Kagan question

[Ierewn]

Does anyone know which structure to use when the class is presenting book reports? I thought there was one where they traveled in groups to report, instead of having each child just read their report. I'm not even sure if this makes sense, but if you can help, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!!

[rickduvall]

There are many possible structures that would work well here. Go to page 6.24 in your Kagan Cooperative Learning textbook. Look under the “Presenting” column for ideas.

My favorite structure to use here would be a Timed RoundRobin. Set a visual timer for Student #1, have them stand to deliver their book reports, remind their teammates to listen, and require teammates to be ready to ask questions if the standing student stops talking before the timer ends. Repeat this process for each additional team member (so, three more times, for a total of four rounds).

It sounds like you might be describing Circle the Sage. That would also work really well here.

[LouisRad]

What are the main benefits of Timed Round Robin, Rick?

[rickduvall]

As with all Kagan structures, we would see increased engagement (students are passive listeners for only three presentations, instead of 24+ in a typical classroom), increased achievement, and better social skills development (in a Timed RoundRobin, specifically: turn-taking, patience, praising, active listening, asking questions, contributing ideas, elaborating, encouraging, expressing opinions, giving reasons, leading, quiet voices, sharing, switching roles, and staying on task, just to name a few).

Personally, what I love most using a Timed RoundRobin for students to share their presentations is that I save a lot of instructional time. Students still have to stand and make a public presentation, like a book report, so they are still working on the public speaking standards. However, boredom and discipline problems diminish substantially, as opposed to the traditional method of having one student at a time come to the front of the class to make their presentation, because we substantially increase the amount of active engagement time. For example, in a class of 24 students where each student is expected to make a five minute presentation, it would take two hours to complete the presentations. Students would be sitting and passively listening for an hour and 55 minutes in this scenario, while only actively sharing for five minutes. Thus, each student is actively engaged about 4% of the entire time. Extremely passive, shy, or introverted students typically hate having to stand in front of a large group. This has been documented to have adverse outcomes on emotional, mental, and even physical health. An additional problem with this scenario is that the teacher has given up a two hour block of instruction just for the presentations. In a Timed RoundRobin, however, in the same class of 24 students, there would be six teams of four students. Students sitting in chair number one on each team would stand to deliver their presentations simultaneously for five minutes. After 20 minutes, every student would have made a five minute presentation, allowing the teacher to have an extra hour and 40 minutes for additional instructional activities. Introverted students would have the safety of only standing in front of their three teammates (another reason that teambuilding at least twice a week is essential). So the biggest benefit, as I see it, is that the teacher wins AND the students win!

I would love to hear how it goes!

[vaishalij]

Hi!!
Thanks for the valuable information. keep sharing this kind of information!!!

[Sakshi8574]

Thank you for your help. I'm looking for something like that