So Much to Learn, So Little Time

This should be the lament of all of your students, you talented West teachers! I was going to do quick visits last week of ten to fifteen minutes but the time sped by at the hands of the teachers and students alike, and most visits lasted thirty to forty minutes. In visiting nine science classrooms and twelve math classrooms, I obtained a wealth of information about subjects, classroom atmosphere, teacher styles and student group personality. This was my goal - to get to know you. The more I know you, the more I like you. I want to do my best to support you.

In this blog, my "support" focus is on teamwork - an essential element of accomplishing most any large project. Most of you employed it in some way in your classes. First, I have included information about cooperative learning taken from a Steve Barkley post some time back. Check it out .

Here is a handy chart for tracking different groups within a classroom - some are preset by the teacher to allow for mixed ability groupings or differentiated learning; others allow for student choice. For larger groups, combine the smaller ones. Try it, you'll like it .

Finally there is a guideline for creating a networking station, also from Steve Barkley's Performance Learning Systems, where students can post to receive help or to give help in certain learning goals. We could all use this one.