Reach for the Stars     |     home
Setting Up a Discipline System   |   Conducting Classroom Meetings   |   Getting Parents on Your Side   |   Cooperative Learning in Action   |   Adding ADD/ADHD to the Mix   |   Dealing with the Aggressive Student
Cooperative Learning in Action
Cooperative learning does not have to be a complex issue.  The basic goal is to teach students to work together to achieve a goal.  See the following information that justifies using cooperative learning in your classroom.

In June of 1991, the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS Report) was published by the U.S. Department of Labor.  "What Work Requires of Schools - A SCANS Report for America 2000" indicated the following "Workplace Know-How"

The know-how identified by SCANS is made up of five competencies and a three-part foundation of skills and personal qualities that are needed for solid job performance.  These include:

COMPETENCIES - effective workers can productively use:
•   Resources - allocating time, money, materials, space, and staff;
•   Interpersonal Skills - working on teams, teaching others, serving customers, leading, negotiating, and working well with people from culturally diverse backgrounds;
•   Information - acquiring and evaluating data, organizing and maintaining files, interpreting and communicating, and using computers to process information;
•   Systems - understanding social, organizational, and technological systems, monitoring and correcting performance, and designing or improving systems;
•   Technology - selecting equipment and tools, applying technology to specific tasks, and maintaining and troubleshooting technologies.

THE FOUNDATION - competence requires:
•   Basic Skills - reading, writing, arithmetic and mathematics, speaking, and listening;
•   Thinking Skills - thinking creatively, making decisions, solving problems, seeing things in the mind's eye, knowing how to learn, and reasoning;
•   Personal Qualities - individual responsibility, self-esteem, sociability, self-management, and integrity.


TIPS FROM A TEACHER

What does the SCANS report mean to me?  I printed out the above list and placed it in my lesson plan book.  It reminded me to plan lessons where students received instruction on necessary skills AND taught them how to think!  Educators can no longer just teach rote memorization without addressing the value of memorizing.  Students are leaving our schools to get jobs, some with a college education, but many without.  It is our responsibility to prepare them to work - in college, in jobs, in life.