Maureen A. Mulderig
To cite this article: Mulderig, A., M. Walberta Park Elementary School Succeeds with Kagan Structures. San Clemente, CA: Kagan Publishing. Kagan Online Magazine, Summer 2003. www.KaganOnline.com
Together
Everyone
Achieves
More! |
|
We
have been using Kagan
Structures at
our school for the past three years. Nearly every teacher has
received training and
we continue to support teachers through our monthly S.A.M. (Structure-A-Month)
Club meetings. In addition, we have developed an extensive library of
Kagan books and materials to help teachers use structures in the classroom.
As the principal, I use the Kagan Structures in our weekly school-wide
assemblies, at our ambassador (student council type program) meetings,
and at staff and committee meetings.
We have, relatively quickly, been able to integrate
structures into the everyday culture of
our school. I believe that the reason we have come so far, so fast, is
because the structures have the following key ingredients:
• They are
easy to learn and implement
• They can effectively be integrated into
our school (and
are not an "add
on" — not one
more thing to have to do)
• They produce results
|
When
Dr. Kagan visited our school, one child told me, "Mrs. Mulderig,
I can't believe I got to shake his (Dr. Kagan) hand. It was better
than meeting the president of the United States!" |
The
results have been wonderful for us. We
just completed an analysis of our DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment)
scores and
we have seen
significant improvements in the past few years. I believe this is
due, in part, to the level of engagement with the curricula through
our
students' use of structures. In addition, the
structures have been a key part of
our character education initiatives. Through
consistently using structures such as Timed-Pair-Share, RallyRobin,
Mix-N-Match, Match Mine, Fan-N-Pick, (and more), the children have demonstrated a number of virtues. These
include respect, responsibility, empathy, and tolerance. By using
structures, the children practice turn taking, listening, perspective
taking, and
patience. We do all of this while simultaneously working on academic
content. This is crucial, because as we all know, time is always
a challenge in schools.
I would
strongly urge schools that embark on professional development opportunities
with Kagan to remember
the importance of ongoing, continuous,
professional development. We
know from the research that teachers can't change behaviors with "one shot" workshops.
Follow-up and continued support of professional development efforts
are absolutely
crucial to
success. Our work in making Kagan part of our school climate is
what has made us successful thus far. Our
teachers love the structures, and even more importantly, so do
our children. They
make learning fun and
truly engaging for our students. Here's what some of our children
have said about the structures:
" I love all the structures
because they help people learn and have fun at the same time,
but I like Fan-N-Pick the best because it is really fun. We can do it with scrambled up
words! That's why I like Fan-N-Pick." — Brittany, 2nd
grade
"I like Fan-N-Pick because it makes me a better speller. My favorite
structure is Rotating Review because it's fun." — Matt, 2nd
grade
"I like Find Someone Who because you get to know people." — Mike, 1st grade
" I like the structures because we get to learn in a fun way." — Andrea, 1st grade
" I
like Think-Pair-Share because I like to share with my
friends and my teacher." — Zachary, 2nd grade
" I think the structures are fun. They help me read." — Lauren, 2nd grade
" I think the structures are fun. They help me become an intelligent
kid. My favorite structure is Give One, Get One because
you get a word and from good friends." — Jen, 2nd grade
" I like Fan-N-Pick because I like getting ideas for
stories." — Jason, 2nd grade
" I like Inside-Outside Circle because you get to share
with people." — Brian, 1st grade
" I like Find the Fib because you get to see what people
think about in their mind." — Katie, 2nd grade
" I think the structures are great! They help me do better in school." — Kristina, 2nd
grade
" I like Numbered Heads Together because when we do it,
we each work together to get a good answer." — Jacob, 1st grade
I wish you
much success — before long you'll be seeing great results
and your students will be talking about Kagan too!
Sincerely,
Maureen Mulderig, Principal
Walberta Park Elementary School
Syracuse, New York
|