Letting the “Real Me” Stand Out for Students
by Debbie Yonke, Coordinator, Quality Assurance in Learning

   In Visible Learning For Teachers, Hattie shares research regarding the roles of peers and social support.   Not only is it important for students to have friends at school, but positive peer relations and classroom climate can actually impact learning.  “Peers can influence learning by helping, tutoring, providing friendship, giving feedback, and making class and school a place to which students want to come each day” (Wilkinson, Parr, Fung, Hattie, & Townsend, 2002 as quoted by Hattie, p. 79).   This can look many different ways in our classrooms, but recently we saw an example of allowing peers to have a positive influence at Reed Academy in counselor,  Jill Wilson’s 6^th grade study skills classroom. 
   If you look closely at the picture below, you will notice that each student is posed in front of the white board.  As each student sat in the “hot seat,” their peers came up and wrote positive character traits all around them and then the picture was captured.  Jill shared that her goal in this activity was to activate the students’ thinking on what character traits they would want to be known or remembered for.  She really wanted the students to let go of negative labels and let the “Real Me” stand out.  This activity was the last of several lessons that allowed students to focus on not only their own positive character traits and strengths, but those of others.  Thanks for allowing us to share this, Jill!    



Success & Cooperative Learning: How Do They Relate?
by Alicia Moore, SPS Professional Learning Specialist

   This August, I ran into a former student at Wal-Mart. In my freshman English class, Caleb was a kid who never seemed to buy in to the idea of school—who expertly calculated the minimum effort required to pass my class. He only made eye contact in fleeting glances, never raised his hand to answer a question, and generally went unnoticed by his peers.

    When I think of him, though, I think first of his sincerity and genuine smile. I saw this smile fairly often during his conversations with Aiden, another under-the-radar kind of student in the class. The two boys talked before class, after class, and during class as often as I’d let them. Even after their freshman year, Caleb and Aiden would stop by my room to say hi, always together. I would ask them how they were doing in their classes, and both of them always said something like, “Oh, you know, getting by.”
    At Wal-Mart last summer, Caleb proudly told me that he was working on becoming a certified H-VAC technician. I asked him about Aiden, and then I said something about how valuable life-long friendships are. Caleb said, “Yeah, and we met in your class! We’d never even talked to each other before you put us on the same team.”
    Maybe Caleb and Aiden would have become friends no matter what. I’m guessing, though, that their friendship took root because I was using a strategy that I had learned the summer before they arrived in my classroom—Cooperative Learning. My intuition also tells me that their friendship was a key motivator in getting both of them to school each day. Research backs me up:

-According to Visible Learning for Teachers (Hattie, 2012), healthy peer relationships improve academic success through feedback, practice opportunities, and emotional support. One study cited in the book sums it up this way: “…if you want to increase student academic achievement, give each student a friend” (p. 79).

-Eric Jensen (2009), a leader in the brain-based learning movement, agrees. He writes, “Students who know, trust, and cooperate with one another typically do better academically”(p. 92).

-Both of these sources recommend Cooperative Learning as a way to support student relationships and achievement.

   Think about the Calebs and Aidens in your class this year. How might they benefit from Teambuilders and Classbuilders that allow them to safely interact with classmates? How might they grow as a result of social skills being embedded throughout each lesson? How might their interpersonal and academic skills improve in a classroom where they feel like they can’t hide? Where they are treated as equal status?
    I encourage you to make your class a place where life-changing relationships can thrive and all students can find the support they need to succeed in school. And I am confident that Cooperative Learning is what made my class that kind of place for Caleb and Aiden.
 
Hattie, John. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning. New York, NY: Routledge.
Jensen, Eric. (2009). Teaching with poverty in mind. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

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LET YOUR FINGERS DO THE WALKING!

   Interested in some tools that will foster healthy peer relationships in your class?  Here's a quick guide to resources you can find in your Kagan Cooperative Learning book and binder.

   If you haven't yet had the opportunity to attend a 3-day Cooperative Learning course, we invite you to join us for our next offering which will be held on January 25, February 8 and February 22.  Please contact Alicia Moore (acmoore@spsmail.org) or Debbie Yonke (dyonke@spsmail.org) for more details.  Registration is available through Employee Self Service.