cooperative learning

I had a very short week at my school this week due to electricity and asbestos on Thursday and Friday. Monday there was a field trip for the well behaved students and Tuesday there was a guest speaker. In other words there was only one day this past week dedicated to social studies. With all of the snow days and now this I am a firm believer that we have to increase our school year. I know that is an unpopular opinion but if we want our students to compete in a global market it is something that has to be done. I saw a chart on Japanese students’ study times and it floored me. The average Japanese student goes to school 245 days a year, from 8AM until 5PM, Monday through Friday. Sunday through Thursday students are required to spend two hours after school studying. I am not saying that we should encourage that but I do believe something has to change in our educational system.
On to my actual classroom experience related to Marzano, my supervising teacher allowed for cooperative learning on Wednesday!!! It worked really well. She used cooperative learning as a review for the test that was supposed to be the next day. We put the class into groups of four and played a game similar to Jeopardy. Each group was given a question and after a discussion between the group, members had to give an answer. The winning group received five bonus points to add to their test. The kids loved it. It was awesome to see these kids really thinking about what they had learned. They really wanted to win. We even had individuals go up in front of the classroom and answer without help from their group members. The students who my supervising teacher would never expect to answer anything correctly did. One student who doesn’t say a word in class was the leader of his group. I like to think that this is because I am constantly checking on him to make sure he stays on task. I call on him every day when I ask questions. Perhaps I shouldn’t do that because he has never answered a question correctly but I keep thinking one day he will. I believe that he is fully capable of learning the concepts of 8th grade social studies. My point behind this post is cooperative learning is a great thing and it should be used frequently in the classroom.
I have one quick question. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to deal with a child who refuses to do work, is argumentative with the teacher, and disrupts the class? I really do not think that throwing the child out of the classroom is the answer but this student makes it impossible for class to move forward sometimes. This student has made it clear that school is the last place on earth that she wants to be. She sees any assignment as useless and a waste of her time. It doesn’t matter how you try and make it relevant. She is a test of my patience already. This student is not in the two classes that I am teaching but she is in the first class that I observe. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Happy Spring Break to everyone!!
Until next time,
Anisa Dye-Hale