The ELL Teacher's Toolbox is a resource that Ms. Martin and I will be sharing with you each month. This book is full of instructional strategies that build on the assets of our ELL students. Although focused on English language learners, all of these strategies are also perfect for our English-proficient learners as well. Good ELL teaching is GOOD for everyone!
Within the next month, find a time that you can try this strategy in your classroom and share your results with your cohorts by leaving a comment here. Your experience may just give someone else an idea they can use in their own classroom! JIGSAW What is it? A process in which students become experts in a section of a text or an element of a broader topic (e.g., learning about different times of a famous person's life), which they then teach to other students who have become experts in different portions of the text. All students take turns teaching their classmates. Why we like it? High student engagement in all four domains - reading, writing, speaking, and listening; the perfect tool for differentiation (beginners can be given easier portions of the text); can be used for any topic; and it can require minimal teacher preparation. Application There are multiple ways the strategy can be used but the steps are basically as follows:
Examples of topics and categories that could be used for jigsaws:
12 Comments
Avery Hamilton
2/27/2019 12:38:18 pm
I used Jigsaw on an Emily Dickenson poetry unit. I thought it was a great way for students to share information and a variety of knowledge. It is important that each student had a list of instructions on how to properly annotate a poem to help guide their learning. Teacher facilitation must be implemented to make sure all students are on task. In the end, students were able to to have a comprehensive analysis of a poem.
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Laura Beth Crow
2/27/2019 01:14:48 pm
I used Jigsaw in both preps for social studies. In American Government we used it to investigate key events and topics for civil rights/liberties. It is important for students to fully understand the expectations before moving from their home groups. Because of the time constraints and number of topics to cover, I used larger groups of 5-6. I do not recommend this as larger groups encourage less work, more off-topic talk. In world history, students used Jigsaw to learn Charlemagne as he pertained to five topics of the Middle Ages. In both instances, I found that the most difficult part was getting students to talk in their groups. They tended to want to read and write their own information without discussing it with the group. Once they returned to their home groups, they also wanted to just pass the paper around rather than talk with one another. I do feel that this can be an effective tool to help struggling readers, as well as to promote student accountability.
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Dana Ford
2/28/2019 07:48:26 am
Your students were all on task during this activity yesterday! One thing that seemed to help the accountability is when I went up to each group and asked them to tell me what they had learned after they had taught each other. When one student said he wasn't sure, I responded with "Ok, you have 30 seconds to look back over your paper and then you will have to tell me what you know." He immediately began to review and was able to successfully explain his topic.
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alderdice
2/28/2019 08:46:18 am
Thornton's kids (12th BritLit) are pulling out sections of Ham;let for group discussion, summary and Q/A.
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Shelby White
3/1/2019 02:05:21 pm
The 9th ELA teachers are completing a jigsaw activity with poetry next week.
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Wendy Owens
3/1/2019 02:39:01 pm
I used the jigsaw strategy on Wednesday while teaching the six kingdoms. While students visited the different kingdoms, the experts would assist them with various aspects of the kingdoms. I set an online timer and displayed it on the SmartBoard so the students could see how much time they would have at their particular kingdom. Most students liked the change of pace in the lesson. They used the facts they learned on Wednesday to create a brochure describing the six kingdoms.
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Chad Thornton
3/4/2019 08:00:42 am
This is a great strategy. What I like about it is that the students are working individually and then coming together to synthesize the different pieces of information they have. I do find that some of the students will struggle with this because of the lexile level or the idea that they want to talk first and then read together.
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Josh Hensley
3/7/2019 08:15:25 am
I used a jigsaw in class a few weeks ago and I believe it was a success. We were learning about different parts of FDR's New Deal and students were grouped based on Lexile level. In each small group of the Jigsaw, students read and discussed a certain aspect/program of the New Deal. At the end, they got into larger groups and each person explained their part of the New Deal and were able to piece the program together.
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Drew Smythe
3/11/2019 08:18:57 am
Great way at making students accountable for their learning. Students were able to learn about the one of the types of unemployment and then would have to teach their group about it and be able to provide examples.
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Marco Burgueno
3/11/2019 02:44:25 pm
I used jigsaw to help students learn about and distinguish between the balance of trade and balance of payments. I agree with Drew that it is a good way to make each student responsible for work that they have to report back.
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Zach Talley
3/28/2019 10:32:54 am
I use jigsaw quite regularly. Currently, I am using a version of jigsawing in my A&P class in which the students will present individual findings in two separate classes about the five senses and their mechanisms of input and processing. The kids always seem to enjoy the project and we all get a greater depth of knowledge by having these "experts" to whom we can direct questions during and after the presentations. It helps to also get a broader understanding of the general processing centers for sensory information.
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Ruth Brooker
4/2/2019 01:15:55 pm
I used jigsaw to teach the phases of meiosis. It was a little tricky getting the numbers for the groups right, when I had to mix them to reteach each other. For the most part they participated okay, but some of the important details were not taught to the depth I wanted, which was clear to me when I saw what they turned in. I definitely had to go back over parts that were left out. I guess it was hard to find material (references) for them to use to be able to explain the phases without me teaching it first?
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