GROUPS?!?
At our establishment, sometimes groups are not the best thing I found. I agree that some students learn better with their peers but sometimes the groups could actually cause a distraction. They have been a group for a number of classes and sometimes they are more intrested in their own social clique than the actual material you are teaching. These groups I feel should be monitored and possibly seperated so the students can think for themselves and not as a group.
Hi Brian,
I agree a group setting can be difficult. I am a first time teacher and the groups were set by their last section. I am contemplating having the groups rotate each week. The groups at this time are unfair. We have one group which are very studious. One group where there is a language barrier with one of the students and the other teamates feel like they are carrying her. The other groups are better fitted though they feel like they will never catch up to the first group mentioned who are always at the head of the pack.
I agree with placing a student with high scores into each individual group. By doing this I feel it encourages the other students to try and acheive that higher goal.
I really like this idea, Rob. I have found some students are very resistant to this change. To help sell the concept to students i have organized some activities so that every day they work with a new group, that seems to help them get past the fears of being "stuck" with a peer group they wont like.
During the first lab prject I can identify groups that may be problematic. It takes a great deal of observation and movement within the lab but it pays off. I too like to take students that seem to be more excellerated and move them to groups that are struggling. I allow higher grades to students that agree to work with struggling students, thus raising both students grades in the long run. The struggling students seem to enjoy working with advanced students and this creates long term results.
Hi Michael,
You are right about groups going bad unless the right dynamic is present. By having an idea of the composition of the class you can form groups that should be able to work well together. Also, don't be afraid to create new groups if the current ones are not working out. The new groups will be quick to settled into the work tasks and finish their projects.
Gary
We use teams in my class and building the teams can be a challenge.The fact that I just met my students and I only have them for a short time makes it hard to seperate them by personality but yet I need to decide quickly. The pretest is a good idea, and if they know what type of learners they are from their entrance testing is also a good tool. Teams can go bad if it becomes a social club,when you have some information from testing they can be used productivley.
If you have a way of finding out their learning styles i.e. some are hands on and some are visuals you can try to group them that way so each one has a part in what you are doing. I find smaller gruops less tan 4 seem to work best for me.
This is an interesting way to do it, Rob! The higher score student can become a coach as long as the other students have the chance to participate and demonstrate their skills and accomplishments as well. Thanks,
Jay Hollowell
MaxKnowledge/CEE
i estabalish groups based on the results from a pretest, i make sure each group has an individual with a high score, that student will help the others when need be.
Brian, as Paul Harvey used to say "That's the rest of the story." I have experienced that negative aspect of the established group also.
I guess the whole thing is a balancing act. I resisted moving students to new seats, and an random shuffle could be the solution to breaking up any negative group dynamics. One could say that all these senarios prevent the classroom from being dull? Remember the expression? "Be a HERO be a Teacher?" What ever happened to the APPLE for the teacher tradition???????
Best of luck
Phil
Hi Brian,
You make a good point about being aware of group dynamics. If students move from class session to class session as a cohort group they become very focused on themselves as a group. They create history for themselves based upon the experiences they have had. It can be difficult for an instructor to work within such groups. This is when you as the instructor can create new work/study groups. These new groups can be created randomly to there is a good mix of all students within each group. By random I mean the groups appear random from the perspective of the students but you as the instructor will have thought through how you want to organize the groups based upon experiences, personalities, and assignments. Also, you can create teams of two students to work together if you don't want to create groups. The key thing to remember is that you should only use student groups if they fit within your master teaching plan. As the educational leader of the class you determine the best organization for your students to be successful.
Gary
