Kagan Learning dispenses with traditional classroom structures. Instead of sitting in rows of desks, with teachers calling on them one at a time, students sit together in clusters and are encouraged to interact with and compliment each other.
In essence, they’re playing, which encourages them to learn, said Principal Kimberly Wotring.
“They’re more engaged and interacting even more respectfully. The climate of using Kagan structures is a very respectful, team-oriented culture. ... It’s not asking them to sit there like a soldier,” she said.
In a class with first grade teacher Linda Glass, the students were playing a game called “Find Someone Who.” They carry around a sheet asking them to find someone who played a video game or had dinner with their family, and so on. The exercise is meant to encourage team-building.
“It pulls the kids out of themselves and into working with each other,” Wotring said.
Glass added, “They’re a lot more vocal than we were ever allowed to be when I was a kid.”
Kagan is also designed to work for more academic pursuits as well. In another classroom led by teacher Stephanie Gaige, the kids were learning mathematics. The teacher handed them cards with numbers on them. The students’ job was to go around to the others and ask them what number comes before or after the number on the card. “Don’t forget to tip, tip, tell and to praise your partner,” Gaige said. “Tip, tip tell” means that if a child answers wrong, the other child can give them a hint. After two wrong guesses, the child can tell the correct answer.
Thanks to these structures “Their social skills are so much better,” said Gaige, who is in her third year of teaching. “They’re more mature and they know how to behave. They share a lot better.”
Kagan Learning grew out of techniques studied by Dr. Spencer Kagan, who found that students improved considerable academically in a cooperative learning structure, said Miguel Kagan, the executive director of Kagan Publishing and Professional Development, based in San Clemente, Calif.
“Instead of sitting in the back, every student in the classroom has to respond,” said Miguel Kagan. Kagan research began in the late 1960s, but the techniques have grown in popularity in more recent years, he said.
“There’s kind of a growing acceptance ... we’re amassing more and more success stories,” Kagan said.
One of those has been in Cincinnati Public Schools, which has adopted Kagan techniques in 14 of its 40 elementary schools since 2008. As a result, Cincinnati has seen “significant improvement” in grade five reading and in math for grades six through eight, said spokeswoman Christine Wolff. Cincinnati elementary schools encompass kindergarten through eighth grade. Kagan has also been adopted in Mad River Local Schools near Dayton, said a spokeswoman there.
Since Fairfield West only began using Kagan last year, the school doesn’t have much quantifiable data to track academic improvement yet. “But we have seen fewer discipline problems with kids getting more feedback and helping each other instead of competing with each other,” said Wotring.
Eventually, Wotring would like to see Kagan expand throughout the Fairfield district. “I’m totally sold. If we can implement this across all levels, we can achieve so much,” she said.
Contact this reporter at (513) 755-5073 or eric.robinette@ coxinc.com.
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