
Elena Kagan
Elena Kagan is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was nominated by President Barack Obama in May 2010, and confirmed by the Senate in August of the same year. She is the fourth woman to serve as a Justice of the Supreme Court.
Full Answer
What are Kagan structures and how do they work?
Many teachers believe Kagan Structures are instructional strategies designed to promote cooperation and communication in the classroom, boost students' confidence and retain their interest in classroom interaction. The Structures work in all teaching contexts—regardless...
What is the Kagan cooperative learning approach?
For an in-depth presentation of the Structures and our approach to cooperative learning, you can read Kagan Cooperative Learning (2009). Kagan Structures are instructional strategies designed to promote cooperation and communication in the classroom, boost students' confidence and retain their interest in classroom interaction.
What are the different Kagan strategies?
The following Kagan strategies are organized in alphabetical order for easy access. Blind Sequencing(teambuilding, thinking) Teams work to sequence cards in their proper order, but there is a catch – each student holds his or her own cards, and no one else can see what is on them. 1. One student on a team will be the dealer.
What is Kagan's method of questioning?
Kagan makes the point that with traditional questioning strategies, where the teacher poses questions and pupils put their hands up, only one child at a time gets to answer. His strategies work on the principle that all children should be actively engaged and equal participants in learning.

What are examples of Kagan strategies?
For example, a simple Kagan Structure is a RallyRobin. Rather than calling on one student at a time, the teacher has all students interacting at once by saying, “Turn to your partner and do a RallyRobin.” During a RallyRobin, students repeatedly take turns, giving one answer each turn to create an oral list.
What is the Kagan model?
The Kagan model defines over 150 repeatable, step-by-step, content-free ways to structure the interaction of students with each other, the curriculum, and the teacher. The greatest point of divergence in the two models are Kagan Structures.
Why are Kagan strategies important?
Kagan Structures are instructional strategies designed to promote cooperation and communication in the classroom, boost students' confidence and retain their interest in classroom interaction.
How many Kagan strategies are there?
Implementing Kagan Structures would require a great deal of training and practice; there are more than 200 Kagan Structures!
Is Gallery Walk a Kagan strategy?
0:542:34Gallery Walk - Classroom Strategy - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipStudents move in small groups from station to station responding to pieces of art text or graphics.MoreStudents move in small groups from station to station responding to pieces of art text or graphics. At each exhibit students explore the essential.
Is Think-Pair-Share a Kagan strategy?
Think-Pair-Share is NOT really a Kagan structure. It was developed originally by Dr. Frank Lyman and Arlene Mindus in 1977. You should be able to use a search engine to find the steps for multiple variations of Dr.
Is Four Corners a Kagan structure?
Four Corners: A Kagan Strategy *FREEBIE!* I love it, and so do the students. This is a great tool to use to get your kiddos up and about during school, to share their opinions/thoughts.
What is cooperative learning according to Kagan?
Cooperative Learning is a teaching arrangement that refers to small, heterogeneous groups of students working together to achieve a common goal (Kagan, 1994). Students work together to learn and are responsible for their teammates' learning as well as their own.
Is Kagan evidence based?
Kagan Structures are scientifically research-based as well as backed by classroom evidence from districts, schools, and teachers experiencing success with Kagan. Kagan Structures integrate the most powerful principles from decades of research.
When did Kagan strategies start?
And great teachers—well, they're already using Kagan Structures! Kagan's publications and workshops are based on a research program conducted by Dr. Spencer Kagan beginning in 1968.
What are Kagan chips?
One student picks a chip and reads the question. All teammates take a turn responding. The next student picks the next chip and all teammates respond. Learning Chips are a terrific way to get students interacting over the learning topic!
How do you form a Kagan team?
Take a card from each of the groups of index cards and you have your teams. On each index card I use a colored pencil to mark the team the students are placed in. In my classroom I have different colored stars above each of the teams, yellow, green, red, purple, pink, orange, blue and salmon.
What is the Kagan approach?
The Kagan approach provides an array of techniques and Structures, but considering that teachers are overburdened with new initiatives and programs as it is, having enough time to learn, prepare, and implement them could be an issue. Most teachers already use cooperative learning in some way.
Why is Kagan important?
Even so, Kagan has value because it provides scripts that might make facilitating cooperative learning easier for educators, especially new teachers. There is a dizzying array of Kagan workshops offered around the country, and they're expensive. A one-day summer workshop in Fresno, California, for example, costs $219;
What is Kagan cooperative learning?
Kagan cooperative learning ensures that every student is actively involved. Research on Kagan cooperative learning supports findings of "improved academic achievement, improved ethnic and race relationships, improved social skills and social relations, and increased liking for self, others, and school.". Since these are goals for most schools, I ...
Why is it impossible to hide in a Kagan classroom?
At first glance, this cooperative learning technique seems like traditional group work, but there's a major difference: It's impossible to hide in a Kagan classroom because each student must "participate frequently and approximately equally." Traditional teaching can lead to an ever-widening gap between high and low achievers, and the Kagan method aims to close that gap.
What is the Kagan method?
Traditional teaching can lead to an ever-widening gap between high and low achievers, and the Kagan method aims to close that gap. This model assumes that most teachers utilize direct instruction and then turn to the class for a question-and-answer portion. Usually, a few students answer the questions while the majority ...
How many Kagan structures are there?
Implementing Kagan Structures would require a great deal of training and practice; there are more than 200 Kagan Structures! I believe it would make the most impact if it were utilized throughout a district so students could have time to practice the techniques, and their skills would expand as they progress from grade to grade.
How to evoke longer responses?
To evoke longer responses, a teacher could use Timed Pair Share, where each student shares for a predetermined amount of time.
What is Kagan structure?
Kagan Structures are instructional strategies designed to promote cooperation and communication in the classroom, boost students' confidence and retain their interest in classroom interaction. The Structures work in all teaching contexts—regardless of subject, age group, and number of students in class—and are a particularly powerful tool ...
What would a teacher who is fluent with Kagan Structures do?
The teacher who is fluent with a number of Kagan Structures would teach the same lesson quite differently. She would likely still provide some direct instruction, but skip the whole-class question-and-answer session, and not do the individual exercise.
Kagan strategies that help
Kagan strategies are nothing new – if you haven’t been to a conference then surely you know a teacher who has. I was one of those teachers that absorbed all the information teachers could give me about Kagan Learning since I was never lucky enough to attend.
What do Kagan numbers look like?
The basis is, there are four students to a group, each with their own number (1-4) and a letter either A or B.
How I used Kagan numbers
I had rectangular tables so I had all four numbers set up and each table was color coded.
Kagan numbers are versatile
This is a method that can be used in all grade levels. I personally think it would be super beneficial in middle school! Students at that age are reluctant to do things and this might be the expectation that is needed for them.
Where can you get Kagan numbers?
Lucky for you, I have made a set that you can use in your classroom FOR FREE!

Full Participation Is The Driving Force
Structure Is The Kagan Foundation
- Student interaction is at the core of the Kagan method, but it's not unstructured. Teachers are expected to implement Kagan Structures, which, according to the company website, are "instructional strategies designed to promote cooperation and communication in the classroom, boost students' confidence, and retain their interest in classroom interact...
The Realities of Using The Kagan Method
- I wanted to know what real teachers had to say. Amazon reviews of the Kagan books are overwhelmingly positive: "Fantastic ideas! Very useful in today's classroom!" one reviewer wrote. Complaints centered around redundant ideas or the need for face-to-face implementation training. After looking into it more thoroughly, I came up with these takeaways for any teacher interested …