“I don’t think the kids are learning much from this Learning Pathways stuff…?

I didn’t say it! No. A reliever in our school said it in the staffroom.

Am I concerned? Yes!

Do I believe it? Hmmm….. Do I believe the children are currently learning as much as they CAN from “this Learning Pathways stuff” yet? No.

Are they learning much?

YES!

When I questioned the relieving teacher further about her concerns, she talked about one group in particular who were having a lot of trouble working together, who were continuously fighting and not getting much work done. 

Groups working together is a very significant issue and part of the cooperative nature of the Inquiry process. I personally have a strong belief in the cooperative classrooms process, and the enhanced learning that takes place. I believe there were a few things that needs to happen for this group and others like it to be successful.

a) Teacher input at the time of groups being set up. 

eg  Is the class ready for group research -this can be a tricky activity for some students. The teacher needs to make decisions about the size of the group – maybe pairs are a good way to start as it doesn’t require as much expertise from the students in terms of group dynamics, it allows easier allocation and sharing of tasks, and ensures greater individual accountability. The teacher needs to look at who the children are who are working together – is this a workable group? Is there a leader in the group? The teacher needs to think about where the children sit on the developmental continuum for Information Literacy Skills – those children who are at the lower levels need greater teacher support, and these children could be grouped together. In the cooperative classrooms model, these children can be supported by other children in a group working at a higher developmental level, however, the success of this will depend on the group dynamics. Students who are at a lower level will often hang around the edges of a group with more capable peers and not actually do any real research themselves and therefore learn very little.

b) Teaching around cooperative work.

This is on-going, and a necessary part of classrooms working in a cooperative way. It might include class discussions, T or Y charts about aspects of cooperative work, games which practice cooperative skills etc. There are a lot of resources around about cooperative classrooms and the types of activities which facilitate this sort of learning. Here is one link http://host401.ipowerweb.com/~teachers/mcc.pdf There are many more!

c) Learning about planning a research project and individual accountability.

It is important to make the preparation for the project a structured part of the process. Students need to learn the process and think about the steps they are going to take. Tasks need to be allocated to individual students, otherwise a hard-working enthusiast may take over the entire project, which means the other group members don’t take part in the important information gathering, processing and synthesising tasks. Part of the teacher’s role, is ensuring that all students are participating fully, and that may mean group checklists showing who is carrying out which areas of the research and presentation.

d) Monitoring the progress of the groups, and teaching to on-going needs. (Formative Assessment)

This is the “on the hoof” stuff that is totally essential to ensure that the children are learning what they need to. This may take the form of some sort of weekly sharing, where the children talk about the progress they have made, discuss any problems they are having. Some things can be cleared up on the spot in this way, other children can offer help and solutions, and the teacher can also identify learning needs that they can focus on during the following week’s work with specific groups, or in class teaching.

LEARNING PATHWAYS does NOT mean the teacher stands back and watches the children fail! 

I don’t agree with the relieving teacher who muttered, “I don’t think the kids are learning much from this Learning Pathways stuff…” but I do think that we need to continue to work on doing it better! It’s not easy, but it IS worth it!