GCS Training Session Inspires Educational Synergy

The past two days, I attended a "Foundations of Cooperative Learning" workshop at the Guilford County Schools' Washington Street Annex (across the street from Weaver Center). The workshop is required for all Mission Possible teachers, and since I decided in April to teach English at High Point Central High School for the 2008-2009 school year, I now fall into that category.

After teaching for 12 years, I've now attended my fair share of workshops, some great, some so-so, and some not-so-great. There are several variables that come into play, but two big factors in determining the quality of a workshop are the presenter(s) and the participants. People matter, and we can't help but be affected by them, for better and for worse. A poorly prepared, disrespectful presenter or even just one participant with a poor attitude can negatively affect a workshop and ultimately leave a bad taste in the mouth. A well-prepared, sincere presenter and enthusiastic, ready-to-be-actively-engaged participants can leave you feeling refreshed and encouraged about teaching.

I thoroughly respected, enjoyed, and appreciated both the presenter and the participants whose company I shared the last two days. The workshop was an all-around great experience that was well-worth our time. Our students will benefit if we take back into our classrooms what we experienced and learned through this session.

I finally met Randy Shiflett. (Randy has a superior first name, but a teacher long ago ruined it for him, and like other teachers with whom Randy has shared his secret name, I'm sworn to secrecy. I'll just say that I'm a HUGE fan of that name that Randy can't stand.) I had heard his name before and had heard positive things about him, but I had never attended one of his workshops before. He did a great job, and my impression was that all of my fellow participants felt the same way. During our time with him, Mr. Shiflett provided us a wealth of information, but even more crucially, he engaged us in the very process that we are being encouraged to use with our students: cooperative learning. And throughout, Mr. Shiflett modeled for us as well as any model could ever hope to model.

At some point today, Mr. Shiflett took the time to play a brief video clip for us from a movie I'd seen before, "In Good Company." I'd forgotten the scene, but it was one that fit perfectly within the scheme of our workshop. A recently hired boss who is younger than most of the men and women he supervises stands in front of his employees, trying to inspire them to do and be more. He enthusiastically preaches about the virtues of corporate synergy. But he's speaking to people who are not so eager to embrace his enthusiasm, possessing a rather synergy-inhibiting spirit from the get-go. The young boss pushes forward anyway, seemingly oblivious to any resistance or negativity. And slowly but surely, even though perhaps not completely sincere, his employees give in a little, showing signs that they might actually be willing to follow.

By the time he shared the video clip with us, Mr. Shiflett had already synergized us. By cooperatively learning about cooperative learning, we had developed positive relationships with one another, and our entire class of teacher-students benefited from that. As a diverse group of educators, we were openminded to the possibility of a positive learning experience during our summer vacation, and Mr. Shiflett helped ensure that by providing us a comfortable, welcoming environment.

It makes sense that that is also part of our challenge as educators: we have to figure out ways to help create and develop synergy in our classrooms. I've been lucky to have taught some classes that developed beautiful synergy, and I've had other classes that, at best, had momentary glimpses of something remotely resembling synergy. It's not an automatic given, and sometimes, even our most sincere efforts can't guarantee that synergy will develop.

Mr. Shiflett had a positive effect on us teachers as learners. His more profound effect may come by way of the trickle-down effect that will occur if we're able to transfer his positive energy and at least some of what he taught us into our own classrooms. That would be the ideal hope for any meaningful training for teachers.