Cooperative Discussion as a Differentiated Activity: What are we going to do when "the test" is over?

I was able to attend Project CRISS training in November. The strategies presented were so aligned with the goals of a standards based classroom, differentiated instruction, and effective co teaching that I ordered the Presentation Materials CD-ROM.

For the next few weeks, I will try to focus on a different strategy that you can try after ‘the test.’ These strategies will allow us to experiment away from whole group, direct instruction activities toward more “Student Centered” Instruction as we prepare for the 2010—2011 school year.

Cooperative Discussion is a CRISS Strategy designed to provide an alternate method of reading and discussing text passages.

Groups can flex or be long term in nature and developed along homogeneous ability or heterogeneous groupings depending on the material or purpose of the activity.

Each group is composed of 5 members with specific roles and the activity covers 5 periods of instruction. These periods can be consecutive or developed over time, keeping in mind that each group should meet at least 5 times overall to enable each student to play each of the roles.

This strategy would be very effective in place of whole group instruction that involves reading sections of a text, article, or literary piece. Individual roles could be modified in a more specific setting for science such as to preview and review the instructions for an upcoming lab; or in math, to assist students in reading a series of complicated word problems before solving.