Students are Actually Able to Talk During Class?

Children growing up in the 21^st century are bombarded with so much information through so many different channels. They have access to television, Internet, newspapers, smart phones, and so much more. With this in mind, it does not surprise me that teachers have a difficult time reaching their students. Long overdue are the days of all-class novels and direct instruction. These children are growing up in a time where they need to be able to think critically, problem solve, and work collaboratively with others in order to succeed in their own futures. This means our students should be allowed to talk and work with their peers in order to enhance their learning experiences.

Social networks online have become the best interaction since A.O.L. Instant Messenger. Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, and so many more are drawing society in by helping people keep in touch with anyone and everyone they meet. The unfortunate piece to this puzzle is that schools are blocking these sites because they are a distraction to the education process. Due to this, sites have been developed to continue with social networking but in a safe manner. A site called Fakebook allows students to work together and create educational profiles for topics, events, famous people in history, and characters in a book. This lesson combines collaboration, content, and a project that the students can relate to. Other resources that would benefit a classroom are: webquests, blogging, wiki’s, and voice threads.

Collaborative learning is a wonderful teaching strategy to implement in the classroom. I had always heard the phrase, “two heads are better than one,” yet while I was in school, that was never really the case. As an educator now, I am seeing my students achieve more when they are able to discuss their knowledge and learning with others. According to Beaumie Kim (2001), knowledge and learning are built through social interactions.

Here is a link to a wonderful video lesson of a teacher explaining how he uses collaboration in his math class.

I was very impressed by the teacher’s techniques and how engaged the students were in the lesson.

In my own classroom, I try to use social learning daily. While teaching math, I use think, pair, and share. In Social Studies, I have them complete projects in groups, and in Language Arts, they can participate in some social work stations. I have found managing social groups somewhat difficult, as my sixth graders tend to fly off topic quickly. I am hoping in the future, when I can incorporate more exciting technologically based projects, my students will have more focus.

Resources:

Kim, B. (2001). Social Constructivism.. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved <insert date>, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/