Week of September 4

Cooperative learning groups are something I have tried in the past, sometimes with success and sometimes without. This article provides some helpful guidelines in ensuring that they are successful. First and foremost, as the article states, a cooperative group is more than just a group of people working together. Successful cooperative groups are built on working towards a mutual goal, providing support and encouragement, and working together to complete a task. It is vital that each member in a coopertive learning group be expected to do his/her share and held accountable to it. Groups must also be willing to come to consensus on all decisions. This may require sacrifice on the part of some group members in order to help the greater good. The groups must also have positive, constructive interation with each other.

In the elementary setting, a big challenge to cooperative group learning was the tattling. In an effort to be sure that "everyone is doing his/her part," often members of the groups would come to tattle on the others. Something I always worked toward was teaching the group members to work out issues among themselves before coming to me. In the future, I think it will be helpful to spend some time laying out the guidelines mentioned in this article before the groups begin working together. When done correctly, with each group member participating, cooperative learning groups can be a wonderful and enriching learning experience for all students involved.