The Missing Piece of the Jigsaw Puzzle

Carol Brewer
Sep 29, 2008

Have you ever tried the Jigsaw instructional strategy and thought it was not successful for all students? It may be that you were missing an important step. The steps in the process are:

1. An assignment is divided and numbered into different parts

2. Students are given a corresponding number

3. All students with #1 work in their "Expert" group to gather information to share, #2 work together, etc.

4. Students complete a graphic organizer with their notes

5. Students go back to their Home group to share their notes

6. The Home group completes a foldable with notes from what they have heard

7. Students have information from all of the assignment instead of just their "Expert" group

The last two bullets are the missing piece of the Jigsaw puzzle. It is important for all students to have notes on all the assignment, not just their Expert group. The following is an example:

The teacher divides a social studies assignment into four different parts according to the sub-headings. The students are numbered off 1-4.  All the 1's are given the first section, the 2's the second section, etc. The students are to complete the Topic Tower with their Expert group.  The Topic Tower identifies the Topic, Details, and Main Idea.  The Details can focus on a particular concept.

After the students have completed the Topic Tower with their Expert group, they go back to their Home group. They use the Topic Tower to share their notes. The students complete a foldable with the information that they gather from each of the Expert groups.
     
This foldable is the missing piece of the Jigsaw.  Students now have the information from all the groups.

Information in this article comes from the Learning-Focused Reading Assignments Workshop.