As we did this Jigsaw Learning in our previous session 2, it was very insightful for me. I was able to gain many insights about my expert topic. Discussing my expert topic with others helped me gained even more insight about it. The sharing and listening to my peers’ sharing was also helpful.

In class, usually the loud and confident students voices are usually louder than the rest. They tend to share and speak more during class discussions. This Jigsaw Learning strategy will encourage active participation amongst all students and more importantly, everyone has a role. This helps quieter students participate meaningfully in smaller settings. It will also build interdependence as each member is essential. Students will also have a chance to work with different peers in class.

This has many benefits as it promotes independence, engagement, autonomy in students own learning and helps improve reading and writing when carried out consistently. Having learning stations also helps reinforce learning that has been taught and support students in having a deeper understanding in the content.

Learning stations do not only limit to independent tasks or activities, but also guided activities such as guided reading groups where the teacher will be involved in helping students in this stations. Learning stations has to provide authentic learning experience to help students improve. Additionally, when students are engaged, learning becomes fun and students enjoy their learning process.

It is bound to have some limitations such as it being time consuming to prepare, mishandling of material and such. However, teacher can overcome this by making resources versatile and implementing rules from the start.

In this approach, students are first assigned into expert groups, where each group focuses on learning or reading about a specific topic or theory. Each expert group works on a different aspect of the subject.

Afterwards, students leave their expert groups and are reorganized into home groups, which consist of members from different expert groups. Within these groups, each student shares their expertise while also learning from their peers.

I find this strategy very useful as it encourages collaborative learning and keeps students engaged throughout the lesson. It allows them to engage in active discussion and deepen their understanding by teaching their peers.

In addition, it helps to build their confidence, as every student has an opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the group.

I think before the start of the activity, it is very important for the teacher to set rules and routines so learning can take place independently or with minimal guidance and to give direct and explicit instructions.

However, doing this could be time consuming and alot of resources are being used just for one day of activity. Another concern is what it students go "astray" and goes out of hand if there is no supervision on those kids.

Hence, it is important for us teachers to do this activity with proper guidance of the kids and proper handling of the activity flow ensuring the activity meeting the right objective of the lesson.

I will divide the class into 8 groups, and 2 groups each, will be focusing on a different pollution (air, water, land and noise pollution)

I intend to use Gemini as the platform to provide them the lesson objectives, scenario, task/quest and timeline. It will be the platform where I will add a few appropriate videos, news articles and websites to guide them in their research. This will allow them to stay focused and not get distracted or explore other sites while using their Chromebook. Teacher will facilitate these sessions to ensure that students do not over rely on, or use Gemini inappropriately   At the end of it, I will also provide a template for them to organise their findings and present it to the rest of the class.

I am drawn to this method is that it makes students’ thinking visible. As they work on the boards, I can quickly see their level of understanding and identify any misconceptions in real time. This helps me give immediate feedback and adjust my instruction more effectively.

Another advantage is that whiteboarding provides a safe environment for learning. Because mistakes can be easily erased, students feel less pressure and more willing to take risks or share their ideas. This helps to build confidence and promotes problem-solving skills.

Overall, I believe whiteboarding will make lessons more dynamic, foster teamwork, and create more opportunities for active participation,

In a classroom setting, I would imagine that the students are to complete the various learning stations within a time limit set by the teacher. This is a perfect opportunity to familiarise the students with working under the pressure of time as well as being able to fulfil the tasks correctly. This added pressure is beneficial as well as it helps the teacher maximise the time during the class to cover as many parts of a topic simultaneously.

On the other hand, the limitations would include heavy preparations as the multiple stations would mean multiple lesson materials are needed simultaneously. Following that, the time pressure might cause students to breeze through the tasks and not allowing room for thoughtful discussions due to their goal of finishing fast.

In my opinion, these problems can be solved. For example, the teacher can ask students to help prepare some of the materials. This encourages teamwork and student involvement. Also, the teacher can make sure that students must complete each task properly before moving to the next station. This way, students focus on learning, not just finishing quickly.

Afterward, students will work in groups to discuss and decide how they would reteach the topic to their peers. This process requires them to recall prior knowledge, reorganize their understanding, and communicate it clearly. I find this approach effective because students often know how to explain concepts in ways that resonate with their peers, sometimes even more effectively than a teacher can.

In addition, this form of collaborative learning supports the development of 21cc competencies such as communication and collaboration. By engaging in peer teaching, students not only deepen their own understanding but also build valuable skills that will serve them beyond the classroom.

I intend to implement this strategy as part of oral preparation. 

• Students will work as a group and make use of the app ‘Miro’ for their preparation.  (Groups of 4)  This app allows students to jot down key ideas/thoughts on the online board. They will have to brainstorm on the topic given. Each group will be given a set of scaffolding questions to guide them in their thinking process. 

(Example: Healthy lifestyle) They also get to brainstorm words or phrases that are related to the topic given. Since Miro is an app that allows for collaboration, they can work on the topic/questions concurrently.

• Teachers can get students to present their mindmaps to the class. This strategy allows students to build on their communication skills. 

I would also like to apply this for article reading. Students get to organize the information from the text using the 5W1H framework. Students would not feel overwhelmed by the text given. This strategy allows for a meaningful and constructive discussion among the students.

In Jigsaw, students first work in “expert groups” to focus on a small portion of the content, then return to their original groups to teach back what they have learned. This structure builds an environment where students understand what the were taught collaboratively with friends rather than passively receiving information from the teacher.

An example I can think of wrt using it in the classroom setting is:

- Students can be divided into expert groups to learn different sets of kata nama (nouns), kata kerja (verbs), or kata sifat (adjectives).

- Each group teaches their set back to their home group, practising pronunciation, sentence formation, and usage in context.

What I find most efficient about Jigsaw is how it naturally encourages deep cognitive engagement. When students have to explain ideas to their peers, they cannot rely on memorisation alone. They will need to organise their thoughts, make sense of the content, and anticipate questions. This reflection-on-learning process helps students internalise what they have learned more meaningfully and strengthens their understanding.

Besides helping students with reading comprehension skills and understanding, the strategy can also be applied for teaching Mother Tongue subject concepts and topics such as adjectives, vocabulary and composition draft writing. The strategy has evolved learning to be more student centric as students are now more accountable and has a sense of ownership in their learning.

The dissemination and sharing of information have never been more raw, authentic and inclusive as students are excited to mentor, teach and learn from their own peers. Introvert students, who are timid and refuse to talk in big class discussions, might open their ideas and share information to their peers in smaller groups discreetly but naturally.

However, the only setback from this is too many groups movement might be overwhelming for the teacher and might undermine the teacher's overall control in class. At times, decentralized form of learning also requires additional support such parent support group or assistant teacher to assist the teacher. This is because the teacher needs to move around the class to monitor and provide feedback to the different groups.

All in all, I still favour this Jigsaw Learning as a creative and collaborative strategy that is designed to accommodate the different student profiles and diverse learning styles in the classroom.

Personally, I have experienced it first hand during Mrs Pat's lesson whereby we were divided into groups and were told to do our respective topic readings as a group before the next lesson. We were then told to discuss deeper about the assigned topic with our "Home Groups", before being split into our "Expert Groups" where I would have to share my assigned topic to other classmates who didn't read up about it.

As a student, it gave me a sense of "Responsibility" whereby I had to confident of my topic, before I share my knowledge to the rest of my classmates.

In addition, when listening to my classmates explain their respective topics, it was an inspiring moment whereby I got to witness my friends actively ensuring that we understood their topic.

This is what I feel as an adult student. What more a primary school student who has always felt like they "know nothing"? They now have the opportunity to feel like an "expert" and be accountable for their sharing.

Lastly, according to the TED Talk by Joe Ruhl, I think this learning involves some of the "5C's" he was talking about. Choice - Children can be given the choice to choose the topic to read on, Collaboration - Children working in groups, Communication - Children share their understanding to their classmates, Creativity - Children have the freedom to think of unique ways to share their findings either through explanation, drawing etc.

The reason as to why I am more inclined towards the whiteboarding method is mainly because that I believe that through this whiteboarding method my students would not only be able to elevate their learning but also be able to exemplify their understandings of the taught topic through their ability to articulate their understanding in the form a teaching session towards their peers. Furthermore this method would allow my students to be able to slowly build their own innate confidence in both public speaking as well as being able to have the confidence to defend their ideas.

Now how I would try to apply the Whiteboarding method in class is by utilizing both the methods which is the method which was shown in the video as well as the method which way written on the Whiteboarding page itself. Furthermore, once i am proficient enough in the usage, execution and facilitation of the Whiteboarding method, I would also like to try fusing it with the jigsaw Learning if possible. However as of now I do believe that both the written method and the video method of the Whiteboarding technique can be used for varying purposes.

The reason as to why ,I mention this is because from my understanding the method which was showcased in the video can be used as what i believe to be the most clear way to ascertain if the students are able to understand the concepts which are taught which for my case could possibly be the various Imbuhan (Affixes) which I have taught for the day. In addition to that, through this variation of whiteboarding the student would be able to engage in deeper thought as they would have to structure their words and carefully imagine as to what would be the best way to teach/describe/ exemplify what was being taught. Furthermore they would also have to choose their words carefully as to allow for their audience to understand the concept easily. I am also able to similarly to the video start of the students with lower confidence to record Infront of a video which would allow them to build up their presenting skills while slowly transitioning it to a presentation in front of the class to now build their confidence Infront of an audience. As i also agree with the video in that mentions that Teaching is simply the most rigorous version of learning of which would surely put a relief in my head when my students are able to present and teach their peers and showcase that they are able to understand the topics which were taught in class.

Now as for the method which was written on the page itself, I believe that would be a much better way to inculcate both collaborative learning as well as team building skills whereby now after they are confident in having their own ideas and are able to exemplify and articulate their understanding, Now they would be tossed in an arena where they may have to clash their ideas of understanding and now discern whether their ideas are true, they may misunderstand certain parts which led their understanding to be different of which the students are able to clarify with the teacher to gain a proper understanding or the other students in the group can aid and correct the students misunderstanding. As well as also finding a method, explanation which would allow the rest of the class to understand the ideas which they are presenting which would also showcase their understandings of the lesson. This in turn would also teach my students to be able to compromise, understand, empathise and respect the ideas of others within the same group as well as work together to acheive a common goal which is to be able to present their understandings in the class in the form a group teaching session in an elaborate and eloquent manner.

Finally, with high hopes of my future proficiency in this Whiteboarding technique, I would like to fuse the Whiteboarding group variation with jigsaw learning. This is so as to allow the students to split into the various groups and once they have absorbed and understood the knowledge from the various tasked topics, they will return in a group and then try to exemplify their varying ideas into a teaching session which they will showcase to the class so that they will be able to see that even though they may have gotten the same source of information but the method of teaching, presentation, understanding and showcase are all uniquely different to their own unique groups.

As such I would end my reflection here.

What I felt works best was when the lesson itself was conducted with an activity or the usage of ICT materials, basically something aside from the usual pen and paper method.

The Learning Stations strategy aids in building teamwork, which is an essential skill for the students to have. It allows me to group together students of different abilities (High/Middle/Low Ability) and have them collaborate and learn from one another.

Aside from just low ability students, this strategy also allows me to cater to students of all levels and learning styles as the activities from each station can vary from problem-based learning and even hands-on tasks, based on my classroom profile needs.

And even when planning, I like that it makes me think more carefully about how to carry out my lessons. It challenges me to plan better, be more concise and organised as well as to ensure that each activity of the stations works well for all of my students.

I feel that when we are gathered in expert groups, we are able to supplement information to one another. It made me realise that although we all read the same reading materials, everyone had their own understanding and apprehension of the subject matter/topic. Each individual holds a unique piece of a puzzle. I also think that it would be best if I can ensure equal distribution of student abilities (High Progress (HP), Middle Ability (MP) & Low Progress (LP) in each home group. For instance, in group of equal distribution of abilities, perhaps the HP students can support the understanding of MP and LP students. I believe that even if the LP student does not/is not able to contribute to the expert group discussion, there will be at least one takeaway which he/she could relay back during the home group discussion. This is a good strategy to promote peer learning and collaborative learning.

As mentioned in the video by Joe Ruhl, not only would students be able to develop/amplify their 21st CC skills (5Cs) through Jigsaw Learning, but they will also have the opportunity for authentic learning. One way I intend to employ this teaching strategy is during Composition Writing. At the end of the activity, each home group would be able to compose 1 composition – which would have been contributed by each expert member in the home group.

In addition, whiteboarding is an effective tool for teachers to assess students’ learning progress on the topic. I am able to observe my students' thought processes as they work on the task. Consequently, this allows me to tailor my teaching to their needs in subsequent lessons. Beyond assessing comprehension, I believe whiteboarding also helps identify learning gaps that may not be visible during peer evaluations.

This strategy also caters well to visual learners, who benefit from expressing their thoughts through diagrams, mind maps, drawings etc which enable them to retain concepts more effectively.

In conclusion, whiteboarding is a flexible and inclusive strategy that encourages participation and supports differentiated learning.

During my contract teaching, I observed the classroom and I noticed that there are no learning stations for the students to get engaged in activities and at least half of my students are non-native that could not converse fully in Malay language.

I strongly feel that setting up learning stations as a strategy to enhance their learning for Malay language would be very meaningful and fun as they are a bunch of curious children and always love to learn something new. This has to be done with proper planning and I have to consider making differentiated activities for the students so they have a sense of accomplishment for what they have achieved upon completing the activity.

For example, in a Malay lesson on makanan tradisional (traditional food): one station could focus on vocabulary matching, another on reading a short passage, a third on sentence building, and a fourth on role-playing a food-ordering scenario.

This reminds me of my preschool experience with learning centres, which were effective in supporting exploration and independence. I am pleasantly surprised to learn that this approach is also feasible in a primary school setting, as it caters to different learning styles while encouraging collaboration and differentiation.

Students would form a group of 4 and each students will have individual numbers. They will then receive a handout prepared by the teacher and form expert teams (following their number that they have picked). Such as leaving their actual groups to form expert teams. (Eg. Groups members no. 1 will get to seat together). Students are then to discuss the question given and go back to their home groups to share what their respective groups has discussed earlier.

With this, all the students will get the opportunity to communicate and share their thoughts as individually, they were tasked to discuss on different topics/questions. Coming together from the different expert groups, students get to tell their group members what they have learned/discuss giving them the opportunity to learn from one another.

This is very helpful as it gives everyone a chance to talk especially for those that are more quieter and do not usually share in group work. In addition, helping them to be more confident to contribute in a group setting. It also allows students to enhance on their collaborative learning and encourage engagement in class.

I found myself looking up jigsaw learning even before this session to have a better understanding of its nature and the benefits it brings in teaching and learning. I especially love how it is a great platform for collaboration and communication, where students develop their listening and speaking skills while working together. In fact, this sets the stage for every student to participate in the lesson actively as they have play a crucial role in educating others in their supposed area of expertise.

While the thought of having to be a knowledgeable other may be daunting for some students especially if the class is of mixed ability, this learning strategy is actually so flexible in the way it gives room for differentiated learning to take place. We can create opportunities for low-progress learners to focus on one manageable portion, while the high-progress learners can delve deeper into the given topic. This builds confidence in students as they become experts in their respective areas, regardless their pace in learning.

Also, the whole idea of being part of a jigsaw itself is fun and exciting. It sounds like a mission students have to clear as a group which amps up the engagement and motivation factor.

10/10 will want to try!!

1. Students take charge of their own learning, and they get to present them in a way they understand. This encourages metacognition as they would also like to present in a way that allows their peers to understand.

2. The process is simple yet efficient in finding out a student understanding and line of thought their whiteboard presentation. Learning gaps are then easy teachers to pick up and fill in.

3. Peer feedback is a good way for children to compare their works and for them to realise where they stand in class. This will motivate students to improve themselves. The lower progress students also can learn from the high progress students by watching the videos.

4. Lastly, this is the best way to record student work and to assess their progress through the term. There are parents who are curious about their children progress and would like to know what their child has been doing in school. Therefore, this method is very useful for such purpose.

I feel that this method is very relevant to cater to students in Singapore and the profiles of parents we have in Singaporean schools.