Hierarchic: 4 Main Ideas

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S.T.A.D.(Student Teams Achievement Divisions )

Is about

A cooperative learning strategy that provides multi-ability teams with practice in learning concepts and skills. STAD provides an equal opportunity for success.
Main idea Main idea Main idea Main idea

Planning

Implementing

Assessment

Motivation

Planning for Whole Group Discussion: be prepared to present all of the content information that students will later practice in groups. Set clear and specific learning objectives for both the content and dynamic aspects of the lesson. Organizing Groups:Organize the teams in advance, not letting the students pick their opwn teams and make sure the teams are of diverse races,genders and achievement levels for maximum diversity. Planning for Team Study:Make sure that the whole group instruction and the team study are aligned with the specific learning objectives. You can use any method for team study such as guided discussion of a topic within a group, a worksheet to complete as a group or problems to practice as a group. Calculating base scores and improvement points:calculate the average of each individual students test and quiz scores so that improvement points can be awarded based on the deviation from the base score. For example, if suzis base score is 80 on a math test and she got an 85 on the last math test, the teacher can choose to add 5 points to the students score.

Instruction: teach the lesson as you would for any other lesson, following closely to your lesson plan as well as making sure to stick with the learning objectives. Transition to teams: Get the class into their groups and pass out the group practice assigned. Carefully e plain and illustrate for the students that the group will be rewarded if individual improvement increases.
Team study: Monitor how the students are working in their teams and walk around the room to provide help or to make sure that everyone is on task with their assignment. Make notes on the group dynamics for use when assessming the group process. Make sure that the groups are running Recognizing Achievement: Assess the student abilities as you normally would, but award the improvement points where they are due. Team awards can be given based on the number of improvement points gathered by each team.

Assessment of Content knowledge:Assess the content knowledge in the same way as usual. Then, apply the improvement points based on your system. Assement of Group processes: Use your notes from monitoring team study to assess your groups: Are all members contributing, are boys and girls speaking equally,are some members dominating, are group interactions positive, are the diverse members of the group being included?

Motivation: In STAD, students are motivated by the social interaction that comes with working in groups as well as the relative control they have as well as the competition for improvement points. Modifications: You can tailor this strategy to fit any classroom by changing the activity for team study or by changing up the groups to fit the dynamic of the classroom.

So what? What is important to understand about this? STAD is an important strategy to use in classes because it promotes social growth in areas like tolerance, trust and develops interpersonal relationships within the class. This method is also useful because, it promotes healthy competition and rewards students for making positive improvements.