Module 1

In a classroom, there are a variety of ways students could be taught from lecturing to activities. A teacher must understand that each student has their own learning method that we must take account to. It is easy for a teacher to fall in the ways of teaching through lectures and Power Points since it may be the simple way to teach. Instead of teaching with lectures to the class each day, teachers must be creative and take risks so each child may have an advantage to learn and allows the class to be engaging.

One method that can be used to encourage engagement would be the jigsaw activity. The jigsaw activity is a way for students to take part actively in a lesson. Each student is essential for the lesson in which they have to teach their peers about a topic they have. Students each given a topic they must research and take notes on. In the following class, they meet with other peers who have the same topic and get together to see what they all found in common and facts they might have missed. Once this is done, the students are then put into other groups with different topics and each one will take their turn in teaching their classmates about what they have learned. In the end, students needed to work together, be attentive, and engaged to understand the new information they were given by their groups.

In Educ 209, we used this activity to learn about at least three different websites to make online videos which we could for our introductory videos. We each were put into groups to then share what we have learned about the website we were given. This was a great way to learn in the class because it was hands on rather than sitting, listening, and writing information down. With the experience I had, this activity allowed me to teach my classmates about the website and allowed me to be comfortable and confident with what I have learned and taught. As well as teaching, I was able to speak with others I may not normally speak to on a daily basis.

I have seen and done this jigsaw activity before when I was younger but not with the exact same steps. In a few of my English classes, we would do small groups and interact with one another on what we have learned and ask questions to each other on what we might have not completely understand and then receive feedback. In the future, I will implement this activity into my lessons to allow my class to learn from each other and enjoy learning.