3)+Cooperative+Learning+&+Collaboration

=** COOPERATIVE LEARNING & COLLABORATION **=

//**"Touch their spirits softly with the feather of encouragement, whispering, 'You can, you will, you must, your people need you,'..."**// //**-Wilson in Gilliland, 1999 p. 100 (Alberta, 2005, p. 79)**//

Aboriginal cultures emphasize the importance of living cooperatively and working together to achieve a common goal. "Community support encourages learning" (Kanu, 2002, p. 109). Historically, cooperation and collaboration have been necessary values for Aboriginal groups to embody in order to survive. Incorporating collaborative and cooperative learning activities into curriculum and instruction is an important way to reach Aboriginal students and foster community among all students. "Aboriginal people believe that if you want to know something, you must be willing to sit with someone who has the knowledge" (Alberta Education, 2005, p. 72).

In this short video John Curl, an expert on American cooperative communities explains the historical significance of cooperative/collaborative living to North American Aboriginal groups. While he speaks from an American Aboriginal perspective, the concepts described are relevant to Canadian Aboriginal cultures.

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====A collaborative classroom is an exciting place for teachers and students alike. The characteristics of a collaborative classroom are fundamentally different from those of than that of a traditional classroom. In a collaborative classroom, teachers act as facilitators rather than experts and thus students are able to share their knowledge too. In working with Aboriginal students, teachers can consult students for expertise on Aboriginal culture and ways of like creating an environment of cooperation and collaboration where all students' experiences are valued. ====

===="More needs to be done in the area of cooperative group work in schools to enable Aboriginal students to benefit from it academically by drawing on the cooperative, collaborative, and communal aspects of their culture to enhance their learning" (Kanu, 2002, p. 113). ====

What is the Collaborative Classroom? – View this webpage paying special attention to the "Characteristics of a Collaborative Classroom."

**References**

Alberta Learning (2005). //Our words, our ways: Teaching First Nations, Metis and Inuit learners.// Edmonton, Alberta: Aboriginal Services Branch.

Kanu, Yatta. (2002). In their own voices: First Nations students identify some cultural mediators of their learning in the formal school system. //Alberta Journal of// // Educational Research, 48 // (2), 98- 121. Retrieved July 10, 2011, from CBCA Education. (Document ID: 347111701).



** __DISCUSSION QUESTION__ - Which of the characteristics of a collaborative classroom will you incorporate into your future teaching practice? Use examples from your current curriculum if applicable. **