Guided Design

So I read the articles for this week and was more or less not impressed with the content. It seemed like a lot of numbers and data (which I can't handle reading and get lost in) just to say that working together teachers us teamwork. Reading other people's posts on the topic helped me understand more what the articles were about...which as I commented on several people's pages...is the point of guided design.

Each article listed the 5 steps, 12 steps, or 5 basic principles of thinking operations. I understand that there has to be some steps involved in the thought process, but to lay them out is strange. The more I look back at the article, the more I understand the term "guided process". The teachers are supposed to be guiding our thinking...which is also strange to me. I suppose I stand in front of students and guide their thinking daily; it just doesn't occur to me to do it in a 5 step process.

When I was in undergrad, I can only recall working in groups in my productions classes and that is because it is very hard to make a production with only one person. Also, the point of our group work was not necessarily to solve a problem, but just to complete a task. Our professors seemed to operate on a different page...come up with your own ideas and support those ideas. They were not concerned with what we could do as a group; it was almost a very selfish way of learning. Perhaps that is why I sometimes really hated my classes; I didn't understand that content and it would have been helpful to have another person's perspective on the subject. Maybe this is why I don't work well in groups at work. I prefer to work alone and do everything myself. :)

While by nature I am a very independent person and like to work alone, I can see the benefits of working with other people and the guided design process. It helps us learn about the topic, it helps us learn about other people, it helps us learn how to work with other people and maybe even helps us learn a little about ourselves. I've really enjoyed being able to work in a group in this class because at first I was completely unsure of the requirements and how the projects were supposed to work. Because my group members have more experience than I do with graduate classes and expectations, they were able to guide me through the process and help me understand what was expected out of assignments. (Thanks guys!)

I have also seen the benefits in my classroom. I recall an activity last year with my first grade students. We were creating Venn Diagrams, which for some students was very easy and for others, very hard. I put them into groups and each group was given two animals. Because they were working together, they were able to learn more about the animals than they would have if they were on their own. Some of the students were very knowledgeable, while others did not know anything about the topics. They were also told to use their science books to find information. Being that they were 1st graders, some students did not have a clue how to look in a book to find information, while others did. It was great to see them working together and learning from each other and not just learning what I had to say about the topic.

Elizabeth