Reflective Questions

As Tom Littleton reads his journal, he probably asks himself some of the following questions. Put yourself in Tom’s place, and think about how you would answer these questions.

1		Both competition and individualism are deeply held values in American society. Have I stressed collaboration in a way that omits these values from the students’ lives or in a way that weaves them together?
2		All people need to feel that they belong, that they have a reliable sense of alliance with others. Has this class fostered such feelings?
3		The culture of some students centers on individualism and the culture of others centers on a collective spirit. Is there a balance here? For example, are students given enough opportunity to be assessed individually as well as in groups?
4		Have I gone too far with Rebecca in stressing equity for girls? Have I put her in a position where she feels she has to choose between her community’s emphasis on the male and my encouragement of her individual talents? How can I help her bridge these two sets of values and still maintain her family’s trust in me?
5		To what extent has the collaborative structure of this class resulted in individual learning for all students? How can I measure that? How can I be sure that real learning is going on for everyone?
6		I can’t keep all these students together with me all day or for the rest of their schooling. How are they doing, and how will they do, in more traditional classrooms that stress competition and individual performance? Is this class just a unique experience that will fade from memory as they get older?
7		It is obvious that Tom can have few definitive answers for these questions, but the fact that he asks them is important. He clearly believes that a collaborative classroom is both necessary and valuable. Yet he knows that this approach to schooling is not shared by everyone, either in the school or outside it. The decisions he makes as he thinks about these issues are always tempered by what he knows about his school and his community. Still, he will probably continue to modify and improve his approach, knowing also that change is incremental and does not come all at once. It is a great challenge.