In the words of one (of many) teachers who practiced coaching a Math Education Team:
“At first I was concerned that a lesson taught with the Education Team method will result in interruption of the learning or a delay. I was surprised to find out that in all cases (weak & strong groups) it worked. The students love to discover and practice on their own. Competition increased and turned into a healthy driving force because it wasn’t between the students but rather focused on surpassing their previous success. Learning in groups with easily accessible tools has become an experience of satisfaction, fun, and success. I was awe-inspired by the successes and profound comprehension of the learned topic that was brought about by the change in the learning model and the shared work in groups even among the least strong students. As a self-proclaimed “control freak”, I discovered that I have no need for it when the students become an Education Team.”
The Mathematics Education teams Program has been operating for the past 4 years. In the 2018-2019 school year, 4,609 students participated in this program.
MOOC Education Team Model on H2M
Mathematics Education Team Videos
Thoughts and shares from teachers who implemented the Education Team Model in Mathematics:
The Education Team! Today I taught two classes with the Education Team Model (one heterogenous group with stickers, and one weak homogeneous group without stickers). In the heterogeneous group, it worked fantastically! The students enjoyed it and I enjoyed watching them teach the study material. My role was to maintain the language of math. Finally, I witnessed collaborations and a meaningful learning! Most of the groups completed most of their tasks on time! Except for one group that had one girl that considerably slowed down the pace. I think that I will take all the weak students and teach them separately or include only one or two in each of the groups (I’d love to get ideas from you…) In the weak homogenous group, it was more challenging, but still more successful than other standard classes. I used today what we have learned yesterday and it was simply amazing!! The subject was geometry for 11th grade – 4 study units. The students were asked to solve 2 geometry questions by using 4 stages and at the end of each stage they used a sticker. We have planned 30 minutes for this task (usually, 2 questions will take the entire time of a class). The students completed the task in 25 minutes. They taught each other, corrected each other’s mistakes (something that didn’t necessarily happen in class in the past) and to my surprise, it wasn’t necessarily the strongest student that did all the teaching. All the students said they liked studying in this way.
Hi,
I’d like to share with you that I taught today with the Education Team Model in 8th grade, mid-level group in math. This was the second time after a very difficult and cluttered class. So far, this group was very challenging to me and it was hard to motivate them to do the work. We’ve worked on basic level equations. At the end of the class we have solved 150 equations and got a standing ovation. I was able to explain the material to one group and let another group get assistance from the same question! I have no doubt that for me it’s just the start of a new road that will, God willing, develop greatly. Many thanks.
In my experience with 11th grade students – they keep asking me when are we having a coaching session… Today we did morning exercises. They are thrilled about working in a group setting. I am too. They love the “green” student method very much. The students that understood the material after my short explanation and can teach it. They sit in small groups and every group has at least one Green student.
I’d like to share with you that, with God’s help, thanks to the Education Team, my students are breaking records with the number of exercises they solve. Every class they find out how powerful they are and their ability to self-learn and to teach their friends! I feel that the Education Team has worked wonders. It feels to me as if I got a new class. Thank you, Yair, Yoav and to all the partners in the Education Team for the shares and the ideas! Shabat Shalom and good news.
I must share! A we speak, I’m returning from a meeting with the parents and the feedbacks I received from the parents are awesome! We’ve broke a record ever since we’ve started working with the Education Team. My students are breaking records with the number of exercises. We’ve reached a point that most of the class finished all the study material five minutes before the end of class and the students are so happy about the fact that they can teach each other!! Yoav, Yair – you’re the best
I decided to put emphasis on transferring responsibility to the students and allowing mobility in the classroom. In other words, if a student is not comfortable in one group or if a student believes that he understands the material better in another group, he can move to another group where he’ll be able to learn better. I’ve introduced the traffic light and it upgraded the language in the classroom. Before we start work, I check status and it’s the students’ responsibility to help the yellows and reds. Half way into the class period, I stop to check status again to see if there’s an improvement and I ask for more greens to help the yellows and reds. Lastly, I built an Education Team area in the classroom. The area has the agreement that they signed at the beginning of work and a class graph.
I have to share the activity I did today. (A group activity) I gave the students a chance to work in groups and practice questions on the Pythagorean theorem. In the second half of the class period we had a competition between the groups, each time a different representative from each group approached the board to solve a question from the questions bank … (This way, the group had to make sure that all group members know how to solve the questions because everyone participates). The winning group received 5 bonus points for next week’s test… The students were excited about it and were ready to learn! I can’t wait to see the results in the exam.
We’ve tried the Education Team in 8th grade (highest level group). It was a delight. The students were excited and responsible, and collaborated. I gave them a reflection form and we had a conversation about the process. They felt that they’ve learned and had fun.
