{"id":290,"date":"2012-04-01T12:54:44","date_gmt":"2012-04-01T12:54:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/?p=290"},"modified":"2012-04-01T13:21:58","modified_gmt":"2012-04-01T13:21:58","slug":"what-are-some-strategies-for-working-with-large-classes-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/2012\/04\/01\/what-are-some-strategies-for-working-with-large-classes-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Strategies for large classes – Nour Alkhalidy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Teaching a large class can be challenging. The important thing is to provide a learning environment where each student is engaged in the learning process. One of the most useful strategies for effectively doing this is through cooperative learning using one of my favorite strategies, Kagan Structures<\/a>. What\u2019s special about Kagan Structures is that they are built around principals that develop individual and group learning at the same. The skills that they help develop include class building, teambuilding, communication skills, thinking skills, information sharing skills, and mastery skills. They are also designed to work with all of the multiple intelligences while improving time management skills and therefore are a really great solution for large classes.<\/p>\n

One example of a Kagan Structure is Think\u2013Pair\u2013Share<\/a> in which students have individual time to think about a question related to the topic of study\u00a0before pairing up with a partner to share their thoughts and then working with their partner to select one idea to share with the entire class. This structure helps teachers organize group work and improves many different skills at the same time in a very simple and easy way. Working on their own to solve a problem or answer a question helps students develop thinking and mastery skills. Sharing ideas with a partner develops team building and information sharing skills. Deciding what to share with the class and then presenting that develops class-building skills as well. For further information and examples of Kagan Structures please check out this guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In addition to Kagan Structures some of the other strategies I use include:<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Creating detailed plans for lessons, group tasks, and tools ahead of time.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Making guidelines for groups that explain rules, tasks, time limits, and expected outputs.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Using smile\/sad face and agree\/disagree cards to make it easy for students to respond.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Repeating the lesson\u2019s most important points throughout the class in a variety of ways.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Integrating academic and team-building skills into my assignments.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Making use of technology but always having a plan B in case there\u2019s no Internet.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Putting materials online and letting students ask questions after class by email.<\/p>\n

Undoubtedly, technology<\/strong> can greatly increase student engagement and participation in a large class. The following tools and techniques are really useful:<\/p>\n

Backchannels<\/strong> provide a rich environment for group discussions in real time. A backchannel is a great way to give each student a voice. Tools like TodaysMeet<\/a>, Twitter<\/a> streams, Googledocs, and NeatChat<\/a> are some cool ways to do this.<\/p>\n

Social media tools<\/strong> like Pinterest<\/a>, Youtube, Facebook, Flickr, Voicethreads and Wikis will engage students and groups with different learning styles.<\/p>\n

Note Taking <\/strong>apps like Wallwisher<\/a> and Linoit<\/a> can be used for writing important notes or giving feedback on individual and group work. They can also foster creativity in brainstorming sessions.<\/p>\n

Nour Alkhalidy (@MissNoor28)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Teaching a large class can be challenging. The important thing is to provide a learning environment where each student is engaged in the learning process. One of the most useful strategies for effectively doing this is through cooperative learning using one of my favorite strategies, Kagan Structures. What\u2019s special about Kagan Structures is that they … Continue reading Strategies for large classes – Nour Alkhalidy<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-strategies-for-large-classes-topics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}