- All Record Consensus: like an All Record Round Robin, but the group has to come to a consensus before they write their answer. Usually used for a set of questions/problems with a "correct answer" that the students take turns answering.
- Timed Round Robin: each member has a certain amount of time to share. This is structured a bit like a Timed Pair Share, so see my notes above. An awesome tool to use with this structure is a turn timer. The timer will time periods for however many turns you set (ie 1 minute for 4 turns). The Kagan people are not paying me to mention this, but they sell one and my awesome science coordinator bought it for us! Of all of the things available for purchase from Kagan, this is the one I would recommend. I think I heard that it is about $30 and it can be loaded on up to four computers FYI.
Team Stand and Share (can also be Pair or Individual Stand and Share): this is a variation of the All Record Round Robin where the groups are sharing with the entire class. A group maybe did an All Record Round Robin in their team and then each group shares one and the other groups check or write, then once a group has said or heard all of their ideas they sit down, but continue to write new ones. Within a group, one person will share and then pass the list to the next person for the next time their group is up.
Fan N Pick: For this structure, you will need to have a set of cards prepared. They could be review questions, inquiry questions, team building questions, etc. Each group will have a set of cards and there are four student roles; student 1 fans the card and says "Pick a card, any card," student 2 picks a card and reads it aloud, shows it to student 3 and allows some think time, student 3 answers the question, and student 4 responds. For questions with a correct answer, student 4 will look for the correct answer (student 2 would hand them the card) and praises or coaches. For open ended questions with no "right" answer, student 4 will praise and paraphrase. It helps to have a mat labeled with the roles each student will have. This will help them keep straight until they get the hang of it. Also, they will be rotating after each set, and a mat will help remind them of their new roles. Really, it is helpful to assign roles any time students will be doing a complex task with a lot of moving parts. This makes a huge difference for labs and help with that idea of simultaneous interaction/no opt-out. I modified this to do an assignment in which students were working through problems on a large white board. Kagan sells a mat to use for Fan-N-Pick, but you can make a piece of paper with the roles listed to hand out for any assignment you want to use this structure for, whether Fan-N-Pick roles or otherwise.
Rally Coach: This structure is great for a process or procedure. Students work in pairs and will get one copy of the problems and should only have one pencil. Student A has the role of problem solver and Student B has the role of coach. The coach holds the pencil. Student A solves the problem and explains how they solved it. Student B listens, checks, coaches if necessary, and praises (giving the pencil to A once they agree that the answer is correct and A records the answer). Roles are flipped for the next problem. You may want to have this pair compare their answers with a nearby pair once they have completed a few problems.
All of the structures I have presented so far are in a stationary group. The idea is for a group to work together for a certain period of time to bond but you want to mix it up every once in a while. I try to change groups completely at about the end of every unit (about 4-5 different group arrangements within a semester). Jeff recommended about every 6 weeks. I have found that sometimes you get a feeling that it is time to mix it up, so play it by ear! For times you want to mix up the kids for just a portion of class time, here are some good ways to do it.
Structures for mixing it up
- Mix Pair Share: super simple--have students get up and walk around and you tell them when to stop and pair up with the person nearest them. In another workshop I participated in, the facilitator had us mix and then stop and give someone a high five (this was our high five partner) then mix and give a different person a fist bump (this was our fist bump partner) then mix and come up with a secret handshake (you get the idea). Then he had us mix and find our partners, he would call out "high five partner!" for instance, so that we could remember who we found before. Then, throughout the workshop, he would say "get up and find your ____ partner" and then we would do a pair share. Mixing works really well with music--just have them stop mixing when the music stops. Jeff said that music that is 60-80 beats per minute is the best for productivity in the classroom. Make sure to remind them--greet, praise, part. Practice greeting your partner in a way that makes them happy and proud to be here today, praise them, and always leave them with parting words.
- Stand up Hand up Pair up: This is a super quick way to have them find a new partner. They stand up and put their hand up, find someone and high five. The hand up is a great tool because students can find someone who still needs a partner fast and easily. If you want a group of four, you can always have them find another pair nearby to join.
- Quiz Quiz Trade: I am a huge fan of quiz quiz trade! It is so simple; have students quiz each other with flash cards and then trade cards and go find another partner. Even just using it at face value it is an amazing tool. I talked a lot about it in my very first CL post and I have some tips of ways I like to use it to take it even a little farther. And I learned even more awesome strategies from Jeff. First of all, use stand up, hand up, pair up to have them find their first partner. Have them hold up the card to find a partner at the beginning and then whenever they need a new partner. This is so so super helpful when a pair of students are finished quizzing and need to find a new person. I know from experience because we did this in the workshop--it makes the process so much more efficient, I don't know why I didn't think of this before! Remind students to read the card AND show the card (but not the answer side of course!) When students get their first card, tell them to make sure that they are prepared to coach it before they get up. Have them practice asking the question in a complete sentence and responding in a complete sentence. When students need to coach, have them follow this procedure: tip, tip, teach, try again. If their partner isn't getting it, they should give a tip. If they still can't get it, give one more tip. If they still cant after two tips, tell them the answer. But (and this is important) start the quiz process again. Student holding the card asks the question, other student responds (and should know it this time). This is another thing that I can't believe I didn't think of. It is so simple and obvious. Jeff even says that if you have to be taught it, you should repeat it three times. This makes sense, but if you have few enough cards in the mix, they will see it a couple of more times anyway. Here's my tip: have duplicates of the cards and fewer questions/vocab words. This ensures that students will see the questions/words more than once and reduces the chance that they will miss some entirely. Also, this is a structure for which it is essential to have an attention getting signal, so make sure you have one that you have rehearsed with them ahead of time. Jeff recommends not participating in the structures, but this is one I like to participate in when doing a review because I get a good feel for where the class is.
All of these structures are set up for pairs or groups of four. Almost all of them can be easily adapted as a "triangle." If you have a class that is not divisible by four and you have one straggler, you can assign the floater. Jeff recommended rotating who the "floater" or the "triangle" will be each day--they will just know to join a pair that has already been assembled. By the teacher directing who is the odd man out and making sure to change that student on a regular basis, you avoid the same student always seeming to be left out once partners are established. This is crucially important for self-mixing structures. Remember that you are attempting to build a sense of community in your classroom so you also want to keep an eye out for the students that always try to get together.
You will need to let students know who goes first a lot of the time. Jeff recommended keeping a list of ideas handy so you don't always have to think on the fly or you don't end up always using the same one. Of course we have the tried and true "whoever's birthday is closest to today" but you can also use "whoever's head is closest to the ceiling" or "whoever's first name has the most syllables." In a workshop a long time ago I loved when a teacher used: pick a statement like "whoever was at school the longest yesterday" then "...will point to who they choose to go first!" I love to throw this or a variation of it in every once in a while.
In my Part 1 post, I talked about having an attention getting signal. When you have a structure that gets a little chaotic, it will be helpful to have a way that everyone knows you are ready to talk again. At this workshop, I began to think it could also be useful to have a "start" word. When I am explaining instructions for something that students will be getting out of their seat for, it is hard to communicate that I am done giving them the instructions and am ready for them to get going. I remember I had a biology teacher who would say "Have at it!" when he was ready for us to get moving on a lab. I am going to try that this year to help smooth my transitions. I am thinking just the word "Go!" would work as long as I have communicated my expectations in advance.
There are times when you feel you are losing the class--it happens to all of us--and at those times, it would be really helpful to get students off of their feet or just thinking about something else for a minute or two. Here are some ideas for those times.
Brain breaks
Take off/touchdown: Mostly used for a quick fun brain break but there are probably questions you could ask that are content related. You might say "if you love chocolate, take off." Whoever likes chocolate stands up. And then tell every one to "touch down" (they sit down). Next question, "if you are looking forward to spring break, take off." Keep going until you think they have become a bit more attentive. If you have some stubborn students that aren't playing along, try "if you are alive, take off" and if anyone is still sitting down, "check and see if the people sitting around you are breathing!"
Everyone's it: Students move around the room and tag each other. Once tagged you freeze. Then periodically yell out "everyone's it!" and everyone unfreezes. Then, add a twist: when someone is frozen, they hold out their arms and say "help me, help me, help me" until someone else walks under their arm, which unfreezes them (no fair if you tag the person who just saved you!) This makes the game completely self sustaining.
Finger math: In groups, students stand up. The teacher calls out a number. Students do a kind of rock, paper, scissors motion but instead of the regular motions for ro-sham-bo, hold out a certain number of fingers. Count how many fingers you have all together; they keep re-trying until they get the correct number of fingers. When they get the number, one person in the group chooses the next number (make sure to specify who goes first at the beginning of the game) and continues. As the group get numbers correct, the number chooser rotates. Remember not to choose numbers greater than 20!
My main for this year is to never ask a question out to the class. I have all of the usual problems; sometimes I hear crickets, sometimes I have the same students answering every time, sometimes I want everyone to say the answer and I only hear like 3 and a half students participating. Jeff mentioned that even a simple question with a single simple answer can be tweaked to get engagement from much more of the class. If you asked "who can tell me who the first president of the United States was?" for example, you would have maybe a few students that would raise their hands and then you would call on one to answer. But you could have much more participation if you said "A's tell B's how was the first president of the United States?" Then, "did A say George Washington? if they did, give them a fist bump! if not give them a fist bump tell them "you better study it!"
I will leave you with something that Jeff had us do that I thought was super cute: a group handshake. Every one puts their right hand into the circle (thumb pointing up) with fingertips outstretched and touching in the center. Then, curl your fingers to swirl your hands together and shake up and down. You can do a double group handshake by doing the same thing with the left hand above your right handshake. This was so cheesy but so adorable! I found the picture below to show you because it is so hard to explain! It is a bit messy with this many people but doable with just four.
