Our Work
Structured Cooperative Learning with High Performance Teaming
Structured Cooperative Learning helps you create equal opportunities for success and learning for all your learners by grouping them into High Performance (HP) Learning Teams. In doing this, you build on the strengths and diversity of your students. Some of the student characteristics to consider when forming HP Learning Teams include:
- Achievement
- Ethnicity
- Motivation
- Leadership
- Gender
- Special Needs
- Talents
Once you have assembled your teams, you introduce your students to the six HP Teaming Principles. As students get practice using these principles, you will see that they quickly internalize them – they begin to hold both their fellow team members and themselves accountable for the work needed for everyone in the group to succeed. In short, they become self-monitoring. The six HP Teaming Principles are:
Sink or Sail Together – Productive teams have common goals and agreed upon tasks for each member; this helps students understand that each individual team member is responsible for the success or failure of the entire group.
No Free Riders – Every member of the group has an obligation to do their part to promote the success of the group as a whole.
Check It Out – Students monitor their performances to determine how well they are working together to achieve their goals, fulfill their roles and address cooperative standards.
Engage – Team members encourage one another to use time efficiently, demonstrate excitement toward learning, energize to accomplish goals and maintain enthusiasm as they perform their roles and tasks.
Communicate, Appreciate, Problem Solve (CAP) – Students follow protocols to manage planning, teamwork, communication, workflow, assignments, performance, problem-solving and conflict resolution; this builds their collaborative skills and creates a well-functioning community of learners.
Power Up – Teams utilize a wide array of 21st century web tools and technologies to promote substantive group learning.
