Collaboration

7.1
 * 1) What is collaboration?
 * Collaboration is when a group of people work together towards a common goal.

2. What are 3 ways in which students collaborate in your classroom and are they successful?
 * My students collaborate during their mapping labs. They must work together to read the different thematic maps and answer questions.
 * My students collaborate when doing a jigsaw. If the boys read one page and take 2 column notes and the girls do another page they must both do a good job in order to complete the assignment.
 * My students collaborate when we go to the computer lab. Since there are not enough working computers for my larger classes students must pair up. Usually students are quite receptive because they enjoy working together on an assignment or project.

7.2

1. How can expanded use of technology help develop depth and breadth for our students?

2. What is the difference between cooperation and collaboration? I liked the analogy Randy Nelson used about the assembly line. Cooperation would be building the front end individually with everyone doing their part. Working collaboratively would be walking the line with the car making sure all members are invested in the end goal and making them look good. 3. What are the challenges in getting students to collaborate rather than just cooperating? Not all students see the value in seeing the good in their partner. Many want to finish an assignment and move on or simply just copy rather than learn from another student. Are our students interested or interesting? We want our students to be interested in their groups' work and be invested in the outcome, not just a quick fix.

=7.3 Voicethread= I will need to find some examples on my own because I could not hear the woman and her children speak about their photo. I also could not click on the pictures as the voices stated I could. As far as my classroom I would need my students to be the most mature set of 6th graders I've ever encountered in order to do this activity. I feel that many of my students would doodle so much during the class conversation that they would not contribute to the discussion. I also do not feel comfortable having students use their cell phones since it is a Salemwood rule to have all cell phones in lockers. I do realize that this aspect of voicethread would excite my students, but at the same time it makes me nervous to think about what they'll say and erase but not realize what lasting effects it might leave on other students. I'm not a fan of being able to erase messages because I feel like it allows students to believe that they don't own their words and actions.

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