The ant is a collectively intelligent
and an individually stupid animal;
man is the opposite
Karl Von
Frisch
Key Questions:
- How can I form cooperative groups?
- How can I help students work cooperatively?
- What are strategies to transition students into cooperative teams?
- How do I give students opportunities to express their thoughts?
- How do I help students to participate in a group?
- What about students whose main strengths are not in academic skills?
- How are differences in student ability levels addressed?
Process of Skill Development
The teambuilding process is not always a smooth journey. In one team,
with all good intentions, Susie, the high achiever is telling everyone
what to do. Resentments are building. In another team, Sam is not
participating. The teammates are frustrated trying to include him. In
yet another team, a high achiever is telling a low achiever all the
right answers. She wants to help, but does not know how. She never
learned "Telling an answer hurts a teammate; showing how to get an
answer helps a teammate." Students are getting too noisy; they tease
each other with put-downs; they get off task; they do not listen well to
the ideas of others. Further, they don't know how to deal with
difficult teammates such as students who dominate, are shy, hostile, feel rejected, or who would simply rather walk alone.
Problems |
Skills Needed |
Teams are |
|
· Too noisy |
Inner voice |
· Off-Task |
Taskmastering |
· Without clear goals |
Setting, revising agenda |
· In conflicts |
Conflict resolution |
· Bogged down |
Cheerleading, brainstorming |
Students |
|
· Give put-downs |
Praising, self reflection |
· Tell answers |
Helping skills |
· Talk all at once |
Gatekeeping |
· Don't ask for help |
Questioning skills |
· Don't offer help |
Helping skills |
· Don't listen to others |
Listening skills |
· Grab papers |
Requesting |
· Don't express appreciation |
Appreciating |
· Don't respect opinions |
Paraphrasing, Active listening |
One Student |
|
· Does it all |
Gatekeeping |
· Does little |
Encouraging, Gatekeeping |
· Is too shy |
Encouraging, Praising |
· Refuses to work |
Encouraging, Praising |
· Is bossy |
Gatekeeping |
· Is hostile |
Conflict resolution |
Modeling and Reinforcing Social Skills
Building a Positive Community Through Reflection
Examples of reflection questions to ask are:
- How did that go for you?
- How did it feel to participate in that activity?
- What’s hard about this? Why?
- What’s easy about this? Why?
- On a scale of zero to five, five being the best, how did we do as a group?
- What could we try differently?
- How could we challenge ourselves?
When an activity doesn’t go well, try asking reflection questions such as:
- What made that difficult to accomplish?
- What could we do or try next time?
- What are some areas for growth?
Addressing Social Skill Problems: All of the social skill problems indicate only that there is some part of the social skills curriculum that has yet to be learned or relearned. After identifying which social skills to focus on, earmark one at a time as the social skill of the week, the month... Introducing Skill-of-the Week...
- Teacher Talk: Simply say to the students that you are not
comfortable with the noise level, or a rationale for paraphrasing, i.e.,
Paraphrasing is one of the main ways we have of letting others know
that we are listening, and that we know and understand their thoughts
and ideas. Paraphrasing communicates a basic respect for the other
person.
- Ask "What if?" Ask the students to think about what
would happen if the skill were never used. For example, " I have been
noticing that you have been working hard in your groups, but we seldom
stop to appreciate each others efforts. What would happen if we never
got appreciation for our efforts?" If the skill is Inner Voice, the "What
if question would be: One team in the class is talking , so the team
next to them talks louder to hear themselves. This makes the first team
talk even louder. What would happen if we never did anything to break
this cycle?
- Simulations: For example, if the focus skill is
staying on task, give the teams a difficult puzzle to solve. Then
give each team member a secret role. The students are instructed to keep
their role assignments secret. One student is assigned the role of
Off-Task Captain.
- Resources and Games small cost but I think worth their value.
Communication Skills Structures:
Success in life is more a function of a communication set of skills than any other. Progress which has set mankind apart from other species has been built on the ability of one generation to communicate its learnings to the next. Whether workers will build upon or wastefully duplicate efforts of fellow company employees is a function of communication skills. The extent to which a marriage will flourish or falter is a function of communication skills. Communication skills are learned. Given these realities, improving communication skills should be one of education's highest priorities.
Communication Regulators- Talking Chips (similar to Spend-a-Buck): Each person on a team is given a marker (a pencil will even do) If a team member wants to talk, he/she places a chip in the center of a table. You cannot talk again until everyone has placed their chip on the table. When all the chips have been used, they are retrieved, and anyone can talk again.
- Colored Chips: Each person is given a different color chip. When a person speaks s/he puts in a chip. After the discussion is over the group or teacher leads a discussion on the participation as they examine the number of colored chips,
- Timed Turns: No one can talk for more than a minute and there is a timekeeper on each team.
- Freebies: You can briefly respond to yes/no questions without giving up a chip
- Paraphrase Passport: The ticket to talking is correctly paraphrasing the person who has just spoken. After someone has contributed an idea, another person must correctly restate that idea before contributing his/her own idea. This structure encourages group members to participate. It also lets individuals know how their ideas are heard by others.
Decision Makers
- Voting has inherent drawbacks for decisions. It leads to winners and losers. The result is to undermine spirit of team unity. Losers are less committed to any team decision.
- Consensus Seeking: When their is sufficient time and no need for immediate decision, consensus seeking is the decision making structure of choice. Students are to find the best solution to which they can all agree. They are told that they are not trying toget their own way, but rather to find a solution which they all can live with. Critical in the process is the rule "We do not have a decision until we all agree."
- Spend-a-Buck for decision making: When students must reach a decision quickly. Each student is given four chips to spend on the choice alternatives. Each student must spend his/her chips on more than one item. This framework is unlike voting because it does not produce clear winners and losers.
Communication Builders
- Value Lines: Students place their mark on an agree-disagree line. After taking a stance, they must listen to why each person took his/her stance. You may include a Paraphrase Passport. Value lines allow students to clarify their own values and to understand and accept differences. They also encourage clarification of one's own values
- Step 1: Statement of Value Issue. Example are: Capitol punishment should be abolished; Students should receive monetary rewards for good grades; Parents should decide what is appropriate TV shows to watch. (teacher class sample Issue of Merit Pay)
- Step 2: Taking a Stand. At the count of three each student simulataneously puts his or hers mark (initials) on a value line
- Step 3: Uncovering Differences. Students use strategies like Passport Paraphrase, chips, or bucks to discuss the basis for value differences
- Optional Step 4: Taking a New Stand. Students may repeat step 1 to discover if there has been any movement as a result of their discussion.
More people are employed today in the information segment of our economy than any other. That is, they spend their time, generating, analyzing, and communicating information. And it is the fastest growing segment of our economy. As students in cooperative learning experience the range of ways to share information, they are preparing for the world of the future. 12:1
Information Sharing Structures: There are two main types of information sharing structures: Structures for sharing information within teams and structures for sharing information among teams. Sharing among teammates is central to teambuilding. Sharing information among teams is central to classbuilding
The traditional approach to sharing information has been to call on one
student at a time to speak. To have each student share information for
two minutes. This approach can be tedious. Simultaneous sharing
structures can accomplish this more effectively.
Structures.doc
- Spending chips to speak handout: To promote equal participation, each student is given the same amount of chips ( buttons, cardboard etc...) Every time a student contributes a comment to the group, s/he places a token in the center. When an individual's chips are gone, w/he can no longer contribute. When everyone's tokens are gone, the group redistributes the chips and starts again.
Assigning Students to
Groups Suggestions:
- Stratified group: workable combination of varying abilities
- Numbering: students number off
- Math method: Give each student a math problem and ask students with the same answers to form a group
- Promoting Interdependence through distribution of materials and information
- Give only one copy of the materials to the group
- Groups members
given different resources or materials to be synthesized to complete a
task, http://www.jigsaw.org/overview.htm
The Jigsaw template has students write keywords or phrases into jigsaw pieces. Students then arrange the pieces to show the connections between the keywords in the those pieces. Students can color code each piece in their puzzles.
What are The Pros and Cons of Assigning Roles?
Cooperative Learning Duties
- Having each member explain how to get the answer
- Asking each member to relate what is being learned to previous learnings
- Encouraging everyone to participate
- Listening accurately to what others are saying
- Consensus - everyone agrees with the answers
- Not changing your mind unless you are logically persuaded
- Criticizing ideas, not people
Sharing Among Teams
- Blackboard Share: Have one representative from each team go to the board or chart paper and brainstorm ideas. facts or answers. It allows teams to continue working while the ideas are posted.
- Roam the Room: Teams have completed projects. At a signal, students move around the room or circle in a proscribed direction, When the signal is given to return, they do a Roundtable to share what they have learned. Alternatively, this could be done to observe board displays. TEacher may provide a worksheet to help teams organize their thoughts.
- Empathy Through Game Play
- Three Stray, One Stay (Carousel): When team projects are ready to share, three members rotate to a table of the next team while student one stays back to explain the project to the visiting team. Options: return to home team and discuss differences in projects and use information to improve their own. Or do the process vice versa
- Rotating Review: Following a unit, chart paper is posted. At the top of each sheet is a topic covered in the unit. Teams have their own colored marker. The team stand at a chart for one minute and write down all the information they can on a topic. Rotate groups. One minute to read what has been written and one more minute to add information to the chart. If a team disagrees with what a previous team has written, it places a question mark by the questionable information for later discussion.
- Spending chips to speak handout: To promote equal participation, each student is given the same amount of chips ( buttons, cardboard etc...) Every time a student contributes a comment to the group, s/he places a token in the center. When an individual's chips are gone, w/he can no longer contribute. When everyone's tokens are gone, the group redistributes the chips and starts again.
- Mindmapping: Place chart paper and markers at each station. A different topic or issue is written in a circle in the center of each chart. Without talking team members create a concept map/web feeding off each others written comments. Then the teams rotate and add their comments to another team's chart. After the rotations are completed, hold a debriefing session.
- Overview of group Sharing Strategies Website
including author studies, writing, and math.
See example >
own definition of a fairy tale, and how her students responded to the
self-directed activity.
See example >
use jigsaw to "reduce racial conflict among school children, promote
better learning, improve student motivation, and increase enjoyment of
the learning experience." It also covers how teachers can facilitate the
strategy with several different types of learners.
See example >
interactions and makes marks or comments in a focus sheet each student is
given. After the group activity is finished, there is a class debriefing.
Write, pair, share: Many of us use the think, pair, share model, substituting
writing for silent thinking can improve both the quality of the conversation and
the number of students who contribute. As students write, I walk around, reading
over their shoulders and writing things like,“That’s good. Say that!” on the papers of
quieter or less confident students.You can also see which and how many students
are stuck, so I know if I need to add more scaffolding.
Pairs and squares: I assign students a partner (pair) to work with for
three weeks, as well as a square (two pairs combined). I promote
camaraderie in pairs and squares by having students learn each other’s
names (with spelling and pronunciation), gender pronouns, and something
people can’t tell by looking at them. They also make up a handshake they
use each day to greet each other.
They talk in their pairs from bell to bell between direct instruction about
the topics of the day. Currently, my sophomores are engaging in a
nonfiction unit on happiness, so today we discussed the correlation
between money and happiness, and students worked in their pairs to
annotate an article, but when we analyzed some rather complex graphs
and charts, they moved into their squares so they could have more brain
power.
After three weeks, each student thanks their partner for something they
did for them and shares what they think was the pair’s best moment
together. By the end of the year, every student has worked with every
other classmate—either in pairs or squares—which promotes a strong
classroom community and helps students feel more comfortable
participating.
The "add and pass" activity (how-to article) Every student has a sheet of paper.
They start writing a story. Then, after about a minute, they pass the paper to the
person behind/next to/in front of them. Keep adding and passing! With a couple
turns left, I'll tell them to start wrapping the story up.Add some movement by
keeping papers on the same desks. Students move from desk to desk instead.
Row wars (how-to article, scroll to #4) Students form teams of three or four.
Teammates sit in a row (column) of desks. I give the front person a paper with five
questions (teams of four: seven questions). First person answers a question --
any question -- and passes it behind them. Next person continues. Back person
answers and passes it up. When all questions are finished, front person puts the
paper on a chair at the front of the room. Points are awarded for correct answers
from history, or any topic they know well) and takes questions from an audience of
classmates.
them make well-developed arguments and solve complex problems.
between songs they know and curriculum topics.
activities. The activities are categorized by group size and activity type. To find an
activity appropriate for your group just select your group's size then use the activity
type key to find "get-to-know-you games," "team building games," or "active
(break a sweat) games."
decisions
and come to a consensus and see cause and effect. There is a free Webinar at the
site.
numbers that add up to 11, name a sport. Students make a list on one piece of
paper, each writing one answer and them passing the paper to the person on his or
her left.
discuss ideas which came up in both pairs and which ideas were unique to one
of the pairs
need for the trip. US colonization: after studying colonization, have students make
rules/constitution for colonizing the moon. Math - Possible ways of dividing ten
items, list prime numbers, equivalent fractions... Writing - give each team a story
starter and let them Roundrobin a story
the academic task to ask a reflection question designed to have students reflect on
the social skill of the week.For example, "Our task of the week is staying on task.
How well is your group staying on task as you are playing ... . If you have gotten off
task ,it is time now tomake a plan to stay ontask." 14:15
each member must offer a sentence in each paragraph, essay, etc...
another member, and the grade the first member receives is the grade of the second
member.
life or death situation and must collaborate in order to survive.
they already know about the subject and come up with questions they have about it.
placed in envelopes for each team. Teams open the envelope and place pictures face
down. Each member draws a panel. Teammates describe their own panels, but
are not allowed to look at others. They agree on which panel should go first. It is
placed face down. and so on. Finally all the panels are turned over to see if the
sequence makes sense. see 11:7 for content sequencing ideas
• Unstructured sorts: Have pairs sort objects creating their own categories. Some
pair teams should have the same objects for comparisons
• Structured sorts: teacher provides the categories. Each person given the same
number of objects
• Can use Venn diagrams