Numbered Heads Together Students are placed in groups and each person is given a number (from one to the maximum number in each group). The teacher poses a question and students "put their heads together" to figure out the answer. The teacher calls a specific number to respond as spokesperson for the group. By having students work together in a group, this strategy ensures that each member knows the answer to problems or questions asked by the teacher. Because no one knows which number will be called, all team members must be prepared. |
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Think-Pair-Share
Think-Pair-Share activities pose a question to students that they must consider alone and then discuss with a neighbor before settling on a final answer. This is a great way to motivate students and promote higher-level thinking. Even though the activity is called think-"PAIR"-share, this is the term many instructors use for pairs and small groups (three or four students) alike. Groups may be formed formally or informally. Often this group discussion "sharing" is followed up with a larger classroom discussion. |
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Write Around
For creative writing or summarizing, teachers could give a sentence starter (for e.g. If there were no plants on the earth-/ A man met an alien on the sea shore-) then all students in each team have to finish the sentence. Then, they pass the paper to the right, read the one they receive, and add sentence to than one. After a few round, four great summaries or stories emerge. Students should be given time to add a conclusion and/or edit their favorite one to share with the class. |
Cooperative Paragraph Strips
Starting with a topic sentence, teams come up with a sentence that fits the paragraph which is written on a sentence strip (either by you or by the students, depending on age). You do need to check to make sure that students don’t have the same sentence as another team. Once you have all the sentence strips, arrange them from a pocket chart. From there, solicit class feedback on how you can revise the sentences, whether it be word choice, changing the order, or adding/removing words. This can even be extended to a multiple paragraph composition, such as a compare and contrast composition with two paragraphs |