Two weeks ago I attended an INSET day on Kagan structures. I wrote then that I had been impressed and was keen to try out some of the strategies. I have always been a huge fan of collaborative learning but have been bowled over by the improvement these strategies have made to the quality of the students' learning.
The main strategies I have used have been Rally Robin, Timed Pair Share and Write Rally Robin. All of these are similar to strategies I have used in the past but the structure here forces students to play a full part in the whole process rather than let someone else do all the work.
Rally Robin - students take it in turns to say word on a topic is a great starter and surprisingly hard. On most occasions I have played too and I would recommend always trying to get involved in all the collaborative games you are playing.
Timed Pair Share I really like as students have 30 seconds to talk about something to their partner - their partner then paraphrases what they said. This is great for reinforcement and making the partner actually pay attention. I have thrown in a variation where the partner has to add something the speaker forgot. I find you need some variations to the formula to keep the kids on their toes.
Write Rally Robin is a brilliant way to build and develop the ideas students produce in groups. Students have a few minutes to work on a task. They then feedback to the group or the whole class - the other students tick it off if they thought of it and add it if they hadn't - a great way to make sure they all are involved.
I have used these techniques with all groups but they have been particularly successful with my Sixth Form groups. My year 13 group is only 4 students who are all naturally quiet so this has really helped structure and develop their discussion.
I am very impressed at how some really simple extra touches have made such a difference to my lessons. Looks like I may be adding the Kagan book to my Xmas wish list. At the INSET session some teachers were a bit skeptical and thought this was all too simplistic and silly. I hope they give these ideas a try - I am glad I did.
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