Session+Seven

=Session 7:=

What is collaboration?

Collaboration is working together to answer a question, to solve a problem, or to reach a common goal.

What are three ways students collaborate in your classroom? Are they successful?

Students collaborate in my classroom in a number of different ways. In a normal class period they will Think/Pair/Share about homework, classwork, a DO NOW, or an independent mark up. They also work in pairs or small groups to complete APPARTS charts or other primary source decoding excercises. Finally, students work together to decide on a focus issue during Generation Citizen, design, and implement an action project. This forum allows for a great deal of collaboration.


 * 7.2 Video Response**

Technology can help students to not only dig deeper into what they already know/are good at it but it can encourage them to broaden their knowledge base and start to explore things that they are less familiar with. I completely agree with the video which says that students/people who get really good at one thing may be more likely to get really good at something new. There is already something in them that pushes them towards mastery of a subject. Using technology may encourage them to start working towards mastery on something new. I loved how he said that collaboration is amplification and the comparison between cooperation and an assembly line. In an assembly line no one person is making the next person any better. At worst, they may hinder the next person but will surely not push them to excel. On the other hand, collaboration is a number of people who can actually push each other to be better, to solve problems, to think deeper. Using his definition encourages educators to work towards collaboration and not simply just communication. The challenge may lie in convincing students that they do not all have to be the same or good at the same thing. In fact, the key to collaboration is playing on the differences and varying strengths of people and not the likenesses.
 * 1) **How can expanded use of technology help develop depth and breadth for our students?**
 * 1) **What is the difference between cooperation and collaboration?**
 * 1) **What are the challenges in getting students to collaborate rather than just cooperating?**


 * 7.3 Voicethread Definition.**
 * Briefly define a Voicethread in your own terms, summarize your initial impressions of Voicethread and the various ways it might be useful in your classroom.**

Voicethread is a tool that can capture conversations over the layout of digital media. Students and teachers can interact using text and visuals and can add to the conversation. The discussion saves and can be shared in the future!


 * 7.4 Immigration Voicethread**
 * Comment on the positives you saw and heard in this Voicethread and some aspects that you could see being improved upon.**

In this Voicethread, I really liked how the kids seemed to be very interested in the topic and seemed to have thought about their responses carefully. That being said, I wonder if a forum like Voicethread is more beneficial for the students/teachers to get initial reactions or to get more thought out responses after a period of time? Perhaps the answer is both depending on the scenario!

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 * 7.5 Voicethread in the classroom**
 * I really love the idea of using Voicethread as a means of communication in the classroom. What I would love to see happen more than in the example is students responding not only to the prompt but also to one another. That way they have to make a decision about what they agree with and what they do not agree with. **