Collaboration

So, Jeanne, wanted us to include how 21st century skills are used all the time in our classrooms;  how we weave them seamlessly into our daily practice.  Well, recently I've been inspired to blog about my practice - reflective practice at work.  Interesting enough the two days I have chosen to blog about both include the successful use of student collaboration in various ways.
Today for our 'so what?' lesson, I first divided the class into three groups to analyze the three short stories we have been using as models.  Each group reread the story and looked for the 'so what?' in the story.  The small groups allowed me to check in with each group, conduct small group instruction and teach as needed.  Then each group presented their 'so what?'
From their I placed the girls into groups of three to share their own stories and identify the 'so what?' in each story.  Since they had already identified this in a published story, I felt confident that they would be able to do this in a small group.  I ended the period asking the girls to jot down the 'so what?' as a statement in their notebook and hopefully use the statement as they revised their stories.

Students sharing writing

I love matching the girls with someone they would not normally share their writing.  It's 8th period on a Friday 30 minutes til the bell rings.  The girls are sharing their writing - 2 different povs and are focused.  They want to look like they know what they are doing with their non-typical  partner.