[opening music]
LYNDA FRASER: What I'd like to do is look at each of these
areas, since we're saying there's appropriate times to
use them, right?
Right times to use them.
And times when it's not ---
We teach the theory that goes along with
high performance work groups.
So students actually learn the theory and they have
an opportunity to practice creating and making their
own high performance work group.
This classroom was a dream for me in that way.
We talk about the fact that it's really important ---
MEERA PATEL: Teachers sometimes generally have this persona of,
"I'm the teacher, you're the student.
I know everything."
Well, in this class it was completely different.
LYNDA FRASER: So conflict, then, can ---
MEERA PATEL: One of the first things that I noticed when
I was in the classroom was the position of
the teacher's podium.
It was right in the centre of the classroom.
Students have access to the teacher and the teacher
has access to the students to see, you know, what,
what exactly is going on.
LYNDA FRASER: Not having a front of the class means also
that you don't have a back of the class and you don't have
a fixed place for the professor to sit.
That moved me a little bit out of my comfort zone.
I tried to stand in different parts of the classroom
so that all of the students would be more physically close
to me at one time or another.
I think there was a little bit of a discomfort, still,
for the students who were used to the more traditional,
"Let me just go and hide and be quiet
in the back of the class."
I mean, there's no place to hide in this classroom.
Everybody is engaged.
The envelopes on your desk have the style that your team
is assigned to explore.
So you can open those right now.
See what your team, what your team has.
[applause]
LYNDA FRASER: The round tables have an amazing impact
on the teams, on the teams being able to face one another,
to communicate, have good eye contact.
STUDENT: We said we'd delay it later, we'll discuss it later.
STUDENT: So okay, let's talk it the next weekend.
Let's don't just ---
STUDENT: But that's just avoiding.
STUDENT: That's not avoiding.
That's not what I do.
I do agree with whatever ---
ANGELA MARZO: The round table leads discussions.
They enable our interactions as a, as a group, as a team.
LYNDA FRASER: And also for me to be with them.
I could be part of a team at any point to advise and guide them.
That was very, very helpful.
STUDENT: In order to achieve ---
LYNDA FRASER: Another thing about the classroom that had
a big impact are the boards behind the tables for the
students to work.
We use them regularly.
It was a wonderful opportunity for the whole team
to work together.
The students took turns writing and I think it
also made them more confident about speaking out
and being in the whole classroom.
I mean, that, for me, was very different.
Usually there's a big deal, "Oh, who's going to
be the spokesperson?"
It's always the same people.
But I find the design of the room gave us an opportunity
for more of an equality.
I think the students, all of the students felt more engaged,
more a part of the team, more a part of the whole class.
DANIELLE PALMIOTTO: We had to collaborate as a team
to discover what one could do to help the situation.
And we're able to write on the wall, sorry.
And demonstrate our ideas not only to our group,
visually, but to the rest of the classroom.
ANGELA MARZO: We actually build a case, they answer
to the case in the computer, and for some teams,
they were able to show the results, on the screen.
DANIELLE PALMIOTTO: And since the laptops on the
computer are foldable, we're able to just fold
them down and see ---
ANGELA MARZO: Yeah.
DANIELLE PALMIOTTO: --- everybody at a table, you know?
And share information like that.
STUDENT: So what's going on?
STUDENT: Yeah, an example is ---
LYNDA FRASER: There were students who probably
would not have been so engaged in another kind of classroom,
who were initially uncomfortable.
But I think, I think in the long run, they became
more comfortable because they were forced to.
And then they got used to that.
And then they discovered parts of themselves that I think
they didn't know were there.
That, in fact, they could speak in a classroom and
they could speak out loud.
STUDENT: This person could possibly end up feeling
very isolated because no one will work with them.
LYNDA FRASER: That's a pretty powerful idea, Anne.
Have you ever heard anybody say that?
You've heard somebody say that?
STUDENT: I do.
LYNDA FRASER: You do that?
STUDENT: Yes.
LYNDA FRASER: What do you say?
STUDENT: Well, I say about my -- our shortcomings,
in the beginning, and I say that usually -- or I, I --
I believe that people think that I'm ---
MEERAL PATEL: It's great when you can hear somebody else's
ideas and it's, it's basically a missed opportunity when
you don't hear the person expressing their, their --
their ideas.
STUDENT: And listening more to other people's opinions.
Open their minds a little bit.
Respect other people's -- other people's ideas.
STUDENT: Yeah.
LYNDA FRASER: I'm now reading the student learning logs.
For the first time, I have not seen any team complain about
somebody who was not engaged, who pulled out,
who had an easy ride, who was a couch potato.
Now, isn't that something?
[closing music}