Aquatics and Jigsaws!

This week in class we worked on our cooperative learning presentations using the jigsaw method. I really enjoyed this. At first I was hesitant to the success of the assignment and method, but after personally experiencing it, I understood the purpose and method of using jigsaw. I personally would implement jigsaw in my classroom. Many teachers are resistant to using jigsaw, but if it is used properly, it can be a successful way for students to become "experts" in a topic and take charge in their learning. Jigsaw seems very similar to a research project. Rather than calling it a research project, which sounds very overwhelming, especially for children, it is a fun, hands-on cooperative project. I also like that jigsaw allows the students to take a firm role as "teachers" of their topic within the project. We taught the cooperative method, PIGS. One person from each group took on a specific letter of the acronym, researched it, became an expert, and created a presentation with the other group member who had the same topic. Then we each taught our letter/topic. This made me feel more responsible to fully understand my topic. Jigsaw does not leave much room for any student to fall under the radar. Each student is equally responsible for their topic and it is very clear for the teacher to observe to see which students do not fully complete the assignment. Our expert group focused on Oceans and coasts. Our powerpoint is attached here. The other groups focused on different topics. Since there was a time restriction we did not go back to our home groups in order to present but instead we just presented in front of the class. I am glad that I am also doing this method in my other class because I had the opportunity to actually see what the jigsaw method was all about. However, I did learn a lot from each person's presentation and everyone did a great job! We even were able to get some feedback from Dr. Smirnova's friend and her husband who are expert in this field. The feedback was very helpful for our group to make changes and improve our presentation. I no longer take feedback negatively because with this class I learned how important it is in improving myself as a teacher! Overall, I loved this method and look forward to using it one day!