British Columbia Cooperative Learning Association

Eckhard Perk

            When I considered which professional organization might be most relevant to my future as a teacher, I thought back to what Hartej Gill had emphasized in her presentation regarding “creating spaces in schools where students are able to share as many facets of themselves as possible” and, therefore, they would come to feel “valued.”  This message resonated with me not only because I had originally chosen inclusion as the social issue most important to me, but also because I believe that in order to combat racism and other issues affecting the classroom every student must be given opportunity to have his or her voice contribute equally to the formation of classroom community.  For this reason, I chose the British Columbia Cooperative Learning Association, which I found out about when searching for a Professional Development Day conference to attend.  Some information about the organization and its possible link to my teaching is listed below:

·        Website: (http://bctf.ca/bccla/)

·        Mandate/goal: “To foster and promote cooperative learning and cooperative schools in British Columbia.” (Through fostering positive, cooperative relationships between classroom learners studying any subject, where the contribution of each student carries an equal amount of weight and importance.

·        Currently organizing a Pro-D Day conference for October 22, 2010 (Delta)

·        Funders: Organization members and the BCTF

·        A possible link of this group to my teaching would be as a source of information

and guidance in my goal to create a positive, inclusive classroom that values

critical thinking and the contribution of each student.

• The BCCLA also works with the Social Responsibility and Collaborative

Learning Environments group.

            A good introduction to cooperative learning is found in Volume 18(2), Summer 2008 issue of Classroom Connections—a newsletter by the British Columbia Cooperative Learning Association—where an article provides a good background to the topic through a discussion undertaken by four classroom educators from the Lower Mainland on how cooperative learning functions to “develop a more inclusive classroom.”   In the article titled “Co-operative Learning: For (4) Teachers Working Towards Social Justice,” authors Darrin Clarke, Sibli Gill, Miranda Hounsell, and Bill Urquart explain their thoughts on why cooperative learning is essential in creating positive classroom environments because it “can give a sense of power to those who feel that they do not have a voice.” 

They point out, though, that the skills for cooperative work need to be taught or the off-task behaviours of some group members will negatively impact outcomes.  Also, while cooperative learning promotes a inclusion to the degree where the success of one student helps other students be successful, factors such as group size, interaction skills, decision making, and emotions/feelings influence the individual satisfaction of students in this type of classroom structure.  Nevertheless, research findings, including those from these four classrooms, suggests that cooperative learning does indeed shape a more positive classroom environment and actually moves students in the class towards viewing themselves as a team, instead of individuals simply competing against one another.  This approach is especially well suited to classroom exercises involving problem-solving and decision-making, as long as common group goals, individual accountability, and social skills training are included at the outset.  

            One method that I thought would serve to introduce cooperative learning to the classroom at the start of the school year is to have a special class object that functions as a “talking-stick,” where only the student holding the object is allowed to speak.  This method might be especially helpful at the primary level, where students might need more help in self-regulating when it comes to making a contribution.  Of course, all discussion would be moderated by the teacher, and could be initiated for many reasons: sharing ideas/stories at a class meeting; sharing what is good about a cultural/ethnic background; offering reasons or solutions for something, all of which allows students to start developing critical-thinking skills—and the list could go on.  The key feature of employing this method is that every student has the opportunity to have his or her voice heard without interruption, thereby granting each speaker’s words equal weight and importance in the learning community.