Barry Jones is the specialist music teacher at Palmerston North Intermediate Normal School.

In 2021, along with several other teachers from his school, he participated in Cooperative Learning PLD.

He was what I would call a quick adapter in that he literally started using Kagan the very next day.

Given that he had groups on students rotating through his room, some of whom had no knowledge of Kagan, this was impressive.

Barry used Kagan structures for creating a positive group culture, as many students did not know each other. Given the cooperative and interdependent nature of music, they needed to know and trust each other.

He also used one of our Kagan Structures (RallyCoach) for activities where students worked in pairs, each taking turns to practice a given piece, or master a skill.

Barry says it better himself