I really enjoy doing jigsaw activities with my students. I think it gives them some ownership of the material...rather than having the teacher stand up and present all of the material to them in his or her teaching style, students are able to "teach" their classmates in a manner that appeals to them.
Most recently, my kids did a jigsaw activity over some sections in the book about Ancient India and Ancient China. The kids worked in groups of 3-4 students each and were assigned an individual section...essentially, one group dealt with religion while another dealt with culture, and so on. After the original groups had worked, the groups were then scrambled into groups made up of members of the original groups (at least one member of the original groupings was in each new grouping). Each original group member "taught" their assigned section to their new group....they were required to create some type of visual (be it PowerPoint, a graphic organizer, whatever) and to have an "assignment" for the other kids.
As the 2nd groups discussed and worked, I walked around to observe and took mental notes on what was not being addressed. I covered what I did not feel was covered by the groups with the whole class. I think the kids got a pretty good view of the material, and they got it in a non-teacher centered way.
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I think jigsaw is a great activity. I always feel a little uncomfortable using it, though, because I can never be sure that students are getting everything they need. It can be tough to monitor several groups that are going at one time. It's really difficult to use a jigsaw in literature, because the nature of the activity tends to disrupt the reading flow of things like short stories or drama.
ReplyDeleteIt's much easier to use jigsaw with non-fiction works. I used jigsaw for Thoreau's "Walden" with good success, because it's easily divided into sections and each section is representative of the man's philosophies and writing style.
Marc,
ReplyDeleteYou are so right. Jigsaws can only be used to different for process but when their is a need for ALL students to receive the same content I don't like to use them either.
I really like the jigsaw approach to learning. It keeps the students engaged while not boring them with some lecture. It will require work for the teacher to stay on top of the discussions and be sure that groups are on-task. I am also impressed that the teacher listened to the student-led discussions and then made sure all the material needed was covered, even if that meant she had to present it.
ReplyDeleteI think the jigsaw approach works well with history. It allows students to work together to gather facts and often they learn fact gathering techniques from other students working in their group.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Marc about being a little uncomfortable. It is difficult in a course where students will be accountable for all the information (EOCT)-one makes the assumptiona that they are truly going to listen to all the other pieces being presented. I have found thay tend to tune out. They seem only to care about what they are presenting to the puzzle, so they do not look bad.
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