Use Jigsaws to Get Your Kids to Read, Discuss, and Reteach
We only remember about 10 to 20% of what we read. It's probably not a good idea to ask students to read a text and then assume that they have learned anything substantial.
Enter the jigsaw technique. This method forces a student to continue to engage a certain text in a number of different ways. First the student reads it. Then he or she discusses it with peers. Finally, it is re-taught to other students that haven't read the text.
How to Set It Up
First, you need some form of reading. Your students will be breaking up into a number of groups. Each group should have its own reading to deal with.
The specific number of texts to be read will vary from lesson to lesson - but you should use three to five texts. If you use too few texts or too many, your groups will either be too small or too large.
As a rule of thumb, you want three to five students in each group - so choose the number of texts accordingly.
Directions for the Activity
Students will be confused the first time you do this. It will help to explain it thoroughly, diagram it on the board, and have the students go through a practice run through.
Most importantly - you should re-read these directions carefully and make sure that you understand the flow of a jigsaw activity.
First, students are divided up into their original groups. These are also known as "expert" groups.
Each expert group receives one text to deal with. The students read the text individually. Once finished, they discuss the text together. Some guiding questions from the teacher would be helpful - but you know best the amount of scaffolding your students need.
Mix It Up - Jigsaw!
Once the students have a solid understanding of the text, they split up into new groups. The easiest way to do this is to assign a number to each person in the expert groups (i.e. 1-4). Then all of the 1s get together, the 2s get together, etc. These new groups are your "mixed" groups.
Each of these mixed groups should contain one expert from each of the expert groups. This is where the "jigsaw" part comes in. Imagine the students as interlocking jigsaw pieces. Originally, they form a small puzzle of one color. By mixing up the groups, you get a multi-colored puzzle in which each piece brings some knowledge to the table.
Once the students are in their "mixed" groups, they go around and each student teaches his or her text to the others. Students should give a brief summary and refer to the guiding questions if they don't know what to say.
Finally, the class should re-convene as a whole and someone should share about each text. This gives the teacher a chance to assess whether or not all of the students understand the material.
Advantages
The greatest advantage of this is that it engages the students in higher level learning.
First, they acquire basic knowledge. Then, they apply that knowledge in their expert groups to discuss the guiding questions. By re-teaching that same knowledge to other groups, they are forced to synthesize their previous discussion into something meaningful for the other students.
It also gives every student a chance to be an expert. Even weak readers can do well here, because they have the benefit of the expert group to help them understand the text. By the time students get to the mixed groups, everyone should understand his or her text well enough to re-teach it.
Disadvantages
This can be a time consuming activity. If students don't get into their groups quickly enough or read their initial texts quickly enough, you will run out of time. You could assign the readings the night before - then students just have to meet in their expert groups to discuss the reading.
This activity also relies on 100% participation. If one or two obstinate students don't participate a whole group or two will lose out on a piece of the text. This is a motivating factor for all students to contribute - but it can also backfire if those students flat out refuse.
Example Uses
A jigsaw can be used in a variety of situations.
In higher level classes, it can be used to split up the workload so that each student doesn't have to read 100 pages. Instead, each group reads a 15-20 page article and then re-teaches it to the other students.
For example, an AP government class might split up the reading of the "Federalist" papers. Each group would be assigned a certain number of articles. At the end, each student should have specific knowledge of a few of the articles and general knowledge of the entire enterprise.
In classes with struggling readers, you can use this to break the text down. Each expert group tackles a small portion of the text.
For example, a US 1 class might be looking at the battles of the American Revolution. Each group is instructed to read about one battle - a couple paragraphs at most. Once they've constructed some kind of summary or timeline, the students can share in their mixed groups.
Jigsaws can be used effectively in almost any situation. They are a great trick to add to your toolkit. Use them often.
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