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A+ Anecdotes

Two Cooperative Learning Anecdotes

Amy Skeans

This was just too wonderful not to share! I have 2 really great CL-related stories from this week. They are long, so bear with me:

The first deals with a relationship between two students in my kindergarten classroom. "Abbie" is pretty much a model kiddo—probably the top of my class in terms of behavior, social skills, and academics. "Mark" is the exact opposite. His behavior has presented me with some huge challenges this year, he started off very low academically, and to say he keeps me on my toes is an understatement. To his credit, he has come quite far this year in terms of behavior and academic skills.

At the beginning of the year Abbie was pretty much horrified at Mark's behavior and did everything she could to avoid having to interact with him. At that time Mark had a tough time with CL and didn't really possess the social skills to really be effective at a structure. Guess what happened this week: twice Abbie has specifically approached this boy to be a partner during some CL structures. Today when they were done with their Timed Pair Share they spontaneously and without prompting gave each other a fist bump on the way back to their seats. Not only that, Abbie came up to me to say "hey, that (pairing with Mark) was really fun!"

That interaction completely changed Mark's afternoon. He had come to school sullen and withdrawn that morning (home environment is less than ideal) and that 5 minute structure was a game changer for him. That put him in such a good state and he was able to remain engaged and learn the rest of the afternoon instead of being withdrawn and angry. Looking back on this year, there have been times where the interaction of CL is what kept him involved with his peers, because they wouldn't have approached him on their own. Its not overly dramatic to say the team and classbuilding are what kept him afloat this school year. It gave him some success and it let the others see that he's a pretty neat kid.

Story two: Monday we did a CL structure called Centerpiece, which as you know involves writing—specifically handwriting in our case. At that time my special ed student with Down Syndrome was in our room. He was able to do every step of the structure independently and successfully! It's really fantastic that there are so many CL structures in which ALL of our kids can be successful. The fact that he did such a great job helps my regular ed kids see that Martin is a regular kid just like them, capable of doing just what they do.

I've only been doing CL a few months, but I can't imagine it any other way now.

Amy