Megan Brown, 5th Grade, Moreno Elementary

Spotlight: Kagan Structures, Collaborative Conversations, AVID, Eureka Math

This is the start of my 16th year teaching. I have taught 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th,  and 4th/5th combo.  Several years ago I had started incorporating more academic based collaborative conversations and cooperative learning structures within my classroom and saw the power behind it;  The level of thinking and learning that I have observed amongst my students has blown me away!  Being an AVID school, our ultimate goal is to get the students to a point where they can conduct  Socratic Seminars and Philossphical Chairs; and collaborative conversations is definitely a gateway into these structures. I also incorporate a variety of these structures throughout the Eureka Math lessons.

It’s a really rewarding experience as a teacher to watch them grow from where they begin in August doing simple Kagan  partner-talk strategies, such as a Rally-Coach,to eventually being able to run a class-wide Socratic Seminar or Philosophical Chairs with minimal teacher assistance.  Ultimately then applying those discussions to write multi-paragraph essays  citing across texts, as the end result.  The kids love having collaborative conversations through cooperative grouping structures, they're highly engaging strategies, and they make learning fun! Not to mention the outcomes for student learning and growth! I incorporate cooperative learning structures across curriculum. I look forward to sharing this journey with you as you follow our blog.  :-)