respond to discussion 2

Karla

I believe that Cecilia had a great argument for her cooperative learning groups (Popham, 2019). As a current fourth grade interventionist I understand the value of group effort. This gives children the opportunity to learn a social skill and for those that my be advanced, the opportunity to aid other students that may need help. Although, I am not sure that I agree with Cecilia's choice of taking a 60/40. Some students are more motivated than others and I don't agree that the group should be penalized for students that may not be willing to carry their weight when it comes to group work. The scenario seemed like it would lead more towards 1-2 people carrying the workload for a group, and that did not seem fair. If I was Cecilia, I would still allow group effort and group work but I would not take a grade for the group as a whole because in my opinion it would be unfair. Although Cecilia mentions that it is the contribution of the group grade that motivates the students, I personally believe this would add stress to those students that feel as though some of their group members are not adding effort to the work (Popham, 2019). As mentioned in our text, teachers often use the results of assessments to make decisions about students (Popham, 2019). Finally, I think it is important for a students individual and group abilities to be measured truthfully by how that individual students performs.

Lutresha,

If I was Cecilia, I would continue to implement the cooperative group learning technique because it increases accountability among the students, but students need to also realize and be informed that their individual contributions will be evaluated and graded accordingly.

Group activities are great ways to get students working together effectively, however, there may be one or two students doing more work than others. I would implement a plan for each student to show their workload on the project or classroom activity.

My inferences of my students would be high expectations of them. According to Popham (2020), the major contribution of classroom assessment to a teacher’s decision making is that it provides reasonably accurate evidence about students’ status (p. 102). Although teachers ae often formed to make inferences about students’ knowledge, skills, or attitudes on the basis of informal observations, such as unsystematic observations sometimes lead teachers to make invalid estimates about a particular student’s status (Popham, 2020

I would continue with the 60-40 split grading system for my group work, but as I stated above, each student would be required to show me their individual effort in the project in order to receive full credit of their 60 percent.

I feel that group work encourages positive motivation for students. I feel that each student could learn more effective ideas from each other. I also feel that group activities encourage a sense of responsibilities for the students. Group activities build friendships and other possibilities of influence in each students’ daily lives.

Tristan,

The scenario presented for us this week was intriguing to consider as it contains aspects of testing that I plan to incorporate into my course's curriculum. Ms. Celina's method of arranging her grading system accoring to her classes' cooperative learning groups is something that I have considered using for my classes. My reasoning for wanting to group my students is mirrored in the text by Ms. Celina when she argues that, "it is the contribution of the group grade that motivates the students in a group to help each other learn," (Popham, 2020, 98). However, I do see problems within the structure that she laid out, especially with how her tests are graded. The fact that 40% of the individual student's grade is determined by their group's performance is a bit excessive, as that allows the possibility for the misbehavior and poor performance of one student to considerably effect the grades of multiple students. For this, I would simply scale it back to a 70/30 split for students' grades. Another critical compenent that I found needed revision was the fact that Ms. Celina's test are graded as group work. Though I see her reasoning, as it greatly increases group cohesion and teamwork as a necessary skill required to pass the class, tests are meant to evaluate the individual's knowledge. However, I do like the idea of having a group test grade. To find balance, I would employ a tinge of democracy by ending the class previous to the test day with allowing the students to vote in their groups about whether or not they want to have their test scored as an individual or as an average of their group's grades

Brekira,

Option 1: Leave matters as they are The Cecilia Celina cooperative learning paradigm is a successful one that has been shown to enhance students' participation in group learning. As a result, one teacher's opinion cannot be given much weight. The model does not need to be changed until anything interferes with the students' performance because of group work or the 60–40 split.

Option 2: Delete all group-based contributions to an individual student's grade. Many other educators are in favor of this strategy and are interested in implementing cooperative learning to improve their class. In this scenario, the positive feedback clearly outweighs the negative comment by Mr. Fred. Additionally, it has encouraged students to support one another's academic growth. Cecilia is acting in the best interests of her students, and her strategy is effective. The students' participation in group learning may change if the grading method is changed to individual grades. Students require constancy in the classroom, as we all know. The students will be badly impacted by changing her grading strategy because they are used to the 60-40 split. Therefore, choosing to do this is not a good choice.

Third option: Change the 60-40 divide.This 60 to 40 split is what has influenced the students' cooperative learning efforts. Students may put less effort into cooperative learning if the split percentage is reduced to 80-20, 75-25, 90-10, etc. Since it is one of the fundamental components, changing the 60–40 split is likewise not a good idea.

To sum up, I think Ceilina should continue with option 1 and leave the 60-40 split as is.