As I reflect on what I learned from class today all I keep
going back to is the difference between cooperative learning and group work. I
feel that it was a central message behind Dr. H’s lecture about what
cooperative learning is all about. Teachers have these good intentions about
creating lessons where the students get to work together, they will learn so
much, and it will be great! But, somewhere in the process the teachers lose
sight of what the cooperative learning part of the lesson is and things become
group work.
When
thinking about the overall concept of Cooperative Learning, I find that it
could become a highly beneficial strategy to use in my future classroom. I like
the social skill building aspect of the strategy and how it gives the
opportunity for the students to grow in that aspect. In my SPED class, one big
concept that we talk about is creating an environment where student’s social
skills can blossom and grow. By doing activities that require a team working together,
then the students has that opportunity to build up those social skills and
build more friendships.
As the
lecture was occurring, I was getting nervous about how do I know, for sure,
that the lesson I spend so much time on is cooperative learning and not group
work? Luckily, Dr. H introduced how it can be as easy as PIES. The concept of PIES
stands for Positive Interdependence, Individual accountability, Simultaneous
Interaction, and Equal Participation. Basically, they are the four key principals
that you should check you lesson for to make sure that it is addressing the entirety
cooperative learning concepts. By having these guiding questions, you can
become a critical reflector on your work. Does this activity create team goals?
Is a gain for one, a gain for all in this activity? It makes you take a deeper
look into what you have planned and reevaluate the lesson. Easy as PIES is definitely
a concept I will keep handy for future cooperative learning planning.
Laura,
ReplyDeleteI agree that in some cases I have mixed up the term of cooperative grouping with group work. The problem is that just because the students are working in a group does not mean they are a cooperative group. One thing that I have been keeping in mind is how much time did I spend on the lesson. The reason for that is group work is a simple task with small preparation. However, a proper cooperative group experience requires the teacher to really plan and prepare. So with the easy as PIES and looking at the time I put into the lesson I feel more confident that I will not get the two confused again.
Hi Laura,
ReplyDeleteThanks for bringing up PIES! I got a little overloaded with the info on Tuesday and the concept of positive interdependence, individual accountability, simultaneous interaction, and equal participation went right over my head. These really can be guiding principals and qualities when planning for collaborative learning experiences. I also like Jodi's point about the lesson prep being more extensive for CL than group work. I think it's best to have accurate expectations about time commitments so we can best plan when to implement different strategies.
Laura, reading your blog and how you described PIES again has really helped me to understand the difference between group work and cooperative learning much better. Before this class, speaking of the main differences would not be something that I could do. Now that you have described the differences again I think the only way it will really stick in my head for good is if I repeat PIES to myself whenever I plan a lesson that involves cooperative learning instead of just saying "the students will work in groups".
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