One plus one equals three.

The title is on my blackboard this morning. I thought that I would have them guess why. Originally I meant it for my third period World History class. Then I thought about my Freshman and Sophomore English students. They all happen to be working on cooperative learning tasks at this time. My point is that the major reason that I form groups with students is so they can produce more. I am especially interested in the art of discussion or Socratic learning where an idea is introduced and the discussion and more depth about the idea comes to light with discussion.

In my first period class no one even came close to guessing why I had put the equation on the board. Most said "because your not so good at math." or some such thing. They are so literal. But when I explained it in term of the papers that some turned in and some did not turn in, they understood very clearly.

Period three, World History, individually outlined a section of the book. Then the groups were suppose to work together to build a PowerPoint. Some groups worked very well together. Others had observable loose ends. I will have this discussion my World History class today. My inclination is to separate those who have not been productive. They create their own individual projects. In history two people volunteered to do individual projects. One of those I had in mind to do it but there were several others who did not volunteer. They will wait until Wednesday for a non-volunteers.

Last Wednesday I came up with what I thought was a brilliant project for my Sophomore English students. I created eight topics from the book Ender's game. I wrote out the directions so that students must find quotes in the book that would give insight to author's intentions in writing about "the relationships between children and adults" for example. I'll try to remember to include a copy of the lesson in the link right here. They they were to search the book for evidence of those quotes to see what the quotes actually said. First this process uses inductive reasoning. It is a difficult task for anyone, so I know that they will struggle with this project. Second this process should prepare them to write a literary essay using the quotes as evidence.

We had just had a quiz where I found out who had been reading the book and who hadn't been. I let those who had been reading out in the hall to work on the project together. For those who did not read we listened to a reading of the book in class.

As a literature teacher I stuggle with those who do not read the book. But also I empathize because I had a reading disability in school. It is still easier for me to listen to a novel than read it. But also I try to provide opportunities for them to read in class as well as hold them accountable for the work even if it is difficult.

I further stress the one plus one problem in my fifth period class. I said, "I can deal with one plus one equals two. I can not deal with one plus one equals one or worse, one plus one equals zero. The combination of workers on any one project should produce more and not less."