You want your groups to be diverse, yet designed in a way to get everyone involved. Depending upon levl of education, you can designate, allow them to choose or randomly select.
When I have the students get in groups I strive to have a diversity of age and experiences. When you establish a group the leader and followers will quickly identify themselves. This helps my students who are shy and afraid of speaking to open up and talk more freely. The group environment is smaller and less threatening to some of my students.
i like to mix it up. The more seasoned students with the ones that are struggling.
Hi Gilbert!
This is the best of all worlds when a leader can be assigned and you have some idea of skill levels of the members.
Good job!
Jane Davis
ED106 FAcilitator
We are often asked to bring our course, which incorporates a great deal of group work, to various organizations across the country. In these cases, we ask the requesting organization to identify the three or four individuals they recommend to be used as group leaders and then we in the faculty divide the rest of the students into the groups based on their background, experiences and so on. This method ensures that each group has a leader who should be able to keep the group successfully on task and still gives the faculty the ability to ensure the groups are diverse.
As a surgical technology instructor, I like the ideal of student groups, Im just trying to figure out an effect way to use them with the subject matter I teach, any suggestions?
Hi Stacey!
I like this approach! It is about not only working with like minded individuals but being able to work with those who see things differently.
Good job!
Jane Davis
ED106 Facilitator
I sometimes use a variable number system and appoint them by numbers. It is totally random and so far it has worked out.
Hi Charles!
Sometimes the easist solutions are the most difficult to reach. Group activities seem to always have challenges. But the idea is that instructors help students understand the group process so that have successes in the work environment.
Keep up the good work!
Jane Davis
ED106 Facilitator
I try to get to know my students so that I know wht they like and dislike and then I try to organinze them by different likes and dislikes. I try not to put to many leaders in one group I mix them up.
When given the opportunity, I try to place "weaker" students with natural class leaders. Sometimes weaker students can get support from their peers in a group setting that an instructor cannot give. It is important though to monitor the group to ensure that those weaker students are engaged in the group project.
Evan
Know who the class leaders are & build around them.
I like to organize my student groups different everytime so they all have a chance to work together and see differnet ideas, etc. I use random questions to divide them for example: favorite colors, brand of car they drive. Students get to know eachother better and interact with various classmates.
Groups can be very rewarding and sometimes frustrating for students. I usually let students decide for themselves what group they will enter. I alway remind them, they will stay in the group until the end of the course. I tend to see student gravitate toward student with simular interest, background and committment to learning. They usually work well together. However, there are cases groups do not want to stay together due to one member in the group not doing their share of the work. I usually tell the team member not participating, that they can leave the group if they can find another team to accept them. Usually, the students have caught on and no one will except the student. I encourage the team to continue on, but have them write out a plan of action for the student who is not participating and I have the student sign it. Under pressure from the other team members and a plan of action in hand, the individual will have a change of heart.
I love this idea.It's so simple, I can't believe that I didn't think of it by myself.I'm going to use it next week with my new class.
I number them 1 and 2 and then I group them in 1 and 2 groups then I number them again...and group them off again. I also will have them all write their name on a piece of paper and I shuffle the papers and call out names for each group.
I try to organize students according to their diversity....I put strong students with weaker students to make sure they all feed off their own answers
I organize them by who they are comfortable with - if the group activity calls for that- i organize them by the above average students with the average students- depending on the activity. Some times i organize them by their fields of study.
It's better to consider students' background, experience, time zone, etc. Try to have the balanced diversity in the group as possible.
Yes Katrina - we do seem to go at things backwards. I've always said that focusing on good behaviors is much better than the other way around. But we forget to apply this very simple principle.
Keep up the good work!
Jane Davis
ED106 Facilitator
