STRATEGIC LEARNING AND RETENTION THE NEW INCLASS/VIRTUAL COOPERATIVE LEARNING MODEL

My philosophy as an educator is that all students have the capacity to be successful given the appropriate learning environment. During your reading, you will notice that great emphasis is placed on activities that include the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains. I am a proponent of new research-based strategies and very much aware of the brain-based and cooperative learning approach. It is important for students to make connections to prior learning before they are introduced to new concepts. This will strengthen the cognitive connections in their brains.

In this book, readers will learn

• Cooperative learning teaches a number of social and emotional skills, but it also gives students the opportunity to learn from each other.

• Our studies have shown that peer learning in which students explain concepts and ideas to each other has the potential to improve comprehension considerably.

• Cooperative learning produces critical experiences that other learning structures cannot.

• The best learning occurs when students are actively engaged in the learning process and working in collaboration with other students to accomplish a shared goal.

• In a recent survey, 47 percent of drop-outs in USA stated that they dropped out of school because their classes  were not interesting but boring; 43 percent stated that they missed too many days to catch up; 69 percent stated that they weren’t motivated enough;

• Each year, approximately 1.2 million students drop out of high school in the United States. That’s a student every 26 seconds or 7,000 a day.

• The link between a poor education and incarceration is borne out in data. Dropouts are 3.5 times more likely to be arrested than high school graduates. Nationally, 68 percent of all males in prison do not have a high school diploma.

• Of The 2 million people in American prisons, 50% are African Americans. America has 1/20th of the world’s population but of the world’s prisoners.  

• Why pay almost seven times the amount for juvenile detention as we do to educate our youth? We know what it takes to educate students well, and the cost is substantially lower than the cost of prison

• Boys begin their early years as tactile and kinesthetic learners. They are also primarily visual, spatial and experiential learners.

I am a proponent of results-driven leadership. I believe in creating systems and structures to ensure success. It is important to cultivate talented and diverse educators while providing high quality leadership professional development.  My objective is to make a difference in the lives of educators.Too many of our students are dropping out of schools. A large number of teachers are reaching out for support in creating intellectually engaging lessons. Learning is about cooperation and not competition. There has to be positive interdependence among students. There is a need in society for folks to be able to think and work together.

Teachers need urgent and differentiated support in teaching our students to construct their learning. Students are excited when the work is authentic in nature. The emphasis should be placed on the concept of constructivism where students are able to connect their prior knowledge to new knowledge. Therefore, it is important that our teachers are knowledgeable about their students to ensure adequate planning for instruction.

I was inspired to write this book due to the low performance and poor strategic approach which results in low attendance rate in schools. Many of our students are misunderstood. It is imminent that teachers receive ongoing support in understanding the learning styles of males and females. Teachers need ongoing strategies to ensure that our students are intellectually engaged. There is a lack of equity and access in the classroom. Teachers need support in creating engaging research-based learning activities.