A look at collaborative practice for languages classrooms You say co-operative, I say collaborative

Examine some of the background to collaborative approaches to learning Explore the links between Curriculum for Excellence and Critical Skills/Co-operative Learning Get Active! Apply some aspects of these approaches to one area of teaching and learning of relevance to you

Sounds familiar? Knowledge is a fixed body of information transmitted from teacher or text to students OR Knowledge viewed as developing interpretations constructed through discussion Brophy, J 2002 : Social Constructivist Teaching: Affordances and Constratints

Teacher is responsible for managing students’ learning by providing information and leading students through activities and assignments OR Teacher and students share responsibility for initiating and guiding learning efforts Brophy, J 2002 : Social Constructivist Teaching: Affordances and Constratints

Students memorise or replicate what has been explained or modelled OR Students strive to make sense of new input by relating it to their prior knowledge and by collaborating in dialogue with others to construct and share understandings Brophy, J 2002 : Social Constructivist Teaching: Affordances and Constratints

Discourse emphasises drill and recitation in response to convergent questions OR Discourse emphasises reflective discussion of networks of connected knowledge; questions are more divergent but designed to develop understanding of the powerful ideas that anchor these networks: focus is on eliciting students’ thinking Brophy, J 2002 : Social Constructivist Teaching: Affordances and Constratints

Students work mostly alone, practising what has been transmitted to them in order to reproduce it on demand OR Students collaborate by acting as a learning community that constructs shared understanding through dialogue Brophy, J 2002 : Social Constructivist Teaching: Affordances and Constratints

This is what you would see or experience in the traditional classroom A traditional British classroom often had high window-sills—to prevent the seated pupils from being distracted by more exciting events outside, or indeed staring out of the window. ( Architecture with intent: design of control)

And constructivist classrooms… Curriculum is presented in whole to part with emphasis on big concepts Pursuit of student questions is highly valued Teachers generally behave in an interactive manner, mediating the environment for students. Teachers seek the student’s point of view in order to understand student conceptions for further use in lesson Students work primarily in groups Brooks and Brooks: Making the case for Constructivist Classrooms

So what?? Some trends…. Twentieth Century Curriculum-centred Interactive Delivered wisdom One-size fits all National Stable Retaining Teaching Individual Twenty first century Learner – centred Participative User-generated content Personalisation Global Agile Critiquing Learning Community/collaborative

5% lecture 10% reading 20% audio-visual 30% demonstration 50% discussion group 75% practice by doing 90% teach one another – immediate use of learning 95% when give each other immediate feedback NTL, Bethel, MAINE, USA THE LEARNING PYRAMID

Characteristics of the CSP and CfE school... Students and teachers frequently work in teams Students and teachers actively solve meaningful problems Students and teachers publicly exhibit their learning Students and teachers reflect on what they are learning Students and teachers apply quality criteria to their work Teachers mediate, coach, support and teach Work is interconnected Everyone takes responsibility for the learning community

You have 30 minutes for this task Read the outlines of the two challenges and look at the template in your pack. Discuss how they could be used. Using your own resources and/or mind maps, adapt one activity into a meaningful challenge. Specify the year group, prior learning and time to be spent on the challenge (brief) Share the roles within the group and decide who/how to share your work.