Learning Literacy Through Collaboration

Collaborative learning absolutely supports literacy.  By reading the same book with their peers, the class will be able to discuss themes surrounding the book while building their social skills.   While working in small groups, students use strategies to connect in dialogue and widen one another’s understanding of text.  I believe that many children feel that when a teacher is leading a lesson and they are called on to answer a question, they are put on the spot and may feel flustered to answer.  Having collaborative learning in literacy gives the class a sense of being comfortable because they are conversing with their peers.  In that kind of setting there may not be a feeling of a right or wrong answer. 

Collaborative learning also allows for students to contribute and take on leadership skills as they lead in their reading groups.  The students are able to teach each other without having the teacher lead the group.  When the teacher does not lead the group, the class feels a sense of independence.  As we saw in the video on reciprocal teaching, the students enjoyed not having the teacher lead the group for various reasons.  For one girl, it was fun to be the leader and call on her friends to answer questions.  For another boy, he enjoyed not having the teacher around because he was able to talk with his friends about what they were reading. Because the teacher does not need to facilitate, he or she is allowed to walk though the room, facilitate where necessary, but mostly allow the students to do all the talking.    

Learning literacy through collaboration also teaches the students the different goals (question, clarify, predict, summarize) while they take turns being the facilitator.  As we spoke about in class, if a student has mastered one of these goals, let’s say clarifying, he or she can go through the story and pick out ideas or words that may be difficult for other students.  This gives the student who understands the concept a sense of leadership, while allowing the student who does not grasp it to be taught by one of his peers.