I recently came across a teaching method called the Jigsaw
Classroom. According to it's website, the Jigsaw Classroom "is a
cooperative learning technique that reduces racial conflict among school
children, promotes better learning, improves student motivation, and increases
employment of the learning experience." In short, it is a way for you (the
teacher) to have students research topics, learn the information for
themselves, consult with other students, and report back to their groups with the
information they have found.
The Jigsaw Classroom reduces conflict between students
because once you divide the classroom into groups of five or six, each student
in the group has their own topic to research. When 'show and tell' comes
around, if students bully or discriminate against another kid in their group,
they don't get the information that child researched, which leaves them less
prepared for the quiz that takes place shortly thereafter. This method is
a very subtle way for the teacher to improve student relationships, motivation,
and learning.
Now, this method seems like it would be very effective when used
in a history class, or an English class, but what about a music class? Sure
they could research various genres and miscellaneous facts, but when it comes
down to it, the hardcore facts of time signatures and tempo symbols are still
up to the instructor to teach.
In a musical setting, this method may be lost on students, but I
do still see its advantages, especially with regards to the history of music.
While elementary music students may not see the musical differences between the
Baroque and the Classical Period, they might be able to talk about their key
composers in a historical sense. As the teacher, I could break the students
into various groups and assign different students different composers.
"You learn about Bach, you learn about Mozart, you learn about Beethoven,
etc.." This might be a good way to not only learn basic facts about
important musical figures, but also learn a little bit about their backgrounds.
Even if I only had a few computers, I could use textbooks and show where the section
on each composer was.
While this method excites me, I also have to see the
disadvantages. Ellen Berg addressed my chief worry when she explained that her
students weren’t afraid of the structure, or thinking on their own, they were
afraid of being wrong. I worry that, should I employ this method, my students
would not only worry that their information was wrong, but they wouldn't care
about the information they found. I find that an engaging teacher is key in
teaching topics that may not be interesting to a third grader. So when a
student is left up to their own devices in learning these topics, I worry that
the level of interest from a third grader might be a grave disadvantage.
All in all, I think I'll have to employ this method when I start
teaching in order to assess its viability. I look forward to that day.
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