Jennifer has recently added Kagan methodology to her classroom. And it’s working really well for her and her collection of 10-year-olds.
Recently, Jennifer and two of her colleagues put together a presentation to the staff of the Intersen phase of her school, to show them how they can start using Kagan in their own classrooms.
I made various illustrations for the presentation, including this one… my version of the “Kagan Manage Mat”.
It’s a tool that makes it really easy to work in teams of four.
Think of two teammates sitting beside each other. They are “shoulder partners”. And across the desk, the other two teammates sit, shoulder-to-shoulder. The two directly opposite each other are “face partners”.
You’ll need to read up on the methodology to work out how to use the numbers and letters. They’re there to make it easy to stir up who works with who. Sometimes “A” partners will work together. Sometimes they’ll go in a circle, starting with one of the numbers. Eg, 4, 1, 2, 3.
Here’s a link to an article on the Kagan site on why teams of four are so useful in school…
http://www.kaganonline.com/free_articles/dr_spencer_kagan/295/Teams-of-Four-Are-Magic.
