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Letter from the Co-president June 2006 Dear Colleagues: IASCE is pleased to bring you the second newsletter of 2006. In this issue, the IASCE Newsletter, once again, provides us with an eclectic and stimulating collection of abstracts from recent issues of a wide variety of journals. As is so often the case, this collection reminds us that interest in the power of cooperation for learning is ongoing, varied, and strong. I was particularly fascinated by the abstract from Reading Research Quarterly, partly because this is a very prestigious publication and partly because, once again, this study suggests that teacher decision making--in relation to classroom climate, culture, and curriculum--is critical to successful peer interaction. This abstract also suggests the importance of teacher knowledge of, and skill in, scaffolding dialogue. In some ways, the article by Peter Gobel raises similar issues. Peter has chronicled and reflected on his efforts to bring high quality cooperation into his teaching. He reminds us just how important it is to incorporate “basic elements” such as a) the direct teaching of interpersonal and small group learning skills and b) time and strategies for group reflection and planning. He reminds us that every teacher and every student must learn the importance of these processes and must learn how to use them well. He reminds us of the importance of context in both content and culture. Perhaps most importantly, he reminds us that it takes time to be efficient and it takes time to develop effectiveness. Thank you Peter for taking the time to share this story with us. At the conclusion of our conference in Manchester in 2002, Yael Sharan offered to develop a new feature for our newsletter. Since that time, Yael has collaborated with educators on several continents to bring us reports about the contexts for, and implementation of, cooperative learning. Readers: if you know an exciting story that should be told, please contact Yael. In this issue of our Newsletter, we have expanded the focus of the Forum by publishing a dialogue between educators. This dialogue examines “the right to pass.” We would like to include dialogues as a regular feature in our newsletter. Do you think this is a worthwhile project? Would you like to suggest a topic for a future dialogue? Would you like to facilitate or edit a dialogue? Please contact George Jacobs, Yael Sharan, or Lynda Baloche with your comments and ideas and please check our website for further information as we consider the value and feasibility of this idea. As always, I would like to thank you for your support of IASCE. Please share your newsletter with your colleagues and please consider how you might contribute to the Newsletter. Cooperatively yours, Lynda
Lynda Baloche
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