Jigsaw Response

In reading about the Jigsaw method as a collaborative learning model, I foresee many benefits. For instance, if your classroom only had five computers, the Jigsaw method allows for the class to be broken up into separate groups. In this case, you would want to make sure that one person from each group you created (ideally five to match the number of computers) would be able to use a computer at time. The other members in the group could be finding research in other sources such as textbooks, or collaborating with other group members.
Some other potential advantages to using the Jigsaw Cooperative Learning Activity could be the benefit students gain from working together as a group. It not only encourages teamwork but can increase motivation by breaking down areas of study into manageable chunks. This way, students won't feel as overwhelmed about having to research a huge topic. For a history project specifically, the research groups would allow students to understand how their specific portion fits in with other events that happened during that time. The collaboration that students do with members from another group that researched their same topic is a great strategy. This helps those students who have deficits in researching or reading skills collect the extra information that they need. Each group member will bring a different idea of what they thought was important to note in the research they found, and so you end up with a more thorough report.
The only disadvantages I foresee after reading the information is dissension among group members. There is always the possibility that you match up a group that does not end up working together. However you may try to motivate your students, there may still be one or two in your class who do not do as much work as their other group members. Often, the group pressure they receive will be enough for them to step up, but not always. To solve this problem, I would have each group member rate their fellow participants so that they can be graded individually and the overall group grade will not be affected by a lazy member.
Group projects are often viewed in a negative way, but the Jigsaw model sounds like a attractive exception. I look forward to implementing this in my future classroom.

Google for Educators

In exploring the Google for Educators Website, as a future Elementary Education teacher, I believe I would be most likely to use the following resources for these reasons:

• Picasa would be a fun Google product for Kindergarten students to use, as this is one of my first preferences in grade levels to teach. This site would encourage excitement and companionship among students as well as allowing them to come up with their own collages/stories/presentations about particular pictures. These would be great to use after a field trip to help install what the students learned. Students could also showcase their own photographs using this Doc which could aid in organization skills, File management, and other useful computer use skills.


• Google Earth as part of the GeoEducation would be an amazing resource for making Elementary school history a lot more viable and significant. Students can search for pictures from a particular event and connect them to the places they took place in. Google Earth, or maps for that matter could also be used to assist in math lessons, with showing the different properties of tsunamis, aid in making Literature more exciting with Google Lit trips, etcetera. The GeoEducation product from google would be a great interactive resource.


• Another product I would use from Google is iGoogle. I think this would be a great way to help kids stay on top of their class work and activities that were going on. Not only that, but this would be a great asset for parents who want to stay up-to-date about what's going on in the classroom. In addition, for the younger kids, having one site for them to visit instead of causing them to search multiple different sites for information may cut down the risks of unsafe Internet practices. It would also be a lot handier for parents than having to try and get a hold of the school or trying to remember information last minute. With iGoogle parents and students can access classroom information wherever there Internet is available.
  

Google Docs are a new discovery to me, but I am finding that they could be used as a great learning resource in the classroom. Our world is growing more technology based and so if students get early exposure, I believe they are probably going to be more prepared for the world they are going into. Also, I believe Google Docs is just one more way they can express their knowledge. Each and every student will learn in a different way, and Google Docs creates multiple means of representation and allows students to communicate in multiple different ways with multiple different people. Most of the Google products I looked at seemed to provide a more 'hands on' approach to learning and definitely provides fast ways of distributing and organizing information. I hope to be able to learn more about these Docs and ways to implement them into my classroom instruction.