Module 1 - Jigsaw, Putting the Pieces Together

The Jigsaw Method is a way of teaching that lets students learn new concepts and then be responsible in teaching a group of their peers that unique information and learning from the other students of their other topics. This enables them to learn independently through discovery.

            I think this is effective because then the students are being held accountable and responsible with their learning, as if not, the other students would also miss out on the information that he/she is supposed to learn. It also gives them ownership of their own learning, as they are asked to be active in the learning process instead of being passive listeners of lectures or be easily distracted with other thoughts. The Jigsaw Method requires them to be focused in group discussions and be responsible for their peers understanding, and thus he/she will feel compelled to master it that they can even reach the Evaluating stage of the Bloom’s Taxanomy of Learning, which is quite high already. They evaluate when they are teaching, as they would see what they had learn and try to answer their peer’s questions in regards to it.

            As I want to be an English teacher for secondary students, I think I could implement this method in different ways. I could have the students be in groups studying different characters (both main and supporting characters) and how each character of the story affected the plot, and as they gather together in their jigsaw groups, they’ll be able to learn how purposeful and important all of the characters are in forming the story.

           I think my teachers in the past have implemented the Jigsaw Method, but I don’t really recall any specific ones. However, the Jigsaw lesson we experienced in our Technology in Education by Dr. Snoeyink was effective, as I find myself feeling engaged the entire duration of the lesson, which doesn’t really happen often with me. It is also a good way for me to learn as I am a social person and do best when interacting with others, and thus learning different online tools through this method was definitely more effective for me than if Dr. Snoeyink just taught all of the different tools in the class. The smaller groups also allowed me to ask questions more openly without worrying about the time wasted/spent on other people’s questions, and thus it would go more effectively.