The Introduction reminds us of how important cooperation is in so many facets of our lives.

The opening book in this series on teacher reflection by Farrell, Reflective Practice in ELT, provides readers with a detailed and up-to-date background on reflection by language teachers. Chapter 1 in the current book aims to provide readers with useful background on cooperative learning. The chapter begins with a history of cooperative learning, highlighting pioneers from the 1970s onwards, while acknowledging their predecessors from earlier in the same century and the 1800s, as well as much further in the past. Cooperative learning also has roots in cultural traditions, as is discussed next. One outstanding feature of cooperative learning is the wide array of theories in both general education and in language education. These theories are profiled next, followed by a brief review of some of the extensive research on cooperative learning that has been done and continues being done.

This chapter centers on eight principles of cooperative learning. Different educators have different lists of cooperative learning principles. Probably these differences flow from a matter of emphasis. We are in no way competing with these esteemed educators. Our principles resulted from our reflections on our own experiences, and this book is designed, based on Farrell’s, the series editor, template, to enable you to develop your own principles. We want to stress that the various lists of cooperative learning principles are MUCH more similar to each other than different from each other, and there is no need to stress about the differences. Instead, we recommend that teachers focus on what works for their students in their particular contexts, in the midst of a world in which, as the saying goes, “The only thing permanent is change.” The list below contains eight cooperative learning principles highlighted in this book. a. Positive interdependence b. Individual accountability c. Equal opportunity to participate d. Maximum peer interactions e. Group autonomy f. Heterogeneous grouping g. Teaching cooperative skills h. Cooperation as a value

Some critics of cooperative learning maintain that only lazy teachers choose cooperative learning, because when students learn together in cohesive groups, the teacher can just sit back and relax; the students do all the work. Hahahaha. That only happens in our dreams! And, how do people think these imaginary students become such academic angels? How do they continue to spread their wings? Actually, in some ways, cooperative learning and other forms of student centered learning can be more complicated that teacher centered instruction. When teacher talk dominates, as long as teachers have prepared their presentations (no simple task), the lesson seems under control; the show will go on. In contrast, with cooperative learning and other student centered forms of learning, if the students just sit there as spectators in the teacher’s show, the lesson has flopped; the show cannot go on. In student centered learning, we teachers want to be “Guides on the Side,” but if students do nothing, what is there for us to guide? Thus, we need to both prepare our part of the show as well as figuring out how to facilitate environments that encourage students to actively engage with each other, with the content to be learned, discovered, and constructed, as well as with us, their dear teachers. This third chapter of the book highlights nuts and bolts matters related to cooperative learning. It raises questions for students and teachers to figure out together. Chapters 1 and 2 focused on more conceptual matters, while this chapter ponders practical issues that we deal with in our own teaching and that fellow teachers often ask cooperative learning practitioners about. No doubt, as you are reading and reflecting on this chapter during the Reflective Breaks, at other times, and while discussing with students and colleagues, more issues will arise.

If you are like us, the authors of this book, you love to teach, but when it comes to assessment, such as marking homework or tests, your enthusiasm shines significantly less brightly. However, when we stop to think about it, assessment is something we all do so often in so many other parts of our lives. For instance, when we wake up, we assess how well we slept the night before and whether we might want to try to grab another five minutes of shut eye. When we do get out of bed, as we prepare breakfast for ourselves and our families, we assess the quantity, nutrition, and taste of the food we are preparing. After we bathe, we have more assessment tasks, as we use our knowledge of the likely weather, where we are likely to be later that day, with who, doing what to select what to wear and what to bring along with us when we leave home. Finally, when the day nears an end, maybe about 15 hours later, and we are looking for something relaxing to read, play, or watch, the internet provides so many options for us to assess before making a choice and then, five minutes later, upon further assessment, maybe changing our choice. Thus, assessment in non-academic aspects of our lives is an inescapable and sometimes even enjoyable activity. We do not expect that this chapter will convince you to enjoy the academic assessment you do, but we do hope that discussing and reflecting on assessment will make you feel a bit more positive toward this vital element of education. It worked for us. This chapter considers a number of questions about assessment generally, as well as questions about assessment when cooperative learning takes place. Three points that we find to be of particular value concern frequent assessment aided by the fact that in cooperative learning, students are available to aid teachers in assessing peers and themselves; ipsative assessment, in which students compare their current performance with their previous work; and combination grades, in which groupmates’ results and evaluations impact one another’s grades.

“Great teachers teach from the heart” (Palmer, 1998, p. 5). They join the teaching profession with their hearts longing to spark the love of learning in their students. They begin their journey with other novice teachers, many of whom share the same longing. Along the way, some of these fellow teachers lose their longing as they toil the demanding path of the profession. These defeated teachers either leave the profession to embark on different paths or drag themselves into their classes each day, inflicting the pain of rote learning on their students and themselves. In contrast, great teachers have survived the myriad challenges and drudgery of the profession while still managing to savor the moments of joy in between the ups and downs. In between the two extremes, there are many different types of teachers who go through the ups and downs of the profession. Some are on their way to greatness, while some others are struggling to make their days meaningful through their teaching. What, then, makes teachers great? Part of the answer lies in teachers empowering their students; after all, it is students who construct their own learning, with cooperative learning weighing heavily in that construction process. Another key element in teacher self-development lies in teachers, alone and in concert with others, engaging in reflection. This chapter discusses cooperative learning and reflective practice as a terrain to explore and form connectedness between teachers’ inner selves and their students and subjects. To be connected with students, teachers need to find ways to nurture student-teacher encounters so that students can make the content their own and enter the various communities of practice dedicated to the various content areas. Connectedness involving the students, language teaching, and teachers’ inner selves is discussed as the underlying landscape of reflective practice. Then, this chapter discusses how reflective practices enable teachers to delve into the tangles of the students, the language they teach, and their own inner selves.

This chapter focuses on how language teachers can reflect together to learn more about how to facilitate their students’ use of cooperative learning and other student centered learning methods. The chapter begins with thoughts on the nature of knowledge. Next, we propose benefits of teacher-teacher cooperation before delving into Farrell’s definition of reflective practice. The bulk of the chapter attempts to answer the question of how cooperative learning principles, explained in Chapter 2, can apply to groups of language teachers working together to strengthen the role of their schools in making for more cooperative classrooms and a more cooperative world.

Chapter 7 brings together ideas from the book’s previous six chapters in the form of five lessons, with each lesson followed by commentary by this book’s authors and reflection opportunities for you, the readers of this book. We hope you will reflect on such matters as the links between the lessons themselves and the cooperative learning principles; how you might use some of the cooperative learning techniques in the lessons in your own language teaching; and what variations to the lessons you might like to try.

Every conclusion chapter needs its own conclusion. To end this chapter and this book, we, the authors, want to urge you to make cooperation and reflection foundations upon which you build your teaching and your life. Cooperation brings strength and kindness, and reflection brings insight and wisdom. Now more than ever, teachers and everyone else can never have enough of those qualities.