Monday, January 2, 2012

Get Your Kagan On!!

Winter break officially ends tomorrow. Like me, I'm sure my students are bummed, but excited. I know their minds will be elsewhere…Seeing their friends; Is it time for recess; Hey, guess what I got for Christmas; I can't wait to play with my new…

I learned a long time ago to embrace the notion that the first day back from any break is not going to be jam-packed with curriculum. Let's just say that I've learned to incorporate these distractions into a framework. That's where Kagan Structures come into play. For the first part of our school day, students will interact with their peers and describe their holiday excitement using various Kagan Structures. Some of the structures I can adapt include: Jot Thoughts, Draw It!, A-Z Brainstorming, Four Corners, Body Graphs, or Puzzled People


Kagan Structures engage every student, and require every student to participate. What a great way to refocus the class on procedures, expectations, and teambuild. Just throw in topics like Winter Break, Santa, family, gifts, and toys…what else could you need on your first day back? {A couple Red Bulls, maybe!?! HA!!} 

11 comments:

Jill said...

Super interesting! Thanks for sharing! :)

Marvelous Multiagers!

Laura said...

Thank you for sharing! Sounds like great stuff!!

Tina said...

I can't wait to check it out!

Quench Your First

Cara Carroll said...

Such a neat concept. I've never heard of this before!! Thanks for sharing!!

Cara :)
The First Grade Parade

Anonymous said...

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darlininfirst.blogspot.com

Randi said...

I love this idea. I have never heard of it. Thanks for sharing. The break did come to a screeching halt didn't it!

Randi @ Teach It With Class

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Mrs. Wheeler said...

I love Kagen!!! I need to break down and buy my OWN copy of the book!

Mrs. Wheeler
www.mrswheelerfirst.blogspot.com

Amanda said...

I am so excited to see someone else pumped about Kagan! Our district has all our teachers trained in Kagan Cooperative Learning. I am actually our building Kagan Coach. I can't imagine teaching a day without it!!!

Simone @ Busy as a Honey Bee said...

I love your blog! You are so terribly creative! Thanks for the intro to Kagan Structures! You and so many other teacher bloggers have inspired me to start my own! Thanks so much for you inspiration! Come check out my new blog!

-Simone
busyasahoneybee.blogspot.com

Brittany said...

I am new to the world or teaching/blogging and your blog gives me so much inspiration and encouragement. Love this idea!

Chelsea Rose said...

I tagged you in a post on my blog! Check it out! :)

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