All-For-One Teaching Strategy Can Help Students Work Well Together

Here's how it works.

First put students into groups of about 4 or 6. It's important to put together students of different abilities, or at least students whose level of progress is currently different.

Tell each group this is called the all-for-one teaching strategy and that the purpose of putting them together into groups is so that they can all help each other within the group to ensure every student understands the learning and can complete the learning task successfully.

Every student is expected to succeed and this means that those students who fully understand what to do should be prepared to help those students who are having difficulty understanding. It also means that if students don't understand what to do to complete the task successfully they have to get help from other students in the group.If everyone in the group gets stuck, they have to ask the teacher for help.

The bottom line is that students need a 'one for all and all for one' attitude within the group. But it doesn't mean that all students have to work at the same pace within the group: the quicker students can push on, while pausing to help the weaker students by explaining details when necessary. In fact, it's not essential for all students to do the same learning task, as long as there's enough 'expertise' within the group to be able to help everyone who meets a problem.

The all-for-one teaching strategy encourages the group group to take its corporate responsibility seriously because at specified intervals the teacher visits the group and asks questions to check that all members of the group fully understand. If any student in the group does not understand then the group as a whole has not met its responsibilities, which in turn means the group has to try again to ensure full understanding.

Even though the main aim of the all-for-one teaching strategy is to develop co-operation among students, the teacher can add a bit of spice by introducing a competitive element by awarding points for groups who successfully 'pass the test' when the teacher visits the group.

When can you use the all-for-one teaching strategy?

It can be used in any subject area, and it works really well if it's used over a series of lessons, allowing students to become familiar with the process, and to build up a group dynamic and ethos.

Why bother?

1. It helps students see that they can take responsibility for their own learning.

2. It's a welcome break from the 'lecture' method.

3. It endorses the notion that real learning only occurs when students reconstruct the learning for themselves.

4. Often students learn more effectively from their peers, who understand better than the teacher exactly what students are struggling to

understand, and who can often explain things more simply without being wrapped up in 'teacher talk'.

5. It models a framework for interdependence as well as independence; and it promotes the idea of mutual respect and responsibility, in short, good citizenship.







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