Cooperate with Others - Reflections on How Adults Use This EFF Skill

"E. L. Thorndike, an eminent psychologist who was also influential in popularizing the notion of IQ in the 1920s and 1930s, proposed in a Harper's Magazine article that one aspect of emotional intelligence, 'social intelligence'—the ability to understand others and act wisely in human relations—was itself an aspect of a person's IQ. When Robert Sternberg, another Yale psychologist, asked people to describe an 'intelligent person,' practical people skills were among the main traits listed. More systematic research by Sternberg led him back to Thorndike's conclusion: that social intelligence is both distinct from academic abilities and a key part of what makes people do well in the practicalities of life. Among the practical intelligences that are, for instance, so highly valued in the workplace is the kind of sensitivity that allows effective managers to pick up tacit messages."⁹
-Daniel Goleman

Insights From Field Research:
Using the Standard to Guide Teaching and Learning

Judy B. Wurtz
Sweetwater Union High School District,
Division of Adult and Continuing Education, Chula Vista, CA
ESOL Level 2; Series of lessons focused on the skills necessary to work together.
Teacher data from the second round of field review, conducted 1998-1999.
(Adapted from Equipped for the Future Content Standards, p. 40.)

What are the steps you will look for in order to know if your students are making progress toward meeting the Standard?

• Students will be able to identify general factors that promote cooperation, such as "everyone participates."
• Students will be able to specify actions that contribute to those factors, such as "ask questions of quieter members."
• Students will be able to give specific examples of contributions of others.
• Students will be able to fill out a written form evaluating their own actions in seeking the opinions of others and expressing their own. They will evaluate the job performance of their team members and the level of cooperation of their teams as a whole.
• Individual performance within the group will improve as a result of the evaluations.
• Students will be able to identify and positively resolve any conflicts that may arise in their groups.

What evidence of student progress did you see and how did you document it?
Group self-evaluation forms and a form for peer evaluation. As the teacher, I evaluated the final product - the group's presentation to the class.

How did the process of defining evidence and collecting this evidence work for you? How did it require new or different methods of thinking and observation from you and your learner(s)?
It was challenging to think of ways that I could document whether or not my students were cooperating with each other. It forced me to think of ways to word the evaluation forms that would get students beyond their usual comments of "everything was good." I tried to get very specific with the evaluation forms but was still not satisfied with the results. I also need to find a way to document the changes that take place in the group dynamics over time-perhaps a separate evaluation for every time they get into groups.