‘Structured’ learning

Anderson County Schools win KSBA PEAK Award through Cooperative Learning

By Jennifer Wohlleb

Staff Writer

What may look like playtime activities in Anderson County Schools’ classrooms is actually learning in action.

For four years, the district has been using Cooperative Learning strategies, which aim to increase student achievement through improved student engagement and promoting positive social skills among students.

And what that boils down to is classrooms with lots of energy and lots of learning.

It was these qualities that led judges to award Anderson County KSBA’s PEAK (Public Education Achieves in Kentucky) Award. The award is given twice a year to focus statewide attention on outstanding public school efforts that enhance student learning and promote the positive impact of public elementary and secondary education.

"My observation when I came into the district a year ago was the high energy in the classroom," Superintendent Kim Shaw said. "You can just feel it when all students are actively engaged in learning instead of just sitting at their desk. It’s really an energy you don’t have in a traditional classroom."

The program revolves around Kagan Cooperative Learning Structures, also called strategies. There are more than 200 of them.

Sheila Mitchell, assessment coordinator, said teachers planning lessons choose several of the strategies and use them to teach the lesson content.

"So if the topic was the American Revolution, they might teach it using three or four different structures," she said. "An example of a structure is ‘Quiz, Quiz, Trade.’ Children would have their definitions on cards. On one side would be a definition, and on the other side would be the word and they would mix and mingle, trade cards, stop, then pair up with a partner and quiz each other on the terms."

Students are also familiar with the structures. Fifth-grader Molly Kate Burkhead listed several of her favorites and explained how some work in a letter nominating the program for the PEAK Award.

"Rally Coach really helps us do better in math," she said. "We work with our shoulder buddies on this structure. One of us works the problem and the other checks it. If it’s right, we praise our partner, if it’s wrong, we coach them until they get it right, then praise."

Mitchell said there are also strategies that address different learning styles.

"The goal is to get as many students as possible engaged during a class setting," she said.

And it appears to be working. Between 2002 and 2005, CATS scores increased more than 10 points at the elementary level, by 12 points at the middle school level and more than five points at the high school.

Julie Wise, a fourth-grade teacher at Turner Elementary, said these structures allow students to process the content as they go, while allowing them to get up and move around the classroom.

"It is important to remember that most of Kagan’s structures involve 75-100 percent of students participating and reviewing content at one time," she wrote. "I have found that students never become bored and are always eager to participate, allowing for an increase in student involvement in the classroom."

She said when students work together, they realize that one student’s gain is a gain for all. Not only are they learning to interact positively, but they are also helping each other to learn.

"When working in teams or pairs, students often must coach one another to the correct answer," Wise said. "… Using the structures designed to promote positive social skills has changed the climate and culture in my classroom and across classrooms in the district."

Board Vice Chairman Robert Montgomery said when he first heard about the program, he thought it was too good to be true, so he went through the teacher’s training program to find out for himself.

"There is a substantial cost to it and part of my reason for going was to see if we were really getting our money’s worth," he said. "After going through the week-long session, I feel like we got more than our money’s worth"

PEAK judge and Hardin County school board member Scott Tubbs called the program "a contagious positive life skill," which he said will travel well beyond the classroom.