7. Cooperative Learning
Practicing “Cooperative Learning” can be challenging. What strategies do you employ to ensure each child learns when working with others? What would you tell a parent who says. “I don’t like cooperative learning because MY child ends up doing all the work!”
Please address both questions!
Watch this video too. YouTube Cooperative Learning Video
September 8th, 2008 at 9:49 am
What strategies do you employ to ensure each child learns when working with others? The best strategy is observation and re-direction if necessary. However, giving the group members assigned “tasks or roles” helps a great deal – making sure to change and alternate roles/tasks so no one ends up doing all the work. Matter of fact, the roles can be switched in the middle or at different “times of completion” within ONE PROJECT. Every other day the roles could be changed between group members. If they know this going in, they will know that no one WILL BE DOING ALL THE WORK. Peer evaluations also give all group members a chance to honestly tell how the group participation is going. If students know up front that his/her team members will be evaluating them, they seem to work harder. What would you tell a parent who says. “I don’t like cooperative learning because MY child ends up doing all the work!” I tell that parent that the roles will change so no child will end up doing all the work. I also give “peer evaluation” forms and let partners grade each other. They are VERY HONEST about who is working and who is not.
September 8th, 2008 at 10:38 am
What strategies do you employ to ensure each child learns when working with others?
I create my groups heterogeneously with usually no more than 4 students. Each student is assigned a role and I observe the groups very carefully as to insure that one student is not doing all of the work. I use a peer critique at the end of group work that is figured into their grade. (I also have supersonic hearing so I can actually hear what the groups are talking about. It is one of my superhero traits.
What would you tell a parent who says. “I don’t like cooperative learning because MY child ends up doing all the work!” I would reassure the parent that I observe the groups in action and each student critiques the other which is kept confidential (so they can be very honest. I would also tell the parent that this is a life skill because most jobs in real life require you to work with at least one other person on a given task.
September 8th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
1) Having put my classes into groups one (1) time now, I make sure that I’m always “hovering” so BOTH students are benefiting from the material they need to learn. I agree that assigned roles are excellent objectives to set, but they need to always be reinforced and overseen so students aren’t switching or compensating for others. A strategy I plan on using later in the year is student evaluation forms on group projects.
2) I would assure the parent that whatever experience they’ve had in the past isn’t going to be repeated. As Karla mentioned, I would make sure to let the parent know I will be observing, rather than checking email at my desk all day. I would stress the “real-world” lessons we’re trying to incorporate and the inevitable fact that somewhere along the way, we will ALL have to learn to deal with others we may not fully agree or get along with.
September 9th, 2008 at 9:02 am
In our Myers-Briggs training we are learning about the different learning styles of our students and ourselves. cooperative learning is a way to observe these learning styles in action. In my class, I use peer editing to give students a chance to read other students’ writing and see different writing styles. I also like to use partners when introducing a new skill. I’ve seen student’s light bulbs go on when another student explains something to them that I just couldn’t express in a way they can to each other. I have had the problem with one student doing most of the work, but through monitoring and redirecting usually I can solve that problem before it becomes one.
September 9th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Like others have mentioned, I also assign roles to students. I type up a specific “check list” for each role so that they can refer back to their job responsibilities easliy. The check list stays with the group at all times so everyone can see what each group member is expected to do. When it comes to redirection, usually I just have to point to the check list and remind them of what they are required to do. Constantly monitoring is important.
In terms of parent complaints, I would tell them that the students will all do a self evaluation first. They will also do the peer evaluation (like others have mentioned). I agree with Donna that they are very honest about the work of their peers. I would also mention that the voice of each student is important, which is the peer evaluation is so important to the process.
September 14th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
What strategies do you employ to ensure each child learns when working with others? I always chose the groups that students will work in. This way I can insure that the groups are heterogeneous. I also assign tasks that are specific to each role within the group. In addition, I have students do peer evaluations and try to have a reflection sections that helps me to improve the activity. I ask what was good about the assignment, what did not go well and how it could be made better.
What would you tell a parent who says. “I don’t like cooperative learning because MY child ends up doing all the work! I also stress that the roles students are assigned in group work rotates so no one child is stuck with doing all the work. Just like Donna said, I also stress that working in a group is a life skill that we will be using in the real world.
September 15th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Students are given roles in cooperative learning activities in my room. i.e. Recorder, supplies, note taker, etc. These are assigned in differnt ways. Some days I let the shortest person assign the roles or the one with the longest last name or the person with the shortest hair. I circulate to make sure everyone is doing something.
As for the parent complaint, I tell them how roles are assigned and assure them no one student does ALL the work. It may feel like that to their child that day, but it just isn’t so.
September 22nd, 2008 at 12:58 pm
When using cooperative learning, I ensure full group participation by making sure that I spend extra time hovering around the “lazy” kid’s desk. Additionally, I reassign groups if I have too many “overachievers” in one group. Generally speaking I do not have to reassign often, but occasionally it must be done!
To the parent who complains their child does all the work, I’d ask why the child never mentioned this to me publicly or privately. Learning about speaking up is as necessary a skill as any we learn in life. Also, I’d tell them to let me know when this “problem” surfaced in my class cooperative learning environment and I am more than willing to rectify this on a case by case basis.
September 22nd, 2008 at 7:53 pm
I suppose I’m the parent who doesn’t like cooperative learning because my child stresses when group members do not complete their part in a timely manner and often ends up doing all the work!! It is important the “five defining elements of cooperative learning” be a part of cooperative learning activities so students have a positive experience.
As a teacher of low ability students, I rarely utilize Cooperative Learning in my classroom because my class is formed on the basis of ability and Cooperative Learning is unproductive in my resource math class. However, Inclusion is allowing peer teaching, or cooperative learning, in my classroom to increase. A few students are beginning to develop self confidence and pride in their learning and I have noticed during the past few weeks when given the opportunity to peer tutor, they enjoy the opportunity to share strategies and explanations of how they obtained their answer.
September 22nd, 2008 at 8:39 pm
As I sit around the table with a group of students working on an assignment, I often assign each one 2-3 questions, definitions, locations on a map, whatever. Armed with the page numbers those answers can be found on, they each begin their quest. After a few minutes to find their pieces of the puzzle, they are given the chance, one by one, to share their gleanings with the group. I ask another in the group to rephrase, elaborate or expound (only I don’t usually use those big ole words – “what does that mean?” works well) to check for understanding (or lack of understanding). Usually SOMEONE can clarify – or it is my turn. Any parent who worries that their child is doing more than their share would be sincerely warmly invited (once they sign up as a BISD volunteer) to come join the fun in Content Mastery. I’ve already got two new ones lined up so far.
September 26th, 2008 at 9:47 am
-Working in the fields that I do (P.E./Ahtletics), Cooperative Learning is something that I not only try to employ but something that is a vital step for everyone involved with physical eduction and, especially, athletics. One way I try to employ cooperative learning is by making sure all my students understand what our main goal is for that particular drill. I get them to realize that not only are they working for themselves but they working for their teammates as well. If they understand that they all need to “give and take” in order to get a certain result, then that is exactly what needs to happen.
- If a parent wasn’t happy with group work beacuse her child ends up doing all the work I would explain to her that her child is in a “win-win” type situation. Her child is being thrown into a “real-world” type scenerio on learning how to delegate, motivate his/her group memebers into contributing to the assignment. I would also explain that all like leaders need to learn these skills in order to be successful and that her child is getting a head start among the rest. I would also explain that when it comes time to test on the material her child, the one doing all the work, would be well prepared while the other child, who did not particpate, would not be as perepared. So while it looks like her child is at a disadvantage, the truth is quite oppisite.
September 27th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Good point, Amy – the “win-win” situation. The “working” student will get that head start, be more prepared and have the advantage come test time, and in life!
October 1st, 2008 at 4:57 pm
A daily log and accountablity grade for cooperative learning often helps solve both these issues. This way students, and the teacher, have a record of what they have done each day. There is then a relevant way to grade fairly.
Coorpertive learning is a very important life skill our students must learn. There are times when we all have to work with people we would not normally choose to work with. They must know how to deal with this inorder to be successful. THey must also know when to stand up for themselves if they are being overburdened or bullied into doing all the work. I say it is better ot learn it in school than in a high rise at the age of 25.
October 3rd, 2008 at 9:41 am
Managing cooperative learning inside the classroom isn’t always on my strong points, but I am learning how to work it better. I can see why assigning roles and specific tasks per group member is necessary. This way you can ensure that expectations are set, that students are working toward their goals and the group goal, and that one student doesn’t do all the work. It also works well in grading fairly and with parent questions about grading cooperative projects. There is not much a teacher can do if one group member is constantly absent and the other members naturally have to do more work, but that is the way of the real world. However, a teacher should keep this in mind when grading.
October 6th, 2008 at 10:48 am
What strategies do you employ to ensure each child learns when working with others?
Like many others have stated, I actively monitor the room as thhe kids are working. I will interact with the groups throughout the process. If certain members are not working the other members are usually pretty forthright in bringing that to my attention. I will redirect the students not pulling their weight, and explain the importance of their participation in making the group successful. Also, as others have stated I give instructions and roles to eliminate most problems from coming up in the first place.
What would you tell a parent who says. “I don’t like cooperative learning because MY child ends up doing all the work!”
I would explain to the parent that cooperative learning plays a very very important role in education in not only covering the material but also, in providing real-life social interaction in problem solving and creating a product. I would assure the parent that I understand her complaint and I have been and will continue to actively monitor and redirect all members of the group. I would also explain that all members of the group were given specific roles within the group and that her child would not have to do all of the work.
October 7th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Using manipulatives provides a hands-on interactive instructional approach and lends itself to the senses of the student thereby increases on-task behavior/engagement and decreases negative behavior. Specifying and assigning each group member a role is another strategy that allows for shared responsibility and ownership. I know that many times in my classroom the student who doesn’t understand the concept has the opportunity to observe the concept being modeled by others. In addition research shows using non-linguistic representations enables us to think and recall knowledge at a higher level.
As far as the parent part of the question, I would emphasize that cooperative learning provides students with consistent peer support and opportunities to develop important life skills such as patience, creativity, empathy, perseverance, and acceptance of individualism.
October 15th, 2008 at 11:58 am
I break the students into equal ability groups and I assign roles. I don’t neccessarily give the “highest” child the leadership role, or even the “bossiest”. Soemtimes it is the child who needs to be given a chance to lead once in a while that is given the leadership role. I monitor constantly to make sure everyone is cooperating to the best of their ability.
I had a parent complain to me last year that her child ended up doing all the work, and he did, but when we discussed it further, it was because her son was a perfectionist and he took the work home and did it all himself. She realized what had happened and wasn’t angry then, in fact we both laughed about it. I also talk to parents about how when a child grows up that the work force is built on cooperative learning and that children need to learn how to get along now with differnt learning styles and personalities.
October 16th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Like many others have said, I assign each child a role or job when we do group work. In one particular drill I use in p.e., they are 4 to a group. One is the shooter, 2 are the rebounders and one is the counter. I explain that the shooter is very dependent on the hustle of the 2 people that are rebounding/chasing the balls if one goes rolling away. He/she is also having to trust that the counter is paying attention and doing their job correctly. If they are not all doing their part, it can affect the number of shots made in the 60 second drill. Of course, they all change rolls once the time is up. They seem to all usually work hard at their part.
October 16th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
I would tell the parent that it would be impossible for her child to do all the work unless she has ever seen a one man volleyball/basketball team.
October 22nd, 2008 at 6:22 am
I used cooperative learning fairly successfully when I taught 5th grade. I will admit that in teaching 8th grade it is one of my weakest points. Even when I assign groups, give them specific job descriptions and time lines to complete the assignment I have to circulate constantly to keep them on task. We have so much material to cover to prepare them for “the test” and I find students are not very good managers of time for group work. My on-level students do not do homework and I have been told that if I assign any work, I have to give them class time to complete it; group projects would take too much class time. I use it more with my pre-AP classes.
Like everyone else mentioned, I tell students that group work is part of life and in the adult world they will need to know how to function in a group to complete tasks. There will always be “slackers” and someone will have to step up and fill in the gaps. They are told if they run into problems, let me know and I will mediate.
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:37 pm
The strategies I employ when using cooperative learning are: grouping students in heterogeneous groups to make sure that all students in one group are not the same (all thinkers, all doers, all dreamers, all visual learners, etc); giving each student a task in the group and changing that task if warranted; and keeping a close observation of cooperative learning groups to make sure all members do their part and become part of the cooperative learning experience.
To answer a parent who does not like cooperative learning because their child “does all the work”, I would tell the parent that I closely monitor all groups to make sure the students all participate but I also have students do peer review on each other’s participation and effort in the group. Children are brutally honest about other student’s effort and will inform me of lagging students without prompting. These reviews will done at the beginning, midpoint, and at the end of the cooperative learning session, with changes being made as necessary.
November 12th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
In the class, you have to give each person clear instructions, directions, jobs, whatever you want call it. Make them accountable for their share of the work. Observation of the work in progress will reassure the students that I will not tolerate only one person in the group doing all of the work. I would and do tell this to parents when I have the kids do group projects.
On the football field, you have to depend on each team member doing their job. If the linemen take a play off, the QB gets squashed like a grape. That’s one way to tell if everyone is pulling their weight.
November 12th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Cooperative Learning
Everyday in the choir room cooperative learning occurs. Students must learn to work together as a team in order to be successful as a choir. As students are learning many of the necessary musical skills I monitor their activities very closely.
They are put in small groups that must practice and perform together. They really respond to the peer pressure of knowing they’re going to stand in front of the class and perform a rhythm or sing a portion of a song. They want their group to be successful in front of the rest of the choir, so I see much cooperative participation occurring in these small groups. They teach each other and help the ones in their group that are not as strong. I always make sure they are kind to each other and never make anyone in their group feel they are not very smart. This does take some coaching and monitoring on my part.
To the parent who says “I don’t like cooperative learning because MY child ends up doing all the work!” Choir is a cooperative learning environment and students can learn so much in this situation. We can do far more together as group than we can ever achieve on our own. The rest of our student’s lives they are going to have to know how to work creatively with a group of people. Choir is a wonderful class to learn this skill.
November 18th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Ah yes, cooperative learning…tricky. Very tricky. I must admit, it’s much more easily accomplished on the whole in my GT classes than in my on-level classes simply because GT is more willing to stay on task and get the job done. That is not to say that everyone in the group is pulling their weight and there is no one more quick to tell you who is slacking that a put-upon GT kid. I’m in the middle of a group project in my on-level classes that is driving me insane because the noise level is 1000 times what it is normally because they are about 40 percent on task and the projects will not be high quality no matter how many times I explain it. I don’t know how to combat it. I allowed them to choose their groups and their grades unfortunately are going to reflect that they chose the groups and I did not.
What I am able to do and what I would tell parents is that at the end of every project like this, students evaluate themselves and group members for a grade. I am constantly counseling with groups making sure that they are working as efficiently as they are able (all the while swearing to myself that I will probably never try this insanity again).
I know that the research tells that cooperative learning is an excellent way to increase engagement, but until we have a culture shift, I don’t see how effective it can truly work and not drive me crazy.
But I’ll keep swinging for the fences. Because sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. And sometimes it rains.
November 20th, 2008 at 8:55 am
Cooperative learning is challenging for my classroom situation. I don’t want to use the fact that I teach resource to be a cop out for using this strategy, but it still is really hard. When I let them work with a partner on say their spelling homework, they will choose to work with someone in the same book. Sometimes I actually see cooperative learning going on and sometimes I see great copying going on. When I create groups randomly, I have a lot of complaining. I did use it one time when we did our Cinderella project. I felt like I did not get as good of a product as I would have gotten if they had worked alone. I would sit in with each group and have them tell me where they were in their plan to get done and if they were having any problems. Usually I had to completely redirect them and make out a plan for them. I probably need to do smaller projects until they get the hang of the cooperative part of it. As far as a parent complaining that their child does all the work – I would reassure them that I sit in on each group throughout the process and have them report what they have accomplished individually as well as a group.
November 20th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Group work is a regular thing in my classroom. I do not adhere to the “role” part of cooperative learning as that is not my personality style. I try but it seems so rigid to me. I also had one of my children experience TRUE cooperative learning…I mean the REAL deal…and she and I both hated it. I am probably too informal with this. I tend to let them group themselves and then float around the room monitoring. If a group needs more structure, then I jump in and assign roles. This is an area I feel I need to work on. As for parents and feeling their child did all the work; I don’t think I have ever had a parent call and say that. And when I DO see that occurring, it is usually a kid who is a perfectionist and CHOOSES to do all the work, much to the chagrin of the other team members.
November 21st, 2008 at 12:24 am
another audioblog: Comment #7
http://www.utterli.com/suziqb77
November 21st, 2008 at 8:26 am
Most of my classes are based on individual work and I may have one or two projects during semester in which students work in cooperative groups. During my class I use formal group approach to ensure that the students have enough time to complete an educational assignment. I proportionally divide students in groups so that every group has various types of students.
If a parent tells me “I don’t like cooperative learning because MY child ends up doing all the work!” I would response that I, as a teacher, closely monitor the group atmosphere and give credits to each child according to his/her involvement and effort. In addition, it will also indicate that this child has the gift of leadership and presented assignment is the process where his/her child is learning these skills in order to be successful.
December 1st, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Informal groups are used in my resource and enrichment math classes. Formal and base groups do not work well in my classes; I attribute this to the classes being created according to ability and as stated in the chapter, research indicates that “students of low ability actually perform worse when they are placed in homogeneous groups with students of low ability. . .” (pg.87). Allowing students to discuss how to solve problems in an informal setting enables them to compare strategies on solving problems and offers them the chance to be competitive with one another. When using informal groups as a teaching tool, I strive to facilitate the activity by walking among the pairs encouraging students to remain focused on the task.
My response would be to state to the parent that cooperation is essential in every facet of life and working well with others is an essential skill.
December 1st, 2008 at 6:42 pm
What strategies do you employ to ensure each child learns when working with others? The individual accountability component is a hugely important piece for me. Most of the time, my cooperative learning activities are more think-pair-share than the more elaborate projects from other subject areas. I would like to learn more about how to implement successful, proven cooperative learning in math. My students sit together and are allowed to check with each other as they work, but after reading the chapeter, I fear I am among those who are misusing or overusing coop. learning. I started to correct that today by making adjustments in my instructions to my students. They responded quite nicely.
What would you tell a parent who says. “I don’t like cooperative learning because MY child ends up doing all the work!” I assure them that every child is responsible for his/her own work in my class. The students are told to discuss ideas, then all must write them down. If we are making models, generally I won’t hear complaints because most of them enjoy that. When it’s time to do an assignment or take a test, it’s almost always done individually. The few times I’ve given a group quiz, it seems those who take charge are doing so because they feel the most confident and have taken on the leadership role voluntarily. Again, that situation is a learning experience as Ms. Nyvall explained so well above.
December 7th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
What strategies do you employ to ensure each child learns when working with others?
The tech lab’s foundation is teamwork. The managing computer selects the partners that will form the team for each 10 day rotation. The software requires the participation and evaluation of each student. Because it is the computer that makes the selections, there is less argument about whom they will have to work with and it gives them good experience in learning how to get along with others. This is a skill sorely needed by middle school students and there are no divorces!
The thing that has made the biggest impression on me are the occasions when students are paired with classmates who are “special needs” on different levels. One student in particular stands out because he was the typical young man who required extra supervision who was always into something he shouldn’t be. But an amazing thing happened when his partner was a student with Down’s Syndrome. This kid transformed into the most gentle, kind, patient humanitarian you would ever want to meet. Even his own work and performance improved and the “computer” paired them frequently. Sometimes there is more to learn than what is on the computer screen.
What would you tell a parent who says. “I don’t like cooperative learning because MY child ends up doing all the work!”
I have never had this complaint from a parent, although I have had students complain from time to time. But soon enough they realize that they aren’t working for one shared grade but are being evaluated in the final analysis as individuals. Some students do all, or most, of the work, but they reap the benefit in my classroom.
As a rule, I believe parents see the value of their children learning to work and compromise with others.
December 8th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Oh boy, this one is very relevant to me. I run into problems with cooperative learning almost every time we do a lab. It’s always a chore to get the students to work well when they are in a group with people they don’t know or don’t like. One thing I tell them is that part of science is learning to work with the greater scientific community and I stress real world examples of how when you get a job as a grown up, you can’t always choose your co-workers. It helps to assign a role to each person in the group and rotate those roles on a regular basis, so that each student gets experience at a different part of the procedure. Often you have to be careful because you have one person who wants to “take charge” and will inhibit the others from contributing. It helps to have a handout of lab roles that they keep in their science binders so that you can remind them if they are stepping outside their role. Remind them that they will get a chance to take on other roles the next rotation.
I’ve had the issue with parents and group work for the first time this year. I’ve had two parents say they don’t like it when their child has group work for precisely the reasons stated in the question. My response was two-fold – First, I explain everything I said above about science being a collaborative discipline, and there isn’t really any way to NOT do it in my class. I explain about role assignments and rotation. Secondly, in the classes where it was really an issue, I’ve started having each student in the group turn in their own lab write up rather than turning in one per group. This eliminates the “Well my kid did the work, but the other kid didn’t turn in the paper” problem. It makes more copies necessary, but in some ways it gives me a better view of how each child understood the activity.
December 9th, 2008 at 12:52 am
My room is about cooperative learning most of the time. If students are working together on written work, I have guidelines for them to follow. One person writes down the answers, the names of everyone in the group is written on the paper, each person must contribute, everyone in the group receives the same grade. I had a group with 1 student who was not helping. The students working took the other students name off the paper so she would not receive credit. After I spoke to her and assigned her specific questions to answer she did her share and the group was happy and they wrote her name on the paper again.
In food labs it is usually obvious to me from watching the groups who is working and who isn’t. Students complain if someone isn’t doing their share of the work.
If a parent complained about cooperative work I would assure them that I am monitoring the students to make sure that everyone does their part. In food labs there really isn’t a choice about working as part of a group. I could have students switch groups as a last resort. I have never encountered this problem with a parent.
December 10th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Most of my classes in the Alternative Teaching program incorporated cooperative learning techniques as an integral part of the instruction. In our classrooms, we never sat in rows, but always at round tables with room for four to six students. Rarely did a day go by when we did not work together on a cooperative project such as a poster and presentation, a short videotape, or a skit performance. I responded to this style of teaching and of learning quite positively, both cognitively and socially. When I completed my program and became a math teacher, I found that I followed the modeling of my professors and used cooperative learning in my own classroom.
I always start of my class with the “Learning Objectives” to give them a common goal to work to. Effective cooperative learning occurs when students work together to accomplish shared goals and when positive structures are in place to support that process (Johnson & Johnson, 1999). I understand that grouping students to work collaboratively and cooperatively offers benefits for our students and I try to keep the group size less than 3. I use ability grouping sparingly. In the past, I have witnessed that students across the spectrum of abilities benefit by heterogeneous grouping, especially low-ability students. I’m very careful not to use cooperative learning for all instructional goals. Math teachers normally fall in the pit because the CMP book calls for cooperative group quite often. While cooperative learning is a powerful strategy, it can be overused, or misapplied. I feel that students need time to investigate ideas and pursue interests on their own.
If you ever step into my classroom, you’ll see me use a variety of strategies when choosing students for groups. Many selection strategies (common clothing, favorite colors, letters in names, birthdays) will work when attempting to randomly group students.
December 11th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
I do lots of group work with varying degrees of success. Most of the group projects we do involve performance, so the kids have to do the work or they won’t learn their lines. One kid can’t do all the memorizing for an entire group.
I’ve taken to assigning “directors” in each of the groups; usually on the basis of who is most likely to slack off. That way that kid feels ownership of the project. Sometimes when you put one of those kids in charge you’ll be shocked at the changes that take place in their behavior.
We’re doing a writing group project now in my North Oaks classes, and this is definitely more challenging. Typically, one of the students will have a vision and set the agenda for the group, and it’s usually this student who will bull their way to completion. I circulate, I make sure that everyone has a say, and I find myself mediating in groups frequently. This helps keep things from degenerating into arguing.
Obviously, working with others is a key skill. You simply cannot survive in a workplace without it. We have to understand how to work together, and knowledge of our proclivities is important. I don’t think we can simply do away with group work because of the challenges of kids working together. That’s part of the point.
December 14th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
What strategies do you employ to ensure each child learns when working with others?
I have used the heterogenous method; making sure have groups of mixed genders and not just abilities (boys and girls don’t think alike, you know.) I have often found however, that placing students in groups of like abilities leads to greater productivity among the entire group. I assign tasks for each student in the group, especially when we’re doing labs. This ensures that each student is engaged and active.
What would you tell a parent who says. “I don’t like cooperative learning because MY child ends up doing all the work!”
I would ask the parent to give me the particulars of his/her child’s complaint and investigate. I would assure the parent that I am actively monitoring my classroom and that I personally intervene when I notice a student not “pulling his or her weight.” I often use personal and peer evaluations as a percentage of the grade during cooperative activities. I would also assure the parent that not every grade in my class is based on cooperative learning.
December 15th, 2008 at 11:26 am
In a computer setting it is sometimes difficult to tear children away from their own workstation to observe or give verbal assistance to one child working at the computer. As others have stated, having specific roles in a project is very important and expedites the outcome. I do have the students rotate for their part of the project and they must spend time preparing their research. Usually putting the slowest worker/keyboardist at the beginning of the project to set up the document while others are researching helps keep everyone involved while freeing my time to assist where needed the most. The slowest worker will then finish up and print or submit the work.
As for reassuring the parents about the work division equity I just use my best persuasion tactics to let them know that I am on top of all members of the project. And is it not any different in the real world…some do more work than the others. Some of us are the quiet thinkers.
December 15th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Band like the other fine arts is all cooperative learning. The entire group has individual assignments called their part assigned. I always select solid players for each clarinet part, trumpet etc. so all parts will be covered. I then work with the students in sectionals and listenings to monitor their learning.
Parents don’t complain about their child having group work, but I do have a problem getting parents to understand that when they do not bring their child to an out of school performance all the other members of the band are penalized.
December 16th, 2008 at 10:01 am
I usually keep groups in pairs or threes. I like them that size so that I can monitor them more closely. It is very apparent when one of two seems to be doing all the writing, talking, and all the work. When doing cooperative learning, I make sure that I am constantly circulating to make sure work is being done. (We all know it is very easy for them to get off task. )
I haven’t had this kind of complaint yet because I tend to use cooperative learning on smaller, in class assignments and not big projects, but I would assure them that I stay on top of the groups. I would also do a peer review like others have mentioned to help with any issues.
December 18th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
I enjoyed hearing some Van Halen on the youtube video, Mrs. Houston. Thanks for that “pick me up!” Got to finish reading….. RIGHT NOW!!
Performing groups such as band and choir are cooperative learning groups. The large group has smaller groups (sections) that work in harmony for the good of the whole. I check accuracy in the sections as well as individually. We meet separately during the week in our smaller groups to focus on their music and lessons. Our Ensemble Festival promotes even smaller and focused cooperative learning because the students cannot “depend” on 20 other persons to help them along. However, the nature of ensembles, large or small, promotes “positive interdependence” and “individual accountability.” The students know when someone is not putting forth the best effort. They hear the mistakes and they hear the errors. Many times, my students help each other when they recognize a missed note or rhythm — I just wish they’d do it more quietly and quickly. Section “leaders” are often discovered and stand out, and they help the learning process go faster.
I don’t have parents complaining about group work. I sometimes have parents that don’t make their kids show up for performances because perhaps they feel like their 1 kid won’t affect the outcome of a performance that much. Sometimes they don’t even get the point that it’s a graded activity. Really.
January 10th, 2009 at 9:31 am
Cooperative learning is where we LIVE in the choir room! While our success is dependent on individuals singing and reading music well, the magic really only happens when the team combines all of their individual talents to become a whole. Case and point – have you ever heard a choir where individual singers are heard over others? That choir and director missed the boat on cooperative learning.
I believe that I ensure that all of the students are working hard by the way the classroom is set up. It is organized in a way that allows me to see and monitor all of the students very effectively. I am also on my feet 100% of the time in front of the students watching for their response, gauging the next step. We have a unique opportunity in choir, really, for daily learning in this manner. For example, when we sightread, students go to student-led circles to work on their part. Assigning different student leaders each day gives different students the responsibility of leading. I feel really fortunate to teach choir – it is so incredibly easy to see and hear if someone isn’t getting a concept or isn’t pulling their weight on the team.
In 20 years, I have had one parent complain that their child did not receive individual recognition for his contribution to the choir as a whole. His name listed in the program apparently wasn’t enough. My response was to remind them that the point of a performing group like choir was the glory of what a group could create by pooling their individual talents, not what the members could accomplish on their own as individuals.