Other Responses
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Several students shared the opinion that they thought that they learned better during the group projects than when I teach in a traditional way. They said that they felt like they had control of the class and their learning and were really able to get an understanding of the material. They enjoyed working through the material and coming up with a creative way to present the information to the class. However, given what happened during the presentations, I wonder how truthful these reflections are. When the groups were presenting, my classroom mentor was not in the classroom and the students showed their fellow classmates little respect. In general, the room was noisy and it was difficult to hear the presentations. It was also very hard for me to get the students to listen to each other’s presentations. In fact, in their reflections, several students wrote that they learned “how rude their classmates are” because it was very difficult to pay attention. Another student said that the activity would have been better “if people were quiet and paid more attention.” Therefore, I don’t think that the students were really able to learn from their classmates’ presentations. I think that they would have gained more content information if I had gone through all of the excerpts and presented them to the class. However, I think that the students felt like they learned a lot from their own presentations. I truly do believe that the students learned about their specific topic in depth and had an accurate understanding of Luther’s complaints. They had developed the skills to understand a complicated text and used this information to try and present their project to the class.
This left me with the question – is it better that the students learn intensively about their own topic on their own and gain academic skills or that they have some surface understanding of a variety of topics? Obviously, the ideal is for both to happen. However, if outside circumstances make it difficult for that to occur, then I think it is more important for the students to gain the necessary skills to analyze sources and present the material.
Furthermore, in the future, to guide students during other presentations, I will create a worksheet for the students to complete while the other groups are presenting. This will hold them accountable for the information (as opposed to just seeing it on a future test) and will make sure that they walk out of class with a tangible project. Although I did incorporate student behavior during other presentations into their project rubric, it did not seem to have much of an impact on their behavior.
This left me with the question – is it better that the students learn intensively about their own topic on their own and gain academic skills or that they have some surface understanding of a variety of topics? Obviously, the ideal is for both to happen. However, if outside circumstances make it difficult for that to occur, then I think it is more important for the students to gain the necessary skills to analyze sources and present the material.
Furthermore, in the future, to guide students during other presentations, I will create a worksheet for the students to complete while the other groups are presenting. This will hold them accountable for the information (as opposed to just seeing it on a future test) and will make sure that they walk out of class with a tangible project. Although I did incorporate student behavior during other presentations into their project rubric, it did not seem to have much of an impact on their behavior.