Module 1 Jigsaw support

So you had fun in the workshop! But now you have to implement the Jigsaw strategy in your classroom and you find that, like anything, there will be challenges. So this post will try to tease out the criteria, give some suggestion and encourage you to to take the leap and be innovative beyond expectations! We are looking for the ICTChampions among you and even if you have not been the ICT guru in the past, this is your opportunity to shine!

So lets start with a summary of what the Jigsaw method entails. You take your classroom topic, design 4 (or more depending on how many learners you have in the classroom) tasks that will teach your learners different aspects of your relevant topic. They start of in a home group where you allocate a number and then leave to join a expert task group where they learn 1 (or more, but try to keep it simple) concept or skill. They have to concentrate as they have to explain what they have learned back in their home groups. After a period of time (you can split this over 2 periods) they have to return to their home group and take turns to explain to the rest of their home group members what they have learned.

So this strategy involves 2 processes, figuring something out together as a group and becoming experts, and then explaining your understanding what you have learned to others. So let's get started!

You have to look at what you want your learners to learn. For this you need to consult your CAPS documents and think of how you can use the Jigsaw strategy in what you would have taught ANYWAY in your classroom. So I am not asking you to do anything extra, I am asking you to do it differently!

Then last but not least, you have to incorporate the use of tablets in your lesson plan. It should n ot be the main focus. Think about the different mobile skills that you used in the workshop and then decide how you can incorporate these skills into the various tasks. For instance, you learned how to take photos, selfies and videos, you annotated PDF's and used your Memoires app for reflection. You shared files to one another, you used a back-channel for classroom discussions to name but a few. So ask yourself, how can technology (tablets) be used effectively (and seamlessly) during this jigsaw lesson?

This is what I am going to need from you in order for you to earn your Jigsaw Badge:

So you have to take your topic and divide it into 4 expert tasks. Some ideas to get you started: 

At at least one of the task groups, the learners have to use a tablet(s). It is up to you how they can use the tablet(s). You can leave a video explaining that specific task topic, or simulation, or the learners can take a video of what they have to go and explain back in their Home groups. Important. they have to explain back in their home groups they cant just show the video. See your manual for more ideas of how to use the tablet during this strategy. 

The expert task groups can be bigger (e.g. 8 learners) but make sure that the home groups do not consist of more than 4 members. It takes time to explain each of the tasks. 

Additional assessment. 

To bring the gamified fun and competitive element of gaming into this strategy, you can ask each leaner to evaluate their peers. Use a scoring rubric for this (see example scoring sheet). You can have a prize for the learner with the highest score and collect the sheets for formative assessment. 

So what will happen during badging? 

I will collect the evidence as per the criteria from you:

• Your lesson plan with the 4 tasks as per your classroom topic. You can use the lessonplan template or you can just explain it in your Memoires journal. It has to be in electronic format, so if you have printed the lesson plan, or did it on written piece of paper, you will have to take a photo of it as evidence. You can also take a photo of each of the task instructions before the learners do it in their task groups. 
• Take a photo/short video of the task group figuring out how to do the task and a photo of a learner explaining how to do a task in the home group. 
• You can even add the photo(s)/videos to your lesson entry in your Memoires journal. This will count towards your reflective practitioner badge at the end of this course where we will check if you have reflected on what you are doing all along. As the Memories journal entries are time stamped, you cant wait till the end to  do reflections, you have to record what you are doing as you go along!
• Please save all your evidence in your documents folder using your file manager (or ES File Explorer)  Make sub folders to make it easier to find (e.g 1 Jigsaw, 2 Storytelling..). 
• You can also upload it to your Google drive and share your drive folder with me. (We will look at how to do that at a later stage) 

I will ask you to briefly tell me:

• What your lesson is about.
• How did your learners and you enjoy it?
• What worked what did not work. 

I will check your Memoires journal entries and export it to myself. 

See you guys on Thursday the 18th and Friday the 19th for badging. Training is on the 19th and 20th. 

If you have any questions, feel free to add that to the discussion below where we can help one another.