Starting Really Big

1
Starting Really Big

• What topic interests me?
• Education
• Why Education? It is a career field that I am
  interested in pursuing after graduation.
• What about it?
• Controlling a classroom
• Creating good citizens
• Motivating students to learn
• Parent/community involvement
• How kids learn
• Service learning
• Cooperative learning
• Responsibilities of being a teacher

2
Choose One Create Questions that You Will Need
to Answer

• Cooperative Learning
• What is it?
• Who should use it?
• Why should it be used?
• How do you incorporate it into class?
• What effects does it have?
• What planning is needed for it to run smoothly?
• How does it work best?

3
Creating a Topic Question

• Will mostly begin with what, why, or how
• Key words that make it better impact,
  significance, effects
• How can teachers effectively use cooperative
  learning in their classroom?
• Why is cooperative learning an effective tool in
  the fifth grade classroom?
• What impact does cooperative learning have on an
  elementary student?

4
Sub-Topics!!!

• Look back at your questions that you need to
  answer.
• Come up with titles for each of those they are
  your SUB-TOPICS!
• Put them in a logical order (i.e. dont define
  something in the next to the last paragraph!)

5
Sample Sub-Topics

• What is it?
• Who should use it?
• Why should it be used?
• How do you incorporate it into class?
• What effects does it have?
• What planning is needed for it to run smoothly?
• How does it work best?

• Definition of cooperative learning
• Using cooperative learning in the classroom
• Creating groups for cooperative learning
• Impact of cooperative learning in students
  comprehension

6
Product Reminders

• They need to take at least Fifteen Hours worth of
  work (that you do). The more the better!
• Need to have a purpose
• Can be service hours or job shadowing
  /apprenticeship to improve your skills and résumé
• Can create a product that someone can use in the
  future
• Dont have to be expensive if you think
  creatively.
• CANNOT be a poster board, tri-fold science
  board, PowerPoint, interview, or Brochure BY
  ITSELF.

7
Product Ideas

• Just so you know Cooperative learning is a
  teaching strategy that places students into
  groups (normally mixing the groups with different
  ability levels, ethnic groups, and sexes) and
  using a variety of learning activities to improve
  each group members understanding of a concept.
• Volunteering at an elementary school during my
  free period
• Working at an after-school program
• Helping teachers
• "Cooperative Learning." Kennesaw State
  University. 11 Sept. 2007
  lthttp//edtech.kennesaw.edu/intech/cooperativelear
  ning.htmgt.

Whats WRONG Here?
8
How do I write a viable product idea?

• Make sure you FULLY describe the steps you will
  have to take.
• Explain the purpose of the product.
• Use complete sentences instead of just a few
  nouns (a PowerPoint)
• Understand that the person reading the
  application is not in your head and will not be
  able to comprehend your ideas if you do not
  explain each step.

9
Unacceptable Example

• Volunteering at the elementary school
• SEE NEXT SLIDE FOR A SPECIFIC ACCEPTABLE
  EXAMPLE!

10
Pretty Darn Good Example

• I plan on job shadowing a first grade teacher who
  regularly uses cooperative learning in his/her
  classroom. I will record my experiences and
  observations in a scrapbook/journal.

11
Really Awesome Example

• I plan on volunteering at a day care centers
• after school education program. I will use my
• knowledge on what makes a good cooperative
• learning activity to plan daily activities for
  the
• students to improve their skills in reading
• comprehension. I intend to pre- test and
  post-test the
• students on the material that they are working on
  to
• determine if working on groups has helped them
• understand the concept. I will also test several
  
• control students who are not working in the
• groups to be able to compare results.