On my last post, I showed how our class uses Padlet to work in groups, but there are other ways we work cooperatively in our classroom. One thing this year that was implemented was a new reading program called Success For All, and it’s very similar to guided reading groups, except instead of small groups, everyone is at the same level in one room. One of the challenges is differentiating for developmentally appropriate levels because I have 4th, 3rd, and 2nd graders all in one room, but I’ve found some ways to help all the students with collaboration that work very well for collaboration and management. The ideas below can be implemented in any subject and/or with programs like SFA or like Kagan structures.
One thing we do is when we answer questions, we use role cards. Ones we use in our classroom are FREE by Teaching Expedition and located at https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Team-Talk-Role-Cards-3176289.
The next thing we do is use a talk map to answer the questions. Role cards rotate every question. The question students work on gets placed in the middle, and the teacher can see what question the students are on. When they are done with one question, they work on the next.
The sheet for questions we use is located on my teacherspayteachers page, and it’s also FREE! It’s at https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Discussion-Talk-Map-3540265.
Teacher Station 