BLOG 790 #3 Literature Review Reflection
At least half of the sources I reviewed about affinity groups were about college level education and using these groups to support students of color so they can connect with other students of color at universities where they are in the minority. This is an interesting idea but did not quite fit what I am hoping to discover by using affinity groups. In one example at the community college level, Cheryl Stokke used affinity groups to base an internship style experience for students, focusing on collaborative skills and “soft skills” in the business environment. Another theory related to affinity groups is Small Learning Groups (SLG). This seemed to be a fruitful line of research for me and included work by Linda Darling-Hammond (can you say “Bingo!”) titled “Teaching The Way Students Learn Best”. This study is about a high school in the Bronx that tried to adjust every aspect of the school to create the very best learning environment for students. They have been very successful with administration, teachers, students and families all getting “on board” with their new plan, even though it is located in a gang ridden part of the Bronx. Some of the key components include: small school (445 students), small class sizes (22ish), advisory 2-3 times per week, interdisciplinary teams, and distributed counseling. The last one was a new term to me and I came across it in several studies. It is the idea that every teacher takes a piece of the SEL pie and uses it to support students within their content area instead of all that responsibility falling on the school counselor. This study was reviewed by Zaretta Hammond. This study and one by Paul Astin titled “Personalization Through Small Learning Communities” all support my idea that creating connections between students by getting them into small collaborative groups increases their engagement and overall success in school. I was surprised to find one study that said that teaming created an increase in victimization because students were in the same little pods all day with no way to escape the presence of a bully. Several of the teaming studies also were much more focused on what teachers gained from this structure vs. the benefits to student learning. These studies were mostly older ones from the 1990s when teaming at the middle school level was the norm. Like everything in education, you need the right people on the bus to make things work successfully. I had such a great teaming experience at Redwood, but was fortunate to work with very collaborative people.
4 Comments
Kimberlee Nelson
2/15/2021 04:49:13 pm
Betsy,
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Kelly W.
2/16/2021 08:22:12 pm
Hello, Betsy!
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Susan Craig
2/17/2021 07:33:39 am
Hi Betsy,
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Amy Bardwell
2/17/2021 03:55:27 pm
Hi Betsy: Reading your blog and I just hear your excitement in your voice. I look forward to seeing your outcomes.
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AuthorHello! Welcome to my blog! This will be a fun place to share thoughts about teaching and learning. I am a middle school science teacher at Redwood. When I'm not teaching, I'm hanging out at home with my family or enjoying nature somewhere in the valley. Archives
March 2021
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