Top Cooperative Learning Strategies | Cooperative Learning Structures Reading ELA

Top Cooperative Learning Strategies | Cooperative Learning Structures: Reading & ELA

Kagan is the leader for cooperative learning structures and strategies with over 200 to select from. I use many Kagan cooperative learning structures that are modified to meet the best learning modalities of my students. The easiest and fastest strategies and structures for students to learn is a cooperative group of two students.

My Top Picks | Cooperative Learning Structures and Strategies for Reading

Stand Up, Hands Up, Pair Up
Think Pair Share | Buddy Buzzing
Rally-coach
Showdown

The best guilds and resources for Cooperative Learning Strategies is Kagan
Research & Rationale - Cooperative Learning Structures Kagan

“Cop Cars” is a physical placement or positioning of students used for all but a few peer to peer cooperative learning structures. Two students face opposite directions in a seated or standing position so they can listen and monitor their partners.

Sage and Scribe | Word Work Lesson:

Preoperational Set: Background Knowledge, Reading Fluency, Auditory Memory and Auditory Processing

“Word Work” Modified Kagan Sage and Scribe, Students take their cop cars position with there partners when a transition is called, Stand up, Hands Up, Pair Up, they take their grade level Tier 1 vocabulary list and there word work journals (Spiral Bound Notebook) and sit quietly waiting for instruction.

Steps for the  Cooperative Learning Strategy

Pair Shoulder Partners. Determine who is the Sage and who is Scribe. I usually make the taller student the Scribe and the Sage the shorter student in the morning and switch in the afternoon.

Teacher: I read aloud the 24 Tier 1 vocabulary words aloud and give kid friendly sentences for strange or unusual words. (Auditory Memory and Auditory Processing)

4^th Grade Comprehensive English Vocabulary Tier 1

wondered	mystery	suggestion	disease	suspicion
punishment	blessed	regret	troubled	attend
afford	Governor	pushed	commercial	delay
frightened	belonged	electronically	reign	related
reputation	formerly	replacement	indicate	violence
consciousness	possess	melancholy	eternal	pause
proceed	philosophy	appeal	stepped	fierce

Students:  Reread the 24 vocabulary words with their partners, with the sage reading and the scribe tracking the words being read with their fingers. The students switch roles and repeat the process of reading and tracking. If both students are not able to decode a word I will read it to both and use the word in a kid friendly sentence. The student must repeat the word and the kid friendly sentence to the scribe and vice-versa. (Reading Fluency)

Teacher: I reread aloud the 24 Tier 1 vocabulary words and use them in kid friendly sentences for all words. I pause and ask the sage or scribes to repeat the sentence to ensure all students are actively engaged. This step is optional!

Students: The sage reads the first vocabulary word in the list of 24 Tier 1 words and uses it in a kid friendly sentence with at least 7 words and doesn’t start with a proper name or pronoun. The scribe repeats the sentence exactly as the scribe recited to show they are monitoring the sage and actively listening. If the scribe can’t repeat the sentence the sage will repeat it again. The scribe can ask the sage for a stronger sentence or give a sentence that they believe is stronger. The scribe and sage come to a consensuses that they have used the work correctly and the write the sentence in the word work journals. Partners that cant find a good sentence go to the teacher and ask for a sentence, again the sage a scribe must repeat the sentence to show they are listening and they write the teachers sentence in their journals.

The students are using auditory memory, active listening skills, cooperative learning structures, and are supported with the peer to peer structures to succeed. The lesson is repeated within two hours to ensure long-term memory retention.  

Reading Boot Camp

CCSS ELA Cooperative Literacy Centers

Reading Boot Camp Philosophy: Awaken or reawaken the desire for learning, let the light of wisdom and reason shine in. Solemnity and literacy are distant visions for some teachers on day one, yet the seed is planted rigorously, feed constantly, and blossoms over the 20 plus days.

7. Artist and Illustrators Learning Activities: Create and present 2-D and 3-D design projects in traditional and digital media that represent a literary theme	Goal: Very Hard      o Attempted      o Met	Creating: the students create art based on literary themes in multiple mediums. assemble, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, write
6. Advanced English Learning Activities: Developing a student anthology of Poetry and Prose Writing, Greek and Latin…	Goal:Very Hard      o Attempted      o Met	Creating: the student creates their own style of poetry and prose. assemble, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, write.
5. Writers and Authors Learning Activities: Types and styles of writing ( Fiction |non-Fiction) and when and how they are used, structures of literature…	Goal: Hard      o Attempted      o Met	Evaluating: The students evaluate and select their own quality writing based on the Six Traits. appraise, argue, defend, judge, select, support, value, evaluate
4. Poetry and Prose Learning Activities: Comparing and  examining Elements and types of Poetry, Stanza…	Goal: Hard      o Attempted      o Met	Analyzing: the student compares and contrast  between the different parts of poetry. appraise, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test.
3. Genre & Literary Elements Learning Activities: Applying knowledge of Plot, Setting, Theme to many genres, …	Goal: Difficult      o Attempted      o Met	Applying: the student interprets multiple Genres and Literary Elements in creative ways. choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write.
2. Word Playground Learning Activities: Understanding word denotation and connotation dictionary digs, Reading Comprehension games, Modeling Comprehension,  Inferring, Summarize, Predicting, Clarifying, Questioning, Visualizing, Connecting …	Goal: Challenging      o Attempted      o Met	Understanding: the students describe ideas or concepts learned. classify, describe, discuss, explain, identify, locate, recognize, report, select, translate, paraphrase
1. Reading Adventure Camp Learning Activities: Text Features Scavenger Hunt, Word Work, Reading Fluency, Dolch Sight Words, Phonics, Books…	Goal: Easy      o Attempted      o Met	Remembering: can the student recall or remember the information? define, duplicate, list, memorize, recall, repeat, reproduce state