Chapter 2b: Professional Responsibilites of Teachers of Young Adolescents

               The later portion of chapter two deals with looking at certain characteristics of a classroom.  They also look at how to specifically structure the classroom for a conducive learning environment.  My attention was caught by the strategies portion of this section where they look at think-pair-share, think-write-pair-share, and jigsaw techniques. 

                I have always been impressed by how effective these strategies are.  I believe they are more on the facilitator spectrum of teaching styles, and they can be a great way to bring in a large collection of knowledgeable discussion.  I find these strategies effective because of how they incorporate a few elements. 

                One, the nature of these elements allows the students to start off with simple ideas, as they continue to go along in the process, the ideas will eventually become more sophisticated and complete.  This sort of structure also allows for the student to start off in their own thoughts, and when they are ready, to begin to share with other students their ideas.

                Two, these strategies promote the learning of students by the teaching of students.  Looking at the jigsaw technique, here you have students becoming experts on their given topics, and then teaching that topic to the class.  There is a theory that when you have to teach a topic, this is where you will learn it best.

                Three, these strategies promote critical and creative thinking.  Rather than just the teacher telling the students how/what to think, the students are given the opportunity to engage in deep thinking about the primary points of a given topic.  These strategies engage higher order thinking.