Cooperative Learning

The basic elements of cooperative learning support effective group work it can be used as measures of success. Considering the basic elements when utilizing any structure decreases the likelihood of achieving cooperative interaction and productive learning. It explores ways to develop partnerships with parents when applying it and includes sample letters that describe cooperative group work and address common parental concerns. It also, explores the importance of collegial support in the process of implementing cooperative strategies and suggests activities for ongoing professional development among colleagues.

Team building activities that enable students to share personal stories and respectfully listen to one another, play an important role in developing the trust, care, and commitment needed for productive cooperative group work.

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence refers to the ability of the –person to control his feeling and the feelings of others which can influence their feelings too. It never stops growing because we are always evolving as people. It acts in a way that is congruent with their values and goals. Also, emotional intelligence leads to a health social interaction with people around the person. Moreover it decreases the values of aggressive and self- defeating humor.

Students with high emotional intelligence have less likely to have unauthorized absences. They are less to be excluded from school. They are away from deviant and vulnerable behaviors. 

Attending a Webinar

I attended webinar on Tuesday, November 2019 at 11:00 pm titled “Voice Devices and Beyond in the Classroom”. In this webinar there are 3 presenters: Mark Persaud’s, Amish Desais’ and David Green, they have a wide experience in the world of technology and its important role in learning easily in business and teaching.

They believe that:

·        Integrating audio, voice and/or immersive technology in the classroom can enhance learning and engagement.

·        There are limits for the usage of technology.

·        The teacher should have the ability to set boundaries with students on accessing devices and expectations for use.  

It’s an active method in teaching/ learning process. It facilitates the communication between teacher and his/ her students in an effective way.  

Teaching Styles

The most effective teachers vary their styles depending on the nature of the subject matter, the phase of the course and other factors.
It’s helpful to think of teaching styles according to three D's: Directing, Discussing, and Delegating.

Directing Style: Promotes learning through listening and following directions. With this style, the teacher tells the students what to do, how to do it, when it needs to be done.

Suggestions for using the directing style:

   Start with the big picture.

         Be clear and concise.

         Provide sufficient details.

         Don’t sugar- coat the message.  

Discussing Style: Promotes learning through interaction. In this style, practiced by Socrates, the teacher encourages critical thinking and lively discussion by asking students to respond challenging questions.

Suggestions for using the discussing style:

   Prepare questions in advance.

        Don’t allow one or two students to dominate the discussion.
   Have students create questions.
  Utilize clickers.

Delegating Style: Promote learning through empowerment. With this style, the teacher assigns tasks that students work on independently, either individually or in groups.

Suggestions for using delegating style:
   Assign research projects.
      Assign team projects.

Think- Pair- Share "T- P- S"

Why to use Think- Pair- Share?

 - It helps students to think individually about a topic or answer to a question.

 -It teaches students to share ideas with classmates and builds oral communication skills.

 - It helps focus attention and engage students in comprehending the reading material.

      How to use Think- Pair- Share

        - Decide upon the text to read and develop the set of questions or prompts that     target key content concepts.

          - Describe the purpose of strategy and provide guidelines for discussions.

          - Model the procedure to ensure that students understand how to use the strategy. 

          -  Monitor and support students as they work through the following:

            T: (Think) Teachers begin by asking a specific question about the text. Students "Think" about what they know or have learned about the topic.

            P: (Pair) Each student should be paired with another student or small group.

            S: (Share) Students share their thinking with their partner. Teachers expand the "Share" into a whole- class discussion.  

Why students are so dependent on technology?

We are in a world surrounded with technology from all sides. Technology has invaded us, it has allowed us to discover new, wide world within us. It has had our life much easier and faster. On the other hand, we became so dependent on it. Always teachers are repeating this question: “Why students are so dependent on technology?” Then why shouldn’t they be?! Technology has facilitated our life, instead of spending hours searching in books for topics, ideas, and developing them later, now all what you need is to open google, type whatever you want and though it comes into you. Also, technology answers everything grooving your head in minutes and guides you much way better than books, people or anything around you.