The NETS communicate and collaborate is a very important part in learning and in teaching. Not only does it help students to become comfortable in their surroundings it helps them to think of things in a new way. Communication in the classroom can also open a new understanding to the teacher. For example if the children are given time to open discussion you may realize the reason why they had given a particular answer that you as the teacher stated as wrong. I have experienced this personally in the classroom. We were sorting items in a Venn diagram and when the student said to put it on one side I said no it should go on the other, she then proceeded to explain why she sorted it that way. I could see her way of thinking, her point of view and she was right. Also I think now days a lot of children are involved in television, electronic games and things that they may miss how to communicate and express themselves. Not only does collaboration help on an academic level it can help children to learn how to simply communicate and work with one another.
When I think of collaborative learning it reminds me of the gentleman who we learned about our first week in this class. He had put a computer on the wall in a place where children had never seen such a thing. In a short amount of time they were e-mailing other children. Then later he gave information to a group of students in a language that they did not know. Through collaboration with each other and the internet within about 30 minutes they were able to tell him what it was and what it meant.
I would implement collaboration in my classroom through a project on recycling. We would discuss what trash is and what it means to recycle. Once we have come to these conclusions we would then search the internet for any more information that we could find. We would discuss ways that we could recycle in our own environment, starting with our classroom. Next I would have students get into small groups. Than have each group go to a different classroom in the school and tell the students in the other classroom about recycling and how they need to separate the objects before recycling can take place. By presenting how to separate objects in every classroom the whole school can have a school wide recycling project to help the community. I would tell students that the class is going to keep the bins in the classroom so they can continue to recycle and help the community reuse things. Last I would have the students decide where the best place is to have the recycling bins (classroom, hallway, and cafeteria.) ©2007 K6edu.com
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