Cooperative learning is fine, but it takes too much planning time for a teacher and is hard to manage.
5 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I don't think it takes too much time and planning....but you have to commit however much time it takes to make cooperative learning effective in your classroom. One of the keys to cooperative learning is that your students have the procedures down....so that all the time in class is spent on thinking/learning not the procedures of the different "cooperative lessons".
During my first year of teaching, I used cooperative learning strategies and did find them to be time consuming. However, I set goals which included adding two new structures per unit. I found that this made it easier to try new things when I only had to try a couple new ones every unit. I would think that trying to incorporate new structures on a smaller scale rather than a all out asault would make it easier to to actually do.
I think that teachers can become overwhelmed by the amount of initial work that is needed in cooperative learning. One strategy that worked well for me was that I set smaller goals such as creating two new cooperative structures per unit/chapter. This really helped me so that I didn't feel like I was doing so much. Once you have a few structures added to your arsenal it grows and it becomes much easier to use consistently in your classes.
Cooperative learning is a successful teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject. Each member of a team is responsible not only for learning what is taught but also for helping teammates learn, thus creating an atmosphere of achievement. Students work through the assignment until all group members successfully understand and complete it.
Cooperative efforts result in participants striving for mutual benefit so that all group members:
gain from each other's efforts. (Your success benefits me and my success benefits you.)
recognize that all group members share a common fate. (We all sink or swim together here.)
know that one's performance is mutually caused by oneself and one's team members. (We can not do it without you.)
feel proud and jointly celebrate when a group member is recognized for achievement. (We all congratulate you on your accomplishment!).
Cooperative Learning does take time, but when well planned and random grouping is in place, they really begin to dig in. I have personally found that because students are all "gifted" in some area that more advanced students often begin to appreciate students they once thought weren't so smart. It was a growth process for all.
5 comments:
I don't think it takes too much time and planning....but you have to commit however much time it takes to make cooperative learning effective in your classroom. One of the keys to cooperative learning is that your students have the procedures down....so that all the time in class is spent on thinking/learning not the procedures of the different "cooperative lessons".
During my first year of teaching, I used cooperative learning strategies and did find them to be time consuming. However, I set goals which included adding two new structures per unit. I found that this made it easier to try new things when I only had to try a couple new ones every unit. I would think that trying to incorporate new structures on a smaller scale rather than a all out asault would make it easier to to actually do.
I think that teachers can become overwhelmed by the amount of initial work that is needed in cooperative learning. One strategy that worked well for me was that I set smaller goals such as creating two new cooperative structures per unit/chapter. This really helped me so that I didn't feel like I was doing so much. Once you have a few structures added to your arsenal it grows and it becomes much easier to use consistently in your classes.
Cooperative learning is a successful teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject. Each member of a team is responsible not only for learning what is taught but also for helping teammates learn, thus creating an atmosphere of achievement. Students work through the assignment until all group members successfully understand and complete it.
Cooperative efforts result in participants striving for mutual benefit so that all group members:
gain from each other's efforts. (Your success benefits me and my success benefits you.)
recognize that all group members share a common fate. (We all sink or swim together here.)
know that one's performance is mutually caused by oneself and one's team members. (We can not do it without you.)
feel proud and jointly celebrate when a group member is recognized for achievement. (We all congratulate you on your accomplishment!).
Cooperative Learning does take time, but when well planned and random grouping is in place, they really begin to dig in. I have personally found that because students are all "gifted" in some area that more advanced students often begin to appreciate students they once thought weren't so smart. It was a growth process for all.
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