Information about Effective Teaching and Cooperative Learning

Articles on Effective Teaching, Cooperative Learning, and Active Learning

Comments from Holly Hargraves:

Back in the 80's, I took a four day workshop on Effective Instruction, which was part of the Madeline Hunter school of thought. I had been teaching already for ten years, and I thought I knew all the tricks. I didn't, of course. Although criticized as too formal and too prescribed for some, this training did more to fine-tune my teaching skills than any I had ever experienced. I became a more, well, a more effective teacher from learning these new skills.

In the 90's, the rage at the time was Cooperative Learning. What was that? Group work? No, it was group work with a twist. Everyone had a job, everyone was accountable, and everyone learned. I received my training from the Cooperative Learning guru, Dee Dishon, and later she trained me to mentor others. She wrote several books on Cooperative Learning which are cheaply available online at amazon.com.

For me, after learning the techniques of Cooperative Learning, I had to practice the skills, and practice hard. Dee Dishon insisted on a rigorous schedule of practice. We had to get ourselves videotaped, we had to conduct daily self evaluation, and we had to write detailed lesson plans. And then she herself came and observed me teach a lesson using cooperative learning. That was daunting, let me tell you. There was no way I could "fake" it, and beforehand I had to practice for weeks - training my students in the process as well as myself. The observation went well, by the way - if you care.

Eventually I was able to eventually integrate these skills into my teaching in a way that was natural and comfortable. But the training alone did not ensure that - it was the practicing, the daily reflection, and the networking with other trained teachers that helped.

I will add to this later:

Good Overview of Cooperative Learning (MS Word)

Overview of Active Learning - (both Cooperative Learning and Effective Instruction techniques) (MS Word)

Madeline Hunter Basics of Effective Instruction