How can I help students work together?

Building Appreciation

If we want students to be able to work together, the first step is helping them get along with each other. In order to build positive relationships, encourage students to appreciate each other. Watch how David Olio does this in his high school English classroom.

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Respectful Talk

Students don’t need to agree with each other, but they do need to learn to respectfully disagree. Teach students to express their opinions and listen to each other with respect using this quick strategy from Sherwanda Chism.

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Step Back

In order to truly learn how to get along with each other and think independently, students often need us to step back. We can do this more readily when we’ve established a strong class culture in our classroom. Watch one example of stepping back here.

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Teach Social and Emotional Skills

Learn all about teaching your students the core competencies of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship building and responsible decision-making through Course 5031: Social Emotional Learning: Strengthening Hearts and Minds.

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Looking for more?

Watch these videos to see student collaboration in action:

• Building Class Culture with Social Skills Goals
• Working as a Team
• Critical Friends: Collaborating as Writers
• Desk Arrangement: Four Corners
• See our full collection of videos on student collaboration here

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Be An Example!

Collaborate with colleagues and talk about it with students. Check out our great resource library on teacher collaboration for inspiration.

Among all of this learning messiness, however, is the comforting feeling that I am not on this journey alone. I have an incredible network of educators that help me learn and get better every single day.” Read more...

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