In our last blog post we discussed the importance of children taking part in creative writing workshops. One key aspect of such workshops is the myriad of transferrable skills children gain from unleashing their creativity. Two of those skills are cooperation and collaboration. But aren’t those two attributes the same thing?
Let’s look at the definition of both as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary:
Cooperation (noun). The action or process of working together to the same end.
Collaboration (noun). The action of working with someone to produce something.
On the surface, these two words appear to mean the same. But if we apply critical thinking to both definitions, it is possible to see the intricate differences between the two.
Let’s look at the word cooperation in context. A group of primary aged children (years 5-6) are told to work on the construction of a rhyming poem. They are given the first line to help them. One of the children is very confident. They shout out ideas, make lists of words that rhyme with balloon and tell their peers what to do. Another confident child adds their idea to the discussion and a poem is quickly constructed. But what of the rest of the group?
They copy the poem into their exercise books and add illustrations showing the various objects described. There is no doubt that they have cooperated with the task; they have done exactly what has been asked by the teacher/workshop leader. They have justified the definition in the Oxford English Dictionary – working together to the same end – but have they had any true input? And more importantly, have they learned anything other than meekly following their peers?
The same can be asked of the more confident children. What have they learned? In the scenario given, these children have learned that by talking loudest, your ideas will be used, even if they may not be the best ones. They have not learned the skill of listening to and having the respect of others. They have not learned to cooperate.
Collaboration, on the other hand, is ALL about sharing ideas. You cannot collaborate with someone if you, or they, are not willing to share ideas. Collaboration, by its very nature, relies on group discussion and critical thinking; and children are naturally very good at talking!
The key difference is the facilitation of these discussion groups. As a workshop leader it is vital to lead by example and to take on board suggestions made by your charges. Imagine you have just finished your first section of a workshop: constructing a poem. Ask the children if they thought the exercise was good or is there some part they would change? Discuss their thoughts, taking the time to listen to everyone, no matter how impractical or unusual their ideas seem to be.
For example, one child may say they think the workshop should be held outdoors (the weather so happens to be terrible that day). Discuss this with the group and see if they agree or disagree with this. Ask open questions such as ‘What would help to make the session work outdoors, especially in the pouring rain?’
By this point you should have a list of suggestion on how to improve the first task. Ask the children to do the task again, this time using their suggestions as a scaffold (a framework on which to develop an activity). They may have suggested not using rhyming words or creating a series of shorter poems, instead of one epic ballad.
The children should now be ‘primed’ to work together in harmony. This is because they have witnessed how rewarding working together can be. And when they have completed the ‘new and improved’ task and compared it to their first efforts they will be able to see how successful collaboration can be.
In our next blog post we will discuss the importance of fostering critical thinking when running creative writing sessions.
Oxford University Press. (2014).Definitions.Available: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/collaboration?q=collaboration. Last accessed 5th April 2014.
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