Opinion Blog

Classroom Q&A

With Larry Ferlazzo

In this EdWeek blog, an experiment in knowledge-gathering, Ferlazzo will address readers’ questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other issues facing teachers. Send your questions to lferlazzo@epe.org. Read more from this blog.

Teaching Opinion

Q&A Collections: Cooperative & Collaborative Learning

By Larry Ferlazzo — July 26, 2021 2 min read
Images shows colorful speech bubbles that say "Q," "&," and "A."
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

During the summer, I am sharing thematic posts bringing together responses on similar topics from the past 10 years. You can see all those collections from the first nine years here.

Here are the ones I’ve published so far:

The 11 Most Popular Classroom Q&A Posts of the Year

Race & Racism in Schools

School Closures & the Coronavirus Crisis

Classroom-Management Advice

Best Ways to Begin the School Year

Best Ways to End the School Year

Student Motivation & Social-Emotional Learning

Implementing the Common Core

Challenging Normative Gender Culture in Education

Teaching Social Studies

Today’s theme is on Cooperative & Collaborative Learning. You can see the list of posts following this excerpt from one of them:

inquirysuzie

* ‘To Maximize Group Work, Make It Metacognitive’

A three-part series of supporting effective student group work is “wrapped up” today with commentaries from Nancy Frey, Doug Fisher, Michael Fisher, Laura Greenstein, Debbie Zacarian, Michael Silverstone, and Cindy Terebush.

* ‘Maximizing Student Learning Gained Through Collaboration’

Katrina Hankins, Dawn Mitchell, Andrew Miller, Andrea Keith, and Michael D. Toth share their ideas about ensuring that group work in the classroom goes smoothly.

* Effective Group Work Starts With Classroom Culture

Karen Goeller, Jill Kester, Rachael Williams, Kara Pranikoff, and Cheryl Mizerny share their ideas for effective student group work.

* Effective Ways Students Can Teach Their Classmates

Bobson Wong, Adeyemi Stembridge, Jennifer Davis Bowman, Starr Sackstein, Kathy Dyer, and Rachelle Dene Poth share ideas on how students can teach their classmates.

* Students Can Become ‘Co-Teachers’

This second post in the series on students teaching their classmates includes commentaries by Rita Platt, Paul Solarz, Laurie Buffington, Laura Greenstein, and Anne Taffin d’Heursel Baldisseri.

* The Value of ‘Peer Teaching’

Amber Chandler, Cheryl Mizerny, Andrew Miller, Karen Goeller, Michael D. Toth, Megan Bang, Laura M. Brady, Stephanie A. Fryberg, and Mary C. Murphy share their ideas on students as teachers.

* Students as Teachers in the Classroom

This four-part series on peer teaching is wrapped up today with responses from Bryan Goodwin, Jenny Grant Rankin, Sarah Thomas, and Bradley Witzel.

* Assessing Students on ‘What Really Counts’ This post features commentaries from Andrew Miller, Suzie Boss, Meg Riordan, Abbie Sewall, Daniel Schwartz, and Vicky Layne. They primarily discuss assessment in project-based learning.

* Different Ways of ‘Learning by Doing’

Guest responses in this post come from educators Suzie Boss, Jeffrey Wilhelm, Steven Anderson, and Stephen Lazar.

* Learning by Doing—Part Two Jeff C. Marshall, Nancy Sulla, Derek Cabrera, Christopher Panna, and Heather Wolpert-Gawron and Ron Berger all share their thoughts.

* The Best Advice on Doing Project-Based Learning

This post is a Part Two to last year’s popular one by Suzie Boss (and readers!) on Do’s and Don’ts for Better Project-Based Learning. Suzie agreed to share additional ideas this year, as did many readers.

* Do’s and Don’ts for Better Project-Based Learning

Few people know more about project-based learning than Suzie Boss, and she graciously agreed to respond to this “question of the week.”

The opinions expressed in Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Artificial Intelligence Webinar
Decision Time: The Future of Teaching and Learning in the AI Era
The AI revolution is already here. Will it strengthen instruction or set it back? Join us to explore the future of teaching and learning.
Content provided by HMH
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School & District Management Webinar
Stop the Drop: Turn Communication Into an Enrollment Booster
Turn everyday communication with families into powerful PR that builds trust, boosts reputation, and drives enrollment.
Content provided by TalkingPoints
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Special Education Webinar
Integrating and Interpreting MTSS Data: How Districts Are Designing Systems That Identify Student Needs
Discover practical ways to organize MTSS data that enable timely, confident MTSS decisions, ensuring every student is seen and supported.
Content provided by Panorama Education

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Teaching The World's Oldest Known Twinkie Turns 50 at a Maine High School
How a classroom experiment turned into a half-century study.
Elizabeth Walztoni, Bangor Daily News
4 min read
Libby Rosemeier, a former George Stevens Academy student in the Twinkie experiment class, and Roger Bennatti, the now-retired chemistry teacher who initiated the experiment, hold the 50-year-old snack cake that has been housed in a homemade box since 2004.
Libby Rosemeier, a former George Stevens Academy student in the Twinkie experiment class, and Roger Bennatti, the now-retired chemistry teacher who initiated the experiment, hold the 50-year-old snack cake that has been housed in a homemade box since 2004.
Linda Coan O'Kresik/Bangor Daily News
Teaching This Teacher Created a 'Six-Seven' Christmas Song That Delighted His Students
Music teacher shares lessons learned about how to use song lyrics to engage students in any subject.
2 min read
Christmas Wreath with red sound wave graphic equalizer bars and flying musical notes against black background. A large 6 and 7 made of pine and decorated with ornaments and lights in the foreground.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week + iStock/Getty Images
Teaching Opinion The Best and Worst of 2025's Education News
Larry Ferlazzo offers his thoughts on cellphone bans, absenteeism, vouchers, and more.
8 min read
Conceptual illustration of classroom conversations and fragmented education elements coming together to form a cohesive picture of a book of classroom knowledge.
Sonia Pulido for Education Week
Teaching Does Homework Further Learning? Educators Weigh In
Most said homework isn't effective or beneficial for students.
1 min read
Kapua Ong does math homework at her home in Honolulu, on Sept. 11, 2025.
Kapua Ong does math homework at her home in Honolulu, on Sept. 11, 2025.
Mengshin Lin/AP