GETTING STARTED

1. Before beginning this lesson, we recommend that you choose a group leader. We suggest that you consider choosing someone who has NOT been a leader yet in this class or IDT 530.
2. How you choose to communicate is entirely up to each group. You can use your group discussion board, your group wiki, or any other communication tools to complete this project.
3. You will use the BlackBoard Discussion Board to post individual and group responses.

PART 1: COOPERATIVE LEARNING OVERVIEW (INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT)

Please view the following Advance Organizers:
Group Investigation Model
Five Essential Elements of Cooperative Learning

Five Essential Elements of Cooperative Learning:

1. Positive Interdependence: Each group member depends on each other to accomplish a shared goal or task. Without the help of one member the group is not able to reach the desired goal.
2. Individual Accountability: Each group member is held accountable for his or her work. Individual accountability helps to avoid members from "hitchhiking" on other group members' accomplishments.
3. Group Processing: An assessment of how groups are functioning to achieve their goals or tasks. By reviewing group behavior the students and the teacher get a chance to discuss special needs or problems within the group. Groups get a chance to express their feelings about beneficial and unhelpful aspects of the group learning process in order to correct unwanted behavior and celebrate successful outcomes in the group work.
4. Social Skills: Cooperative learning groups set the stage for students to learn social skills. These skills help to build stronger cooperation among group members. Leadership, decision-making, trust-building, and communication are different skills that are developed in cooperative learning.
5. Face-to-Face Interaction: Promoting success of group members by praising, encouraging, supporting, or assisting each other.

How to post:
Individually post a response to the following question in the "Part 1 - Cooperative Learning Overview" discussion board thread:

Question: Review the Five Essential Elements of Cooperative Learning and choose the one that you feel is most important to you. Share an experience of how this element played a role in a cooperative learning experience.

Due Date: Wednesday, July 22, 11:59 PM

PART 2: COOPERATIVE LEARNING EXPERIENCE (GROUP ASSIGNMENTS)

The following cooperative learning exercise was designed to be taught in an 8th grade history unit. The goal of this activity is to approach the given problem as a group and apply the five essential cooperative learning elements.

Before beginning Part 2, please view this PowerPoint presentation about the Civil War:
Civil War Power Point presentation

There are three phases to this lesson:

• Phase 1 - Song Analysis
• Phase 2 - Create Video
• Phase 3 - Group Reflection

How to post:
When your group has completed each phase, reply to the "Part 2 & 3 - Ms. ID Team" thread with three (3) separate replies. Be sure to change the subject line of each reply to include the specific phase name (one response for song analysis; one response for Animoto video link; and one response for Group Reflection; a total of three replies).

NOTE: Please select one (or more) person(s) to reply on behalf of your group. All Part 2 posts are group posts, not individual posts.

PART 2 - PHASE 1: Song Analysis

Instructions: Listen to the "On An Underground Railroad" song. As a group, analyze what this song means. Create a list of 10 keywords or short phrases that describe the meaning of this song. Example: Civil War, Battle against slavery, etc. You will be using these keywords and phrases to search for images to create the video in the next phase.

Song: On An Underground Railroad (.mp3 file)

Lyrics: On An Underground Railroad Lyrics (.doc file)

Post your list to the "Part 2 & 3 - Ms. ID Team" discussion board thread.

Due Date: Saturday, July 25, 11:59 PM

PART 2 - PHASE 2: Create Video

Instructions: Please follow the instructions provided here: Video Instructions (.doc file)

30-second version of song to use in video:
On An Underground Railroad (30-second version) (.mp3 file)

Here is an example of a completed video: Example video

Post a link to your video to the "Part 2 & 3 - Ms. ID Team" discussion board thread.

Due Date: Saturday, July 25, 11:59 PM

PART 2 - PHASE 3: Group Reflection

As a group, discuss and reflect upon the cooperative learning strategies that were used while accomplishing your group tasks. Did your team excel at using the five essential elements?

Briefly describe the process your group went through to solve the problem you were presented. As a group, how did you address the five essential elements of Cooperative Learning?

Post your group reflection to the "Part 2 & 3 - Ms. ID Team" discussion board thread.

Due Date: Saturday, July 25, 11:59 PM

PART 3: INDIVIDUAL RESPONSES (INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT)

Part 3 is to be completed individually after your group has completed all three phases in Part 2. Please go to each of the other group's discussion board threads and review the various responses. After reading the Group Reflection post, consider the following questions and then reply to each group.

• Is there something you would have changed in the group's approach to make it work better?
• Is there anything you can take away from the group's approach that you would utilize the next time you are participating in a group assignment?
• Which one of the five essential elements of cooperative learning did the group use the most effectively?

How to post:
Go to each of the other group's designated discussion thread and reply to the Group Reflection post.

Due Date: Monday, July 27, 11:59 PM*

* - The due date for your Part 3 responses has been pushed back to Monday night in order to accommodate the cohort members' needs to complete the IDT 530 project that is due on Sunday, July 26.