Teaching Tip - Jigsaw Listening

I was planning on writing a piece today about using podcasts in the classroom when I came across this excellent blog post that took the idea in a different direction.

I will share my ideas about crafting Radio Dramas here in an upcoming addition of Teaching Tip Tuesdays. I just wanted to point you to this resource today for a couple of reasons. Number one is that I have been extremely busy this month with work, a course I've been taking to upgrade my teaching credentials, the radio show, Script Frenzy, and a few other personal obligations. By sharing this short post, I will have time to get a few more of those assignments and tasks done on time. The second reason I'm sharing this is because I wish I'd thought of it first. It's a good idea.

So please head on over to Sean Banville's Blog at http://seanbanville.com/2010/04/19/jigsaw-listening/ and tell him that Chase sent you.

Sean outlines a strategy know as Jigsaw Listening. I had never heard of it prior to reading his blog post yesterday. I'd known of the Jigsaw Strategy but I'd only ever seen it applied to reading.

To use this strategy, the students are divided up into groups. These groups do a task and then report back to another group so that each member can share what he or she has learned. 

I know that I have learned quite a lot through teaching. I also remember reading somewhere that “the best way to learn something better is to teach it to someone else.” This has become such a cliché that I wasn’t able to find the original source of this wisdom. Yet, the reason I think it is so often repeated and reiterated is because of the truth behind it. When the students know that they are going to have to teach someone else, it motivates them to learn and share their knowledge. This sharing of the knowledge can then help the students to learn even more than just studying or learning about it alone.

Sean has a great idea to do this with audio clips. He outlines 21 reasons why it is a good strategy to use and gives you some great way to implement it in your class.

Go check out his post for your Teaching Tip this week and don't forget to check my Table of Contents page for dozens of other helpful tips, ideas, and strategies you can use in your class. Thanks!