Kagan's Articles - FREE Kagan Articles
Research & Rationale
From Compartmentalization to Cooperation One District's Story
Chris Ward and Jim Craigen To cite this article: Ward, C. & Craigen, J. From Compartmentalization to Cooperation One District's Story. San Clemente, CA: Kagan Publishing. Kagan Online Magazine, Summer 2000. www.KaganOnline.com Chris Ward and Jim Craigen provide
teacher inservices across Canada and the United States as well as in Europe.
They are long standing members and supporters of GLACIE, the Great Lakes Association
for Cooperation in Education, which holds a annual conference in Toronto. Jim
and Chris have authored a collection of teambuilding and classbuilding activities,
What's This Got to Do with Anything? Their book has been received with
great enthusiasm world-wide.
The cooperative learning
journey of the Durham District School Board began in the 1980s when a comparative
study of eight school boards in Southern Ontario revealed that the Durham District
took last place in the categories of expenditures per student, staff development,
in-service training and evaluation by teachers and principals. Ten years later,
in 1996, the Durham District was the recipient of a prestigious international
award for excellence in education.
In order to support the
cooperative learning initiative, additional training was offered in sessions
ranging from short after school training to four day intensive training. These
training sessions were offered only to school teams consisting of teachers and
an administrator. To provide additional expertise for these cooperative learning
practitioners, teams of teachers were sent for training. One of the experts
who continues to contribute to our on-going success during the past ten years
is Dr. Spencer Kagan. Not only do our teachers visit and train in California
and Florida at Kagan summer institutes, but they also have the opportunity to
meet and learn from Dr. Kagan as he visits our schools and by attending his
sessions each May at the Great Lakes Association For Cooperation In Education
(G.L.A.C.I.E.). Dr. Kagan's particular interest in spreading the good news of
cooperative learning in Canada has been credited in sustaining Durham's momentum
in cooperative learning.
As we travel the halls of
our schools it is common to come upon classes from elementary to high school
where Kagan structures are an integral part of everyday instruction. Although
everyone has favourites, Timed Pair Share, Pairs Check, Inside/Outside Circle,
Find Someone Who seem to predominate.
The Durham District has
compiled comparative data over seven years through longitudinal student attitude
surveys. Findings indicated that each year students have had greater opportunities
to work in cooperative groups using language skills to effectively to communicate.
They value the views and opinions of others, and find the school a safe place
to be. These findings that relate specifically to research of the benefits of
cooperative training are also reflected in the responses from a 1500 teacher
survey. This reports an increase in students' self concept, social/interpersonal
skills, motivation to learn, academic achievement, and interest in school.
"Lets begin with what we
have been doing about the quality of the teaching-learning process. A great
deal. The cornerstone of our work over the past three years has been in Cooperative
Learning. The choice is no accident for a system that espouses self-confidence,
preparation for societal responsibility and respect for others as key to its
vision. We know that our students, like us, will spend their lives learning
in and contributing to groups, and our choice has been to help them become consciously
competent rather than accidentally adequate. We have a significant reservoir
of expertise now, but I suspect we are still some distance from making this
strategy an easy part of every teacher's repertoire. It is worth our persevering,
against whatever complaints of overkill we may hear, because things worth doing
are worth doing for long term good, not for the dubious glory of the bandwagon.
Everything we read says that the toughest moment is when the glow of novelty
wears off and people must perfect and use what they've learned. I trust us to
face the tough stages." Jim Craigen NOTE: |