Sunday, March 12, 2017
Implementing Contracts
After leaving JL Mann, I was so impressed with the students' engagement. This year it seems like my students are struggling with collaboration. So one of the best "take aways" I received from JL Mann was the group contracts. Currently my students are working on their Project Lead the Way unit. This unit requires tons of collaboration and compromise. The students are always excited about building a robot and they all want to do it, but each group of 4 receives one kit and one ipad. I expected the arguments and disagreements ahead of time. In previous years, the students usually disagree about who holds and uses the ipad. They also disagree about who can put the pieces together. So after seeing the group contracts put in action at JL Mann I knew that it would be something that I would have to use during this unit. I gave the students the job descriptions an prior to giving out the ipads and Vex IQ kits. I let the students get together and discuss who they thought would be best at the job. I also told the students that in their groups they could decide to keep the same jobs during the entire build or if they wanted to rotate the jobs at any time. I gave the students voice and choice with their contracts. My students seemed to do well with the contracts overall. I would have to meet with groups periodically to make sure they stayed on task and not vary far from their contracts. I really like the group contracts and plan to use them again during my PBL implementation.
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Hi Lindsey,
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking time to reflect on the group contracts we saw in use at Mann. I am glad that you were able to take what you saw and learned and adapt it work with your students' current PLTW unit. You shared how typical collaboration issues with this PLTW robot unit were resolved with the group contracts through specific job descriptions sand roles. *Would you be willing to email me your job descriptions and contracts? I would love to see it and share it with our cohort. I am glad that your students were able to understand and utilize the group contracts and the jobs and that you provided opportunities for students to negotiate in groups who would hold which job during the unit. I am glad that you made them your own because in my experience, this is what makes them work. Sincerely, Dawn
I'm so glad the group contracts worked for you. I too would like to see how you modified your group contracts. I also like how you gave your students more voice and choice by letting them decide how they wanted to divide up the materials. By having them complete the contract before beginning the project, they are already having to practice collaboration. I'm curious, did more of your groups decide to keep the same jobs, or switch throughout the project? And if they decided to switch, did they follow through?
ReplyDeleteGroup contracts are something I would like to use, but I decided not to implement this practice in my current unit because the group component of this project was fairly short. I am interested to know how they continue to work for your students as your unit continues. Let me know!
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