Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Cooperative Collaboration

I have been dealing with public school (or is it just school?) for the last twenty years advocating for my children. As a precedent, I lived through the Dade County public school system and its shortcomings. I always felt like an outsider. We were new to this country. My parents felt we were here “temporarily”. It was not their country or their customs or their language. My parents were happy to have me home being a good girl.

Any kind of involvement in school activities was always suspicious. I wanted to be a part of it all, but it was too difficult. Counselors were too busy with trouble makers or parents. The system was too big and complex then and it is a thousand times more complicated now.

This long winded opening brings me to my reflection of cooperative/collaborative learning. It just seems like such a dream concept. Cooperative/Collaborative learning seems ideal. Cooperative/Collaborative learning is the reason that I wanted to home school my children. It just seems so impossible in todays bogged down bureaucratic school system. I see teachers just barely making it, trying to keep up with all the data and record keeping along with all the other demands on them. Our system requires them to assess and record within the required parameters. The system is so big and with such demands, that it is constantly trying to come up with “fixes” that never seem to work. Maybe I am burned out before I begin…

Both cooperative and collaborative learning are founded on constructivism with the premise that knowledge is constructed, discovered and transformed by the student. It seems so simple. The idea that the students actively construct their own knowledge and actively seek it out is exciting. The brain activating existing cognitive structures or experiences to construct new ways to assimilate the new input only makes sense. Teachers and faculty putting time and effort into developing student’s competencies and talents seems like some fantasy school.

With all that said, the difference between collaborative and cooperative that makes cooperative seem more possible, if at all, is that in cooperative, the teacher maintains control of the class. The cooperative teacher poses specific problems or questions for the groups to answer. The answers are finite with a determined end product for assessment. The system needs quantitative, comparable records. On the other hand, the collaborative model seems even more out of my grasp of the realm of possibilities. What joy to envision my own children in such a learning environment where the groups would discover and direct the question to be posed and addressed. With the possibilities open ended, the students would develop a strong ownership for the process which would boost them on. What joyous environment for experimenting and learning. Assessment is negotiated by the group with the teacher. The possibilities of developing thinking processes seem endless. However, the reality of recording and reporting of assessment in a format that can be compared county wide, state wide, nation wide seems daunting.

So, since a teacher is a dreamer, we may as well dream of learning in an environment that deals with people with respect and highlights individual and group members’ abilities and contributions, acknowledging that there is always more to learn. This experience of collaboration with cooperative group members will serve the individual and society well in future encounters. I reinforce this “team” philosophy at home and apply the sports analogy. The quarterback or pitcher gets most of the glory, but in reality, they would be useless without the cooperative collaboration of the team.

Abema hamoi basindika eitara. ( Haya)
Mikono mingi kazi haba. ( Swahili)
Many hands make light work. (English)

Haya (Tanzania) Proverb


Collaboration?!!! What a great idea!

I work, I’m a mother and now, I am trying to go back to school. The technology class is beating me, but I can see the value in it. Time constraints make telecollaboration invaluable. I am learning little by little how to navigate and make more productive use of the web every day. I hope to find the help, support and resources I need to succeed.
It is even more exciting to envision the teaching opportunities available with the implementation of telecollaborative lessons. World wide “fieldtrips” are at our fingertips. Any topic is within reach. Exchanging ideas and seeing another point of view to broaden our experience and intellect used to be the goal of travelling to other countries. Now, the World Wide Web has added another resource for preparing students to be global thinkers in a multicultural world while saving fuel. The availability of collaborating with diverse groups on a structured goal or lesson broadens the field of knowledge.
Telecollaborative lesson plans have evolved and are still evolving. The basic steps begin by choosing a curriculum that would not be possible with a traditional classroom. The activity structures or models for designing educational telecomputing activities should be chosen thoughtfully from the approximately sixteen activity structures currently compiled from reviewing hundreds of successful online projects. These activity structures fall into three groups identified as Interpersonal Exchanges, Information Collections and Problem -Solving Projects. With my time being at a premium, exploring examples of other projects and getting ideas online can save hundreds of hours of planning.
As with any lesson plan, planning all the details will make the lesson more effective and productive and keep the goal in focus. Communication with in the telecollaborative group takes on new meaning as participants are on line at different times. Short private messages, such as thank-you’s, return receipt messages, “good job” or “where have you been?” should be modeled to keep communications alive and reach participants personally.
Finally, the completed project should be celebrated with all the participants. The finished product should then be shared with the immediate community and published on the web. In this way the project is not over, but has just begun again enabling further communication making us all stronger.

What is Inquiry-Based Learning?

You’ve got the whole world in your hands.

As I read all this information regarding constructivism, behaviorist, and inquiry based learning theories I have flashbacks of my children’s teachers. I have flashbacks of my days with my children. I have flashbacks of my idealistic days, before I had children. I used to say I would never tell my children, “Because, I say so”. In my world today, I see the conglomeration of it all. I am more appreciative than ever of the exceptional teachers that my children were exposed to and were fortunate to have. My neighborhood school in Hialeah, John G. DuPuis had the most amazing teachers. Thank you Ms. Soler and Ms. Falk. I see the "pull out gifted” curriculum as the best of both worlds. The gifted classroom was definitely inquiry based. The classroom was always buzzing with activity. The children seldom sat at desks. They had projects and problems posed for them and by them to work out together. They had to work it out from beginning to end. Nothing like the traditional classroom the kids would have to adapt to the other days. Stay in the lines when completing coloring pages. Color only the assigned colors. No room for exploration or creativity or something new. Stay in your seat. No talking. I didn’t like it, but looking back, I guess it made the kids that much better at adapting. The general philosophy at home was always, “how can you find out?” or “look it up”. Now in my 25th year of child rearing, I have given in and taken some short cuts. I still have three at home doing homework and sometimes it is faster for me to just give them the answer and have it over with. Then I tell them I am being a bad mother, as I know this doesn’t serve them well. I want them to be independent, curious, lifelong learners. I believe I have set the precedent. I was fortunate enough to follow in the learning philosophies of Socrates and Dewey. I stayed home with my children and took daily “adventures”. Off we went and observed, questioned, and investigated all along the way. Did I do it because thirty years earlier I had studied about their learning philosophies? Or did it go back even further to my childhood. I hated that when I asked a question the answer would come, “Because I said so” or “cunta…”. I wanted to know why. When that burning curiosity is there you have to take advantage of it. It fuels the fire of knowledge and keeps it burning, making the learning natural and hard to control. It sets them up with "habits" that will serve them to tackle all the new things the future may hold, giving them the tools and experience to know that they have the power to find out and keep learning.

Reflection #3

What is a Constructivist Lesson Plan?

As an educational philosophy, Constructivism allows learners to ultimately construct their own knowledge, unique to their own experience and take it with them to apply to future learning. Learning is viewed as life-long problem solving. As such the constructivist classroom is set up to prepare the learner for a life time of curiosity, investigation, analysis and reflection. Emphasizing the processes by which children develop and create their ideas makes it the teacher’s challenge to provide the appropriate
curriculum to match, but yet challenge the student’s understanding, while stimulating further growth and development of the mind.

The Constructivist Lesson Plan uses recent scientific research about the human brain and how learning occurs and consciously incorporates the principles into the classroom. The lesson plan format is rather straight forward, emphasizing six important elements. The elements are designed to make the teacher responsible for planning and reflecting about the process of student learning. The process is the emphasis.

The lesson plan elements are as follows:
1. Situation. The teacher presents a situation for the students to undertake and finds a title.
2. Groupings. The groupings of students and materials are dependent on the situation and materials at hand.
3. Bridge. This activity is designed to ascertain the individual’s prior knowledge and construct a connection to the lesson.
4. Questions. Keeping the questions going is an integral part of the formula and used throughout the elements.
5. Exhibit. This involves a presentation by the student reflecting the knowledge gained.
6. Reflections. These reflections would encompass every facet of the experience including their feelings even images in their imagination. KWL. What did they know before; what did they want to know; and what did they learn?

The Constructivist Lesson Plan allows for learning to be constructed along the way. The student is active and experiments and questions. The process and reflection makes them own their lessons. Collaboration is used so that the students can learn strategies and methods from each other. The lessons are based on problem solving and are inquiry-based. The brain, the student and the lesson are always evolving.

Since I am a very visual learner, I am constantly trying to draw pictures for myself. To help me visualize the Constructivist theory I can imagine a giant, multi-faceted puzzle. Where does this piece fit? Does it lead you to another piece and yet another? This example is rather finite, but does help at a very basic level. However, ultimately, I envision something that grows and expands indefinitely, reaching further and morphing along the way teaching the student HOW TO LEARN.

Reflection 2: What is the difference between the Behaviorist Lesson Plan format and the Constructivist Lesson Plan format?

How do I begin? That is, in essence, what plans are for. Plans offer a way to begin and follow through with an action so that it may be completed successfully. Plans are vital for performing tasks, and without them, we would be lost.

Different goals take different routes to be achieved. The method of achieving success depends heavily on the goal in mind, but also on the individual undertaking the effort. The Behaviorist Lesson Plan offers an opportunity for the teacher to start fresh; objectives and standards are put into place, and the lesson proceeds based on those guidelines. The Behaviorist Lesson Plan grows within itself, adding knowledge and learning with every step. The entire lesson is planned from the beginning so that it may be manipulated to the instructor’s vision.

The Constructivist Lesson Plan takes a different approach. The plan stems off of previous knowledge, experiences, and lessons. Constructivists build a ‘bridge’ between what the students know and what they will learn. The student is the focal point for Constructivists. Students may be divided into groups so that they may cooperate in learning new material. Rather than the lesson plan following the instructor’s pre-set plan, it flows with the pupils, who interact and share within it.

This brings to mind a central difference between the two lesson plans; the former is self-reliant, and obtains its strength and integrity from the instructor. The latter relies on the pupils far more, and in doing so opens itself up to new possibilities beyond what the lesson plan entails. The Behaviorist Lesson Plan, then, is safer. It is assured that the benchmarks will be met despite what may occur apart from the lesson. The Constructivist Lesson Plan, on the same token, takes a risk. The students are not blank slates, and such may help or hinder the lesson’s development.

And now, how to end? A plan leads you through a step-by-step procedure to accomplish a goal, no matter what it may be. And what is experienced throughout the plan is integral to achieving a high-class learning environment.

Reflection 1: What is a Lesson Plan

This summer we drove across the country to Pennsylvania with stops in Georgia, Washington D.C, North Carolina, and Tallahassee. Everything was mapped out with instructions, directions, mileage, how much time each leg of the trip would take and how much money we budgeted to spend. Everything was printed out ahead of time thanks to map quest. For the classroom teacher this would be the equivalent of a Lesson Plan, a necessary guide for the instructor in that it tells what to do, in what order to do it, and what procedure to use in teaching the material of a lesson, as per definition.
A well developed lesson plan is much like our family vacation plan. It was painstakingly developed reflecting the interests and needs of the affected group (our family/students), along with our personal philosophy of making learning come to life.
Reading the wealth of information provided through this class, it was interesting to see how all this fit in with my personal philosophy. Apparently, the last education courses that I took at MDCC thirty years ago had a lasting effect on me. I have been raising children for twenty five years now. I just did what came naturally. It was just what I did for my kids. Everyone told me I should be a teacher. Now, I see how all my strategies are written in the pages I have been reading. I had put things into practice and had forgotten where they had come from. I had been influenced by Piaget, Skinner, Maria Montessori and many others.
Reading about the Constructivist Lesson Plan seemed to fit right in with my idea of the brain being a parallel processor and learning engaging the person as a whole. I envision the brain with sensors reaching out and spreading ever wider constantly making new connections that facilitate grasping new concepts and calling on the old to solve new problems. I loved the idea of connecting isolated ideas and information with global concepts and themes. I am always leading my children to call on previous learnings to solve new.
Personally, I had never used a lesson plan and thought of it as rather tedious. After my experience this summer with my road trip, I have been transformed. I see the value to a well thought out Lesson Plan, be it Behavioral, Constructivist or Transpersonal. The ultimate goal of a lesson plan is to reach the students.
I see that I have used methods from across the board. I look forward to the transformations. As with our summer trip, one would be lost without a plan.

My Bio

I am Carolina Rojas, married with four children. I was determined to beat my first out of college, but he won. I now intend to beat the next one out. I have been working in the school system substituting and as a Paraprofessional II on and off for many years. I am looking forward to taking time now for myself.