Collaboration


 * Collaboration **


 * Problem Based Learning (PBL) **

**1. **** How will you facilitate an authentic collaborative learning experience to promote deeper student engagement with content skills and concepts? **

Students will be placed in small groups to work on their problem based learning project. The students must work as a collaborative team to create, design, and organize their project. There will be positions assigned to each member of the group. For example, there will be a leader, writer, drawer, reader, and a recorder of information. The group will be able to present the word problem that they create to the class. They will report to the class the strategy that they used to solve the problem. If the group encounters problems, they will have the opportunity to modify and adjust their project. **2. **** As members of collaborative groups, how will you support students’ efforts to identify solutions to the problem you are using as the framework for your PBL instructional unit? **

The teacher will meet with each individual group to explain expectations and assignments. Implementation of instructional strategies will be in progress: observing, discussing, questioning, modeling, and assessment. As the students are engaged in their group setting, the teacher will monitor each group to make sure each group member has a position within the group. The groups will be monitored to ensure that they are focused on the assignment. In other words, the teacher will make sure that the group conversation is strictly about the problem in the project. The teacher will take the time to conference with each group individually to address any issues or questions about the project.

**3. What criteria will you use to assign learners to collaborative groups, including a rationale? What will be the size of the collaborative groups you will include in your unit?**

Students will use the guidelines for group work that they have used previously in guided reading. Groups will be organized by the teacher to include students with talents that are necessary for each position. For example, a creative artist will be assigned to each group. A student with good leader ship skills will be assigned to each group. A student with excellent writing skills will be placed in each group. The teacher will balance the groups by placing students in the group that have strengths in all the positions of the group. There will be no more than four to five students in a collaborative group setting.

**4. Which digital tools and websites are you considering for collaboration in your unit?**

Digital tools and websites that will be implemented and used in this small group problem based learning activity are Pete’s Power Points, funbrain.com, united streaming.com, brainpopjr.com, and blogs. The blogs will already be set up by the teacher; students will have training on how to collaborate with each other through blogging. These technological tools will be saved under my favorites to give students easy access to them. The use of technology will help to motivate the students and capture their attention.

**5. How will you assess participation of the students in their collaborative groups?** //**(Note: In Module 4, you will create assessment rubrics in which you will include this element.)**//

// Each member of the group will have an individual duty assigned by the teacher, and he or she will clearly understand his or her role in the group setting. The assessment tool that will be used will be a rubric. Furthermore, members of the group will be given the opportunity to evaluate the participation of each group member by survey. The teacher will determine through observation and the survey how well each member participated within the group. //