Collaboration


 * Collaboration**


 * **How will you facilitate an authentic collaborative learning experience to promote deeper student engagement with content skills and concepts?**

There are several ways in which I will promote an authentic collaborative learning experience in order for students to learn content and be engaged. One, I will place them into collaborative groups in and outside of the classroom. However, to reach to all learning styles I will ensure that special education and ESL students are mixed with higher level students to promote profound learning experiences and to differentiate. Most of the essays will be done in class, but they may meet with their group in or outside of it to peer edit. Once they are placed in their groups, they will have to form a wiki or blog for outside discussion. Within these wikis or blogs, they can post their papers for peer editing and revision. Secondly, they may do a group Skype with me or do a group discussion on Edmodo to discuss readings or questions about assignments or papers.


 * **As members of collaborative groups, how will you support students’ efforts to identify solutions to the problem you are using as the framework for your PBL instructional unit?**

In order for students to grow as writers, they must first learn what a good writer looks like. I will use a variety of techniques to ensure their mastery of this problem. First of all, I will show them several examples of "good" essays. Together, we will go over what makes certain pieces of writing "good." Once the class has understood this, then they will break into their collaborative groups and I will hand them essays to peer edit together. Within their group, they have to designate a writer, reader, leader, and presenter. As they are reading through these essays, they have to not only correct it using a rubric, but takes notes on what the writer does well and what they can improve on. After the class has finished their group activity, we will then hold a class discussion over what they have found and a presenter from each group will discuss their findings. As we discuss, I will write things down on the board, so they can visually see what others are stating about "good" and "bad" writing. Not only will I do this, but I will also do mini-lessons on adjectives and sentence structures in order to improve their writing. For example, with adjectives and sentence structure, I will conduct a "Fear Factor" experiment with food. From each group, one person will be blind-folded and have to try foods. They must tell their groups what the foods smell, feel, and taste like only using adjectives. After this, they will collaboratively write a coherent paragraph using adjectives to sell their foods.


 * **What criteria will you use to assign learners to collaborative groups, including a rationale? What will be the size of the collaborative groups you will include in your unit?**

I have four classes and each of them have 34-36 students in it. My goal is to have groups of four. In these groups of four, I will place a special education student, an ESL student, a middle student, and a higher level student. I will also mix cultures in order to promote different ideas into the group dynamic. By doing this, I can ensure that differientation is taking place and students are helping one another learn through conversation and collaboration. I know this will be difficult at first, because students want to work with their friends, but I plan to do a lot of team building exercises with the groups to promote healthy working relationships.

The digital tools I plan to use for my unit are: [|www.edmodo.com]; [|www.blogspot.com]; www.wikispaces.com; Skype and [|www.erater.com]. Also, each student from my school has been issued a galaxy tablet, so we will be using those. These tablets enable me to dismiss my students to our collaborative commons and give them time to work in their groups and me to facilitate while they are doing so. As for Skype, the students love to use it to talk to me about what's going on in class and with their assignments.
 * Which digital tools and websites are you considering for collaboration in your unit?**


 * **How will you assess participation of the students in their collaborative groups? //(In Module 4, you will create assessment rubrics in which you will include this element.//**

Assessment will be done through rubrics. I will have a rubric for their writing, edmodo assignments, wiki or blog discussions, and one for them to do on one another. In order to form these, I will not only use my standards, but also student voice. I believe students should have a say in how they are graded, so I will use their ideas in designing rubrics. However, I will allow them to re-submit and have "dress rehearsal days" before submitting anything to me. I will look over anything and sit in any type of discussion before grading if I am asked to. On the other hand, students will be given rubrics before any type of activity or paper has been given; this way they know what is expected of them.