Teachscape- Cassi Musta

I chose to view the Teachscape video about Cooperative Learning Strategies, because that is a teaching method I utilize a lot in my classroom and is built into the curriculum in many areas. However, I feel that cooperative learning in my classes is not always as successful as it could be in my class due to issues such as students not wanting to work with other students in particular or preferring to work independently, too much socializing (not about the lesson topic), or one or two students end up doing a majority of the work and critical thinking, while the other students are not engaged or off-task. I think the checklist provided with questions for teachers to ask themselves before planning a cooperative learning lesson is useful, because this strategy may not work for certain lessons or in certain environments. Also, the video states the 5 elements of cooperative learning: Positive Interdependence, Face to Face Interaction, Individual/Group Accountability, Interpersonal and Small Group Skills, and Group Processing, and that all 5 elements should be included. The woman in the video also talks about how the grouping of students should change at different times, such as grouping at random or assigning groups. I often have trouble deciding how to group students, and have been surprised when the groups work out better than expected or worse than expected. One of my problems of practice was managing student behavior, and one of the ways I’ve been dealing with that is through assigned seats/groups. There are some students who will continually talk to whoever is around them and others that won’t socialize with students they don’t know. I do like to vary the groups and change every few weeks, but the problem I have is there is only so many tables in my room and so many ways to arrange the groups so that some students remain separated, because otherwise it will lead to off-task behavior. The video also talks about how students need to reflect on how they functioned as a group. My students complete a foods lab evaluation after the completion of each lab, and there is a self-assessment section where the students rate themselves and their group. Many students are honest, but there are still some who either just complain about their group and don’t explain how they could improve cooperation, or they just say everything is fine all the time (when I know they are not cooperating through observation). So, I’m continuing to think about ways to not only improve the cooperation of students within the groups, but also how I can have students reflect more on their cooperation and why something might not be working and also how to improve for next time.