The first day I walked into Mike’ Age of Exploration classroom, I was nervous. I wasn’t sure what was expected, how the class would work together, or what we would learn, much less how we would learn. One of our first assignments in Age of Ex was to read an article on Partnering from a book called Teaching Digital Natives, by Mark Prensky. Partnering is a teaching style that is characterized by the students essentially taking charge of their learning and being more like collaborators in a classroom instead of observers. Likewise, teachers act more as mentors rather than lecturers. However, this doesn’t mean that Partnering is the “perfect” solution for teaching. Like every teaching and learning style, there are pro’s and con’s.
Pro: “Cool! I can be creative and do what works for me!”
Partnering allows for students to take their own direction during their learning. They can choose methods that work best for them. For example, I am a very dialectal learner, so a method that helps me learn best is talking out the information I have learned. Speaking and explaining my ideas is one of the best ways for me to organize in my head and understand what I am learning. One of the advantages of Partnering is that a student can learn, research, and present information in whatever way is most helpful for them.
Con: “Wow, this is really cool! It’s not too off topic, is it?” or “I hope this is creative enough?”
A disadvantage of Partnering is that students could take the new freedom too far and go off topic, or not be creative enough and not meet the expectations of the project. The amount of freedom that may be permitted can lead to misunderstandings about the purpose of the project or losing sight of the reasons for the project. On the other hand, unclear guideline can make students very cautious about doing too much or another misunderstanding where the students feels like they have met the expectations of the project, when it was not what the teacher had in mind.
http://www.thelearning
community.us/resources-by-format/tips-for-parents/dyslexia.aspx
Pro: “I love focusing on doing a good job rather than stressing over my grade!”
The method of Partnering in a classroom to encourage students to find their own answers is a more useful skill in the real world, after school, than being expected to regurgitate what a teacher has lectured in class. This teaches the students to set the bar for themselves and determine for themselves what good quality is. I think everyone, including myself, struggles with their attachment to a “good grade” in one way or another instead of wanting to doing their work well and to a good standard. It can be very tempting to say, write, or do what we think the teacher wants, but it is more beneficial to us as students to almost teach ourselves, learn what we believe to be significant, and be satisfied that the result is of good quality. Partnering has the benefits of having a teacher to guide us along that path.
Con: “I don’t have to think about grades ever again! Grades don’t matter, I can still get into Harvard!”
This belief can also be taken to the extreme in the opposite direction. The use of letter and number grades can be important and even necessary in school, but it doesn’t carry much significance outside of school. The idea shouldn’t be to slack off or not to care about grades at all, just to move the focus to quality.
Pro: “Nice! I can do my own thing and Mike won’t bother me!”
For some students, the freedom to work on their own can be very helpful and they are good at self mediating and staying on task. Partnering in an Age of Ex style class can be a positive experience for this type of student because, similarly to the amount of freedom in creativity, they can work in whatever way suits them best. Every student knows what he or she does well, even if not consciously.
From: http://www.pilsr.com/
Con: “Oh no! I need more directions from my teacher.” or “Mike isn’t paying attention, so I can do whatever I want!”
However, some students thrive off of strict rules and expectations or, similarly to the creativity con, they take advantage of the chance to slack off. I personally do very well with clear guidelines and ideas for what a project should look like. This year will be a challenge for me to use the freedom to explore the options I have and make good choices with how to present my information, even though they may be different from what I am used to.
These are only a few arguments about Partnering. Through out the discussion, I was referring back to the different points, because many of them were related on some underlying level. As I said before, Partnering isn’t perfect and neither is any other style of teaching but it definitely has some benefits.
The Age of Exploration Blog 
amber150524
October 2, 2012
Hi Sydney,
I really appreciate your blog! Partnering is indeed an interesting method used by a lot of teachers in the real-life classroom as well as my online class, AP US GOV.
In my online class, partnering up has really taught me how to take the initiative to communicate and collaborate with others, partly because by doing so I get to know my classmates better in an online classroom environment. But believe it or not, I find the idea of partnering to be more troublesome and complicated. In a real life classroom, there are always the possibilities that a teacher assigns you a partner who you get along very well, or someone who is simply not as motivated. It’s interesting how neither of these two situations has never occurred in my online school experience yet.
I think you have done a great job listing the pros and cons of this specific teaching method, it really makes me think more about the phenomena.
Sincerely,
Amber
shoults076
October 2, 2012
Amber,
I was just wondering which aspects of Partnering do you think are troublesome and complicated? In Mike’s class, we do not always have another group member working with us on all projects; the “Partnering” is between the teacher/coach/whatever you want to call it and the student. A typical class period is Mike walking around with his iPhone while everyone else is doing work; for example, I am typing this comment right now. I think this is method is effective for most people in our class, and am curious about why you think it is not a good method of teaching
-David
sydneypgs
October 3, 2012
Hi Amber,
Similarly to what David said above, I was referring to partnering between teachers and students rather than students and students. The teacher will “partner” with the students by talking one-on-one to communicate and learn. I do agree that partners for group projects can sometimes be a problem!
Sydney
brubn13
October 2, 2012
Hello Sydney,
It is very interesting to read about Partnering from your point of view since I have not done it myself. i agree that there are pro’s and con’s to it but it really does help communication skills which will help you through life. I believe that this teaching method is useful in some cases but not all. For an example, there are some students that learn orally and some that learn visibly so this technique probably would not work 100% of the time. This also shows the different views on how to do things and maybe help you learn how to do something easier. This idea is a wonderful idea on how to learn. I am looking forward to reading more of your blogs! 🙂
Sincerely,
Briann 🙂
sydneypgs
October 3, 2012
Hello Briann,
I agree that Partnering can definitely be helpful throughout life, but also that it can affect students with different learning style in both good and bad ways. My opinion is that if you try it out and it works for you, great! I still haven’t figured out if it will work for me, but I am willing to try it in Age of Ex.
Sydney
kirstenkelly
October 2, 2012
I appreciate this piece. I am working on developing a self directed project so your thoughts mean a lot. Thanks!
sydneypgs
October 3, 2012
Kirsten,
I’m glad I could help!
Sydney
Sam
October 4, 2012
Hello Sydney,
This was really interesting for me! Ive always participated in group activities, but I have never really contemplated the pros and cons. I have am considering partnering up with another classmate for my modern world project this year, because i feel like the pros out weigh the cons. However, then cons definitely give me something to think about while I’m working with my partner, and what to try and avoid. Great post!
– Sam
sydneypgs
October 4, 2012
Sam,
Thanks for commenting! Actually, I wasn’t referring to working with a partner in class, but a teaching style called Partnering. Our teacher, Mike, had us read the article about it because it is the teaching method he likes and uses in our class. Partner works with fairly independent students and the teacher “partnering” with them to help them work. I encourage you to read the article!
Thanks,
Sydney
Darby
October 4, 2012
Hey Sydney!
I really enjoyed your post about the pros and cons of working with partners in the classroom environment. I think your point about how the freedom of working with partners is a good example of dealing with real world problems, was a really insightful and great idea. I also think that another perspective of a con with the partnering work is the fact of the weaker students getting lost within the group; while the more confident students excel leaving them in the dust. The classroom teacher may not notice the uneven balance of work within the group, leaving the shyer or weaker links in the group learning little to nothing. Another con I thought of was the element of how everyone is a different learner. As you stated before, working in partners opens up an extreme amount of freedom for the student. As this freedom may be helpful to some students, other may work better under a lot of structure; leaving them overwhelmed with the new sense of liberty. Overall, this was a great article with really perceptive opinions. Keep up the good work!
~Darby
sydneypgs
October 4, 2012
Darby,
I was referring to an article we read for this class about the teaching style that Mike, our teacher, uses, not working with student partners in groups. To address some of your thoughts, Partnering is helpful in the real world because it is more common to work with a boss instead of being lectured to. By the point of stronger and weaker students, I meant that though Partnering the teacher will work with and motivate each student independently.
Thanks,
Sydney
Charlie
October 4, 2012
I love your post, I really like the part about how you said that working by yourself for some people can be beneficial. Whenever I have something to do in class, I always prefer working by myself, and I get more done, because half the time in group work, I’m talking to my friends, and doesn’t make for a productive class. I do wonder if you could expand on the part about grades.
sydneypgs
October 4, 2012
Charlie,
Thanks for your comment! I was referring to Partnering as a teaching style rather than group work, but I can see how you would jump to that conclusion without reading the article! The point of Partnering to focus less on grades was for the teacher to move their interest from “how to get and A” to “how to do a good job and learn in depth about X subject”. This will hopefully make the students more motivated about the quality of their work rather than the evaluation.
Thanks,
Sydney