What are coop teachers like?
ted panitz
I would like to initiate a discussion with the following question
about the nature of teachers who use cooperative learning (CL) in their
classes :
What are personality and/or character traits of teachers who use
cooperative learning extensively in their classes?
I will kick off the discussion with a little background and my
thoughts.
Backround:
Last Spring and the annual Boston Urban Math Collaborative I gave a
workshop on using CL 100% of the time in math classes. After the session
I had a very interesting discussion with a participant about whether a
person's personality helped determine if they would use CL in their
classes. I presume their response was prompted in part my boyish
enthusiasm and strong advocacy of CL during the workshop. I have been
thinking about this question quite a bit lately and thought it might
make a good discussion topic to start the Fall semester.
I would make an immediate qualification/disclaimer that my intent
in not to stereotype CL teachers. My interest in asking the question is
to see if have people a general feeling or view about the personalities
or behaviors of CL practitioners. I also hope that the discussion will
not deteriorate into a comparison of teachers who use other methods.
(Good luck to me on that on)
My thoughts:
Coop teachers are generally extroverted with outgoing personalities.
They enjoy talking to their students during class and learning as much
as they can about their students. They enjoy working in groups
themselves in committee meetings and community groups versus chairperson
lead meetings.
They have a high level of personal confidence and see their role as
facilitator of learning versus expert transmitting their knowledge to
the student. They are willing to give up some control of the class by
sharing decision making with the students.
Cl teachers have a high level of confidence in their students'
abilities. Therefore they are willing to delegate responsibility for
learning to their students. They do this in part by creating interactive
procedures which encourage students to work together in and out of
class.
CL teachers are inclined to take risks in class by trying new
approaches which stimulate student-student-teacher interactions. When
they attenbd conferences they are always on the lookout for new ideas
which will help facilitate interactions in their classes. Coop classes
by their nature provide opportunities to try new procedures because of
the variety of class activities used throughout the semester. It is
quite natural to ask students who are already working in groups to try a
new technique. If it works keep it, if it doesn't then do not repeat it.
New techniques which do not work in specific situatiopns are not viewed
as failures.
These are a few of my thought regarding the nature of CL teachers.
What do you think???
Please reply to the list and I will keep a file of responses to send
out after the discussion is completed.
Regards,
Ted Panitz
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ted Panitz-----
Cape Cod Community College 508-362-2131 ext 4421
2240 Iyanough Rd.
W. Barnstable, MA 02668 e-mail-...@cape.com
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2,071,723 X 5,363,222,357 = 11,111,111,111,111,111
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1,111,111,111,111,111,111 is prime!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++