Greetings List members,
Are you interested in student centered learning through cooperative
learning, PBL, inquiry based learning, collaborative learning, (anything
I left out?) etc.??? Would you like to involve your students actively
in the learning process and help them take responsibility for their own
learning? Then Ted's cooperative learning and WAC web site is just the
ticket for you! Just click and let the adventure begin!
http://www.capecod.net/~tpanitz/tedspage How would you like to spice up your courses with critical thinking
writing assignments which increase communications between you and your
students and between students, in a way they will actually enjoy. Then
Ted's WAC E-Book (no pun intended) is just what the ed doctor ordered.
(in case you missed the address first time above here it is again)
http://www.capecod.net/~tpanitz/tedspage There are thirty six writing assignments which Ted has developed
for his classes and tested and revised over time. Learn about the
affective side of your students. Also at this site you will find a
zillion additional web links to other great sites (but not as great as
Ted's site of course) on WAC and cooperative learning.
For the time of your life (and more information than you could ever
want to have available in an entire lifetime), visit Ted's Cooperative
Learning and Wac site. You might even get a few chuckles from my joke
file and from my somewhat convoluted sense of humor, sprinkled
throughout the site, which even escapes me, often.
Below are the tables of contents for both books.
http://www.capecod.net/~tpanitz/tedspage
(in case you missed the web site address the second time)
Ted thinks this is the best web site in the whole world if not the
whole galaxy.
What do you think?
Comments and suggestions and deep thoughts are welcome at
tpanitz@cape.com
Regards,
Ted Panitz
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TABLE OF CONTENTS for Ted's WAC E-Book
Preface
Reasons for using WAC
WAC web sites
Writing assignments
1-MOTIVATIONAL-GENERAL
A. Write a letter to your students prior to the beginning of the
semester
B. Student autobiography- written prior to the beginning of class
C. Student profile for first class introductions
D. Analysing the seven principles of good education
E. Student/Professor success contract
2-PERSONAL REFLECTION/MOTIVATION
A. Student post exam questionnaire
B. Students write a letter to a friend- an unusual course evaluation
C. Midsemester course review/student self evaluation.
D. Midsemester push- or how do I survive all my professors demands?
E. Final semester push
F. End of semester student self evaluation
3-CONTENT/PROCESS
A. How can we work better in groups?
B. Encouraging student writing by example- Analysis of newspaper
articles describing Harvard research on learning in groups
C. Developing t-charts to help analyse group functioning
4- CONTENT/PERSONAL
A. There is a poet in all of us
B. Student course portfolio
C. Why study math?
D. Assessing students and yourself using the one minute paper
E. Finding analogies in life to clarify course concepts
F. The diary of a student or writing a course journal
5-CONTENT ENHANCING
A. Math is with us every day
B. Math is with us all day.
C. How did you get here- What sequence of events lead you to this
course?
D. Write your own textbook section
E. Becoming an author- Write a short story about how the quadratic
formula came to be
F. Finding examples of math in the media
G. Draw your very own graph
H. Solving the mystery of word problems using the two-column format
plus alternate uses.
I. Engaging partners in a critical thinking exchange of ideas- Write
and swap
J. Vocabulary building through a multistep writing process
K. Developing comprehension skills by combining writing with
collaborative learning activities
L. Analysing a fable and history examples
6- ADDITIONAL SAMPLES OF WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
A-100% Success in Algebra
B- Is The Mastery Approach To Testing A Good One???
C- Math Anxiety Code of Responsibilities
D- My Very Own Group's Strategy For Solving Word Problems
E- Calculating Pi- Not The Kind You Eat- A Cooperative Exploration
F- Why Are Fractional Exponents So Hard To Understand?
G- Faculty Writing Exercise
H- Developing a Preparation Strategy For Mastery Tests
I- Solving Equations Together
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Table of Contents for Ted's Cooperative Learning E-book
i. Preface
1. Introduction/Rationale by Dewey and others
2. Definition- Comparing collaborative and cooperative
3. Benefits of CL- an alternate way to describe CL approaches
4. Why more teachers do not use CL
5. Getting started and/or expanding your use of CL
6. Student testimonials
7. Teacher testimonials
8. Samples of CL
9. Getting students involved in your course/preparing them for CL
10. Helping students take responsibility for their own learning
11. Communicating high expectations for you students and yourself
12. Assessment techniques/group grading and individual
accountability
13. Warmup and group building and activities
14. How to end a class
15. Policies needed for full implementation of CL
16. WWW (World Wide Web) sites of interest
17. Bibliography