TheApple

collaborative learning. Divide and conquer- take your lessons and allow your students to do more group learning and use tape recorded lectures. This allows for the amount of students and volume that is associated. you can still teach, but in an easier large group way.

I love the tape recording idea; can you suggest how I might use the strategy in a 6th grade Language Arts class?  I don't "lecture," per se, but I would LOVE to be able to step back and facilitate more.  Certainly, collaborative learning via cooperative grouping is a great middle school instructional strategy, but I find that there are LOTS of times my students just can't handle it.  Perhaps my behavior mgt. is what's not working.  I know all the things I should do: give everyone a job/role, hold the group accountable for creating a product, etc. but I need kids to be able to stay focused and exercise self-control for this to be effective.  How might audio recordings help with this?

We use video equipment to give students directions and go over information when we have subs and want to continue teaching. To lecture on tape, I tape my lecture, print out my lecture notes, and give students head sets to listen to the lectures. While students are listening to the lecture, other students are working on activities that relate to the notes provided. The students rotate so they exposed to all the information for work and assessment purposes. This also works when giving directions and students need things repeated those students may listen again on the headsets so everyone can begin and noone is hindered and everyone is given the opportunity to learn at his or her own pace.

You could also use this to help with self esteem in the classroom by allowing struggling students to come in before the lesson is introduced and begin using the lecture notes and tapes.

YOu could break them up into learning teams and change the teams every nine weeks or month or so. Give them points for things like listening, working together, etc. Before you switch the groups reward the highest group(s) with simple prizes such as free homework assignment pass, lunch with you, or any other idea that does not require dependence of the reward. This helps create a quiet room for notetaking and allows for group discussions that allow students to talk freely and others are showing respect by listening. Just remember that points can be lost just as easily as they are gained and be consistent.