Teacher Reflection - JIGSAW

 

I see the jigsaw strategy working the best at the beginning of the unit or when introducing a new topic. It is a great strategy for letting students be the 'teacher' and or 'expert' on a topic. It gives students a greater chance at understanding the material rather than learning it solely from the teacher's lecture and PowerPoint. This type of self-discovery and allowing the students the opportunity to be the teacher can be very rewarding to the student. 

 

 

 

Challenges that could arise from this strategy could be not assigning the appropriate groups. The method I designed was to have heterogeneous groups and each person having a role as; leader, writer, researcher and speaker. All of these roles give each student a structured part to their group. Before starting this type of activity I would want to make sure I have taken a learner inventory of my students and have a concrete understanding of how they learn and their needs. Well-rounded groups are the key to making this strategy a success. 

 

 

 

 

Once students have become experts on their topic they will come back to the full group to discuss their findings. Students can be assessed using a rubric. The rubric can be organized by small group work and their presentation to the class. Students can also be given a survey on how their group worked together which can be incorporated into the final rubric. The teacher will know if the strategy worked by conducting a full group discussion on how all the smaller parts relate. In this example, combining all the theorist together and creating a timeline to see how they relate.