Connections to Social Justice Standards: Identity, Diversity
Strategies:
1. Cooperative Learning Roles
2. Collaboration Between In-Person and Remote Learners
3. Jigsaw
4. Value Lines
5. Let’s Talk!
Effective collaborative learning requires planning to avoid existing racial, gender, socio-economic, linguistic, academic or other divisions within the classroom.
Responsive collaborative learning might look like:
- Planning projects that require a broad range of skills, including artistic, theatrical, interpersonal, bilingual or community-awareness skills that don’t necessarily correlate with academic achievement.
- Grouping students to bring together different demographics, skills, abilities and needs.
- Requiring groups to solicit and synthesize or compare and contrast the perspectives of all team members, and providing multiple response methods.
Educators can also focus on social justice and action by using cooperative and collaborative learning to structure dialogue around topics such as race and racism. Although most of the strategies included in this section are geared toward working with K-12 students, they can be modified to work with adults in professional learning communities, higher education settings or community groups.
Cooperative Learning Roles
Cooperative learning promotes interdependence and requires meaningful participation as students work together toward a shared goal. Asking students to select their own learning role can help ensure individual and group accountability for what is accomplished, while also providing students with an opportunity to use their strengths.
Defining clear roles in group work can also support students in collaborating effectively and help democratize group work (see group work resources in Appendix C: Online Supplement). To learn more about setting up student roles, read “The Power of Protocols for Equity” by Zaretta Hammond, author of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain.
Collaboration Between In-Person and Remote Learners
Finding ways for students learning remotely to collaborate with students attending school in-person builds a sense of community; students who are at home feel less isolated and get to experience being part of a class. Using programs that require minimal internet, as detailed in the Edutopia video “Making a Shared Space for In-Person and Remote Learners,” ensures that all remote learners have access to participate fully. Teachers facilitating remote learning should carefully consider whether their practices reduce or increase harm to students (see Appendix C: Online Supplement for further information).
During the COVID-19 pandemic, remote learning became the norm across the country. Many educators wrestled with their camera policies: Should they require students to turn on their cameras during virtual classes?
Learning for Justice recommends a camera-optional policy for several reasons:
- Having cameras on is not necessary for collaborative or cooperative learning.
- Having cameras off requires less internet bandwidth.
- Keeping the policy flexible allows students and families privacy in their homes.
- There have been instances where a cameras-on policy has caused harm.
If you feel you must use cameras, ask yourself why. In instances where the rationale is to monitor students’ behavior instead of supporting learning goals, consider offering a camera-optional space. A camera-optional policy can mitigate potential harms for students that aren’t always obvious.
Jigsaw
Jigsaw is a flexible teaching strategy that fosters collaboration and cooperative learning. In Jigsaw, each student is a member of two groups: a home group and an expert group. Each home group member is assigned a different topic from a reading (no two students in the same home group have the same topic). Students then leave their home group and discuss their assigned topic with the other students assigned to the same topic (their expert group). Once the students have become “experts” in their particular topic by exchanging ideas and hearing multiple perspectives, they return to their home groups to share what they have learned. All students thereby benefit from the expertise their groupmates developed while away from “home.”
For an example of how to put Jigsaw into action, see the LFJ Racial Disparities Jigsaw Mini-Unit classroom resource.
Value Lines
In this after-reading activity, students take a stance on a topic related to a text or other material and then listen while classmates explain their stances. The LFJ Value Lines teaching strategy (see Appendix C: Online Supplement) is designed to engage students in questioning the text and deepening their comprehension through observing and listening to others. The strategy incorporates movement, which can enhance student interaction, participation and understanding. By building in the opportunity to change one’s stance, students see that personal positions and perspectives on the text evolve as their comprehension increases.
Let’s Talk!
Educators play a crucial role in helping students communicate openly about the historical roots and contemporary manifestations of social inequality and discrimination. Learning how to discuss topics such as white privilege, police violence, economic inequality and mass incarceration requires practice, and facilitating critical conversations with students demands courage and skill.
The LFJ Let’s Talk! guide offers classroom-ready strategies that can be used to plan discussions and facilitate conversations with students to support their collaborative and cooperative social justice learning.
