Collaborative approach to learning in Year 8

Braeburn Imani firmly believes in exploring several teaching and learning approaches that centre around the students. One such approach is collaboration.

Year 8 students in Braeburn Imani have been recently learning various forms of non-fiction writing. It is a broad unit in English Language that requires students to understand the various non-fiction texts and how to write them.

So, how well do we ensure that learners understand these forms of non-fiction writing? The Department of English decided to use the collaborative approach to influence good learning outcomes.

The envoy approach

This is a teaching style that is similar to the traditional “group work” approach. Using the envoy approach, we divide learners into distinct groups. Unlike the traditional group work, the envoy approach sets higher expectations for individual learners in the group. They are all given specific roles i.e. ambassador, secretary, influencer, organiser, spy, etc.

This approach allows the ambassadors to “travel” and share their findings with other groups before a whole class presentation.

Class presentations

After the rigorous activities, learners were ready to present their findings and teach the rest of the class their assigned forms of writing. They even set questions for other groups to test their understanding.

Indeed, it was wonderful to see raw leadership skills inculcated in our learners, thus, showing heightened degrees of confidence in our students when given opportunities.