Comments on: Effective Student STEM Teams

By: MiddleWeb's Latest Middle Grades Education Resources | MiddleWeb

MiddleWeb's Latest Middle Grades Education Resources | MiddleWeb — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 14:39:52 +0000

[...] student teams for labs & PBL make you uneasy? See Anne Jolly’s 7-step process at the latest installment of her STEM Imagineering blog. The steps will work for any content area – just skip down to [...]

By: Anne Jolly

Anne Jolly — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 16:13:51 +0000

Here are a couple of ideas I’ve learned, Cossondra. If I wait until the very end to debrief I do sometimes run out of time. That means that the debriefing takes place the next day, and by that time it’s lost it’s punch. So . . .
1. Try debriefing as you go along. About every 10 minutes stop the teams and ask them what’s happened so far, what they are trying to accomplish, and whether the direction they’re going is taking them there. In other words, think of the debriefing questions you would need to ask to bring understanding, learning, and closure to the lesson . . . and see if you can intersperse them throughout the lesson.
2. Begin the activity you want to debrief toward the middle or end of the previous day’s class, as long as there’s a natural break somewhere and the kids won’t have to start from scratch the next day. That may free up some time toward the end of the class for debriefing.
3. If you have to debrief the following day, give the students the materials they worked with the day before to help them get back into the mindset the need. Use some cognitive thinking strategies to bring them back to where they were the day before.
4. Or, their homework might be to summarize what they learned, etc. Then that could lead into a debriefing discussion the next day. (Start with letting the teams debrief among themselves, then have a member from each team share with the class. That way everyone is involved in the debriefing process.)

By: Anne Jolly

Anne Jolly — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 15:56:14 +0000

Howdy, Bill – if the tips don’t help, be sure to say so. Like I tell teachers when leading a conference, “You don’t learn much from what you do right. You learn from what doesn’t go right.” Also feel free to suggest other ideas. You’ll recognize some of these as extensions of teacher teaming ideas.

By: Bill Ferriter

Bill Ferriter — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 23:03:28 +0000

Looking forward to checking out your student teaming guide, Anne. As a guy who has been teaching forever — including 7 years in the middle grades science classroom — I STILL don’t feel super comfortable with the group work that my kids do together. The work often seems like it is more hassle than it is worth simply because my kids spend more time bickering than they do collaborating.

Here’s to hoping that your tips will help. Thanks for sharing them…
Bill

By: Cossondra George

Cossondra George — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 17:04:23 +0000

While I am not a science teacher, Anne, I see the applicability of your plan for all subject areas. Your steps for developing effective team processes are something I will use with my math students as we design and carry out projects this year. Teaching a small group of students with IEP’s is often challenging when it comes to group processes. Your 7 step plan will help me guide them as we learn how and why working in teams is beneficial to us all. The step I find I struggle with the most is the last step. It always seems after we’ve done our work, I am too harried to find time for the debriefing process. I would be interested in how you manage your time to fit this in! How long do you allot for debriefing? is this done as a large group or individually? Do you have students journal about it? I am looking for ideas! Thanks!

By: Effective Student STEM Teams | MiddleWeb | Student Teaming | Scoop.it

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 01:23:54 +0000

[...] Before students can work on STEM projects together, they have to develop the skills & behaviors of successful teams. Anne Jolly proposes 7 team-building steps. (Free draft manual on helping students with effective teamwork. [...]