During most job interviews, you’re asked to describe your greatest weakness. I always answer the same: I’m stubborn. Maybe even preachy. “Trenchant” is a positive spin.
But I’m not proud, so I can admit that I was wrong about these three instructional strategies (especially jigsaw groups).
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Jigsaw Groups
As a student, I was never a fan of jigsaw groups: I felt like I was responsible for too much and like I always missed out on important details.
As a new teacher, I could never manage jigsaw groups. There were too many moving parts, and I couldn’t get it to work.
However, I can admit that I was wrong. Jigsaw groups is now one of my favorite instructional strategies, but here’s what I’ve learned:
- Start with a clear purpose and plan. Jigsaw groups are an intentional instructional choice, not one to throw out at random or on a whim. Have a clear number of concrete, related elements students can learn and teach to one another.
- Count and count again. Many of my early attempts with jigsaw groups floundered because I didn’t have the right number of students. I had too many students focused on one element and not enough focused on another. When you count and count again, you can move students from one group to another. If you’re short a student, you can always step in and pinch hit.
- It’s okay to bail. You may have a great plan for the jigsaw group, but if things aren’t working, it’s okay to bail. You have students in groups already, right? So each group can be responsible for one element and teach it to the whole class. Not as interpersonal and maybe not as much depth, but sometimes it’s okay to satisfice rather than excel.
- Reflect and try again. It took me a long time, but learning to be flexible with jigsaw groups has led to some amazing student-led conversations. Research indicates that students learn more when they teach, and jigsaw groups are a low-stakes way to get students used to that practice.
Now that I feel more comfortable with jigsaw groups, this is one of the instructional strategies I always keep in my rotation. In particular, I’ve found that jigsaw groups work particularly well with texts that require some historical context. When that happens, student groups are each responsible for teaching one part of the context. Here are some poems this fits really well:
- “Us vs Them” by David Tomas Martinez alludes to the Cold War, the Space Race, MAD, and the Vietnam War, so four jigsaw groups works really well here. I actually use this poem in discussions about the American Dream.
- “Eden, Then and Now” by Ruth Stone also alludes to the American Dream, and this poem also references the Great Depression, the Armenian Genocide, the Jazz Age, and Eden. While it may be unexpected, this poem works well to set up the Valley of Ashes in The Great Gatsby.
- “Slam, Dunk, & Hook” by Yusef Komunyakaa references Black Power, mythology, and jazz. I like to use this poem during March Madness!
- “English” by Marjorie Agosin references several poets and artists, Don Quixote, and dementia. I like to use this poem when students are working on vocabulary skills. (This is kind of a tricky text to find, but I found the poem in the textbook What’s Language Got to Do with It? I also found this .pdf online.)
Abridged and Modified Texts
Because I am so stubborn, it took me a long time to warm to the idea of abridged and modified texts. For one thing, I feel strongly that students should read entire novels and plays. (See more about this in my summer reading list.) Over the years, though, I’ve gotten better at recognizing how and when to abridge or modify a piece without turning a text into an excerpt. Here are some questions I ask myself when I think about abridging or modifying a text:
- Do I have a legal document requiring me to provide a student with an abridged text?
- Can I better attack a learning target, instructional goal, or standard with an abridged text?
- Is the original text in a different language? Or does it contain inappropriate material?
- Am I crunched for instructional time and need a shorter version?
Now that I’m comfortable abridging and modifying texts, this is one of my go-to instructional strategies. Here are some texts I’ve abridged and what motivated me to modify.
- Sometimes, a text makes allusions or references that students are not likely to recognize. In this case, text features would be helpful, so I will sometimes modify a text to add helpful images, footnotes, headers, etc. For example, when Julius Caesar references the Colossus at Rhodes, I modified to incorporate an image and a footnote.
- Other times, students have IEP or 504 documentation requiring an abridged or modified text. This happened so often when I was teaching Beowulf that I ended up with texts at three different levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. The digressions in Beowulf are a good example of when to remove a section of a text that may be distracting or is too long for the available class time.
- Like Beowulf, The Odyssey was originally written in a different language. Translations can sometimes complicate reading, so I might modify or abridge where I think a deviation from the translation could be made more helpful for students.
- Occasionally, texts include material that is inappropriate for students. Some of the comedy in Romeo and Juliet is too crude for my community, so that was a motivating factor when I decided to modify and abridge the play.
Complicated Classroom Systems
As a new teacher, I took too much advice from Pinterest. Online, I saw dazzling classroom systems for managing everything from pencils to seating charts to attendance. In particular, I fell prey to complicated absence work systems over and over again.
Now, I know that I only invest in classroom routines and systems that are simple enough for my students to explain to one another. I also keep routines consistent across all classes, so the late work system is the same for both freshmen and seniors.
In the case of managing absent work, I rely heavily on this very simple and free Daily Agenda. It’s no frills, no bells and whistles, and students at any level can figure out what work they missed.
Similarly, I’ve learned that my classroom library does not need a complicated organization or check-out system. In fact, I’ve totally ditched the check-out system, and these simple genre labels are the only organization I have in place.
