Califone Group Learning for Literacy
Posted by Keirsten Dungan on 6th Mar 2014
Califone Enhances Group Learning for Literacy
Differentiated learning groups can go a long way toward improving literacy skills as students collaborate on a common goal.
For reading activities several students who are on a similar learning level (below, on or above) can follow along to an audio book using a multimedia player and headphones to create a learning center. Or if you’re using a computer, then add a jackbox and headphones to create your own. Since the students will all be focusing on the same material at the same time, they can step in and help a fellow classmate who’s struggling with the assignment. This type of learning center environment can not only aid in the development of literacy but also serve as a way of teaching cooperation, leadership, and the basic altruism of lending a hand to a peer.
As class sizes continue to increase, you can often find yourself busily assisting other groups of students around the classroom. In the meantime, you can task each group with ways to team up on different parts of a story for discussion or have them decipher a particular set of vocabulary words within the reading content. Teamwork among your students allows for interactive learning that, according to Pennsylvania English teacher Sarah Martin, “provides students the opportunity to explain things to each other and teach other.”
