Student Cliques
Frequently I teach classes near the end of our program. Thus, by this point the students are quite familiar with each other and student cliques have formed. Occasionally I have a class where the cliques are obvious from Day One and there is some real hostility between class members-based on events that happened long before they came to my class.
I clearly address the expectations for class involvement and classroom respect; however I find these classes have significantly weaker participation and discussion. Thoughts? Techniques that others have tried?
Hi Jeni,
This certainly is a great way to break cliques and allow students to become familiar with others. Your buddy may not be your work partner at work, therefore you need to know how to get along with others.
Patricia
I too,teach courses that are at the end of the program. There are often cliques by then. I agree with you that one of the most effective ways to handle this is during small group/ or discussion work. I break them into groups with someone they usually don't work with. They often are not happy at first, then I notice they are really focused on the task I assigned, and spent time with someone they may not have otherwise.
Hi Michael,
What a great practical experience for your students.
Patricia
By assigning seats, which I do by going by alphabet. I also find that you do tend to break up there little groups. And also giving them a chance to grow, By learning what Others might have to offer. I tell them that in the real world they do not have the ablity to pick there co-workers, their boss does that for them.
Hi Christine,
Nicely responded to. You're right. I have seeing different ethnic groups having cliques as well. The role of the instructor is to treat every student the same, regardless.
Patricia
Yes, females can be cliquey but so can different ethnic groups. One set of students may perceive that another student or students are getting more of specal attention from the instructor. This is very damaging to maintaining a good class environment. Don't play into these situations - treat everyone with respect and command respect. I do believe in dealing on an individual basis with class problems. Don't discuss the demographis and keep the problem going. Deal with individual students who seem to have an attitude in private and don't let them set your class mood.
Hello Carriann,
I concur. Females are very cliquey. The idea of putting them in groups so that they can meet others is great. We have to encourage group activties.
Patricia
Hello Dee,
Rubrics are concrete. You can develop a rubric for any assignment. I am not sure of which rubric you are asking about.
Patricia
I love the idea of using a rubric for teamwork. Did you develop it yourself?
The classes I teach usually only consist of 10-15 students at time, and the students are usually female. I feel females are normally the ones who tend to form cliques. I try to split students into smaller groups that do not include their usual friends. I feel like they are more apt to interact with one another the more they are encouraged to perform certain tasks together.
Hi Novella,
I've used this tactic as well. It is nice to have students interact with other classmates.
Patricia
Hi Novella,
They are lucky you gave them a break. I would have dismissed them that moment. They owe you a thank you.
Patricia
Hi Christine,
You handled the situation beautiflly. Students must realize in the professional world you may not like everyone you work with, but it is important to have a good working relationship.
Patricia
We had a serious problem of one group against another group in a class. I discussed the importance and acceptance of everyone and that only one person declares judgement and that's not me or them. Went on the all created equal theory and discussed this with class. When you point one finger, three point back. After discussion I invited students to come talk indivdually.
This reminds me of a situation in which I gave my new students their first pop quiz. When I returned from grading the quiz. I was verbally attacked by the self appointed spokesperson ( alpha wolf)who stated she felt the pop quiz was a means to set them up for failure.It was apparent they had been discussing it and felt they didn't do well, so wanted to blame me.
But there were about three cliques involved in this attack.
This really blindsided me because they were so passionate and angry.
I explained to them how their behaviour was unprofessional and would not be tolerated. Further outburst like that would be subject to dismissal immediately from class until further notice.
I agree and have done the same thing also. I also make sure when we have group activities, that no one in any clique is in the same group.
I have done this by having them count off starting with the numbers one thru six. Each person with the number one is in group one and the number two is in group two and so forth and so on.
This usually makes for more interaction with other class members outside the clique and exposes them to the dynamics of working as a team.
Hi Barbara,
Never allow a student to disrespect you. You end the disrespect quickly and swiftly. You must let your students know that you are in control, and it does not matter what they think. You should have made a sacrificial lamb out of the alpha wolf, and you would have gotten everyone's attention. It upsets me whenever students disrespect their instructors. I DO NOT tolerate disrespect.
I love the clever ways you came up with to break up the cliques.
Patricia
Hi Summer,
Last quarter I encountered my first problems with student cliques. My students had taken classes as a cohort so they had been together for 18 months. At the beginning of the quarter, individuals would say to me "I won't work with _______."
I did randomly assign group work so they had to learn to work with everybody. After all, we all have people we have to work with who may not be our close friends.
Because I was randomly assigning groups, students didn't seem to feel I was forcing them to work with certain other students. For example, one day I would assign groups by the number of siblings each student had. Only children would be in one group, students with one sibling in another, and so on. Other assignment techniques I used were grouping them by eye color, by favorite candy bars, by kind of cars they drive, and, on average,what time they went to sleep. This worked pretty well on a day-to-day basis.
The clique behavior that most surprised me was when they turned on me. There was one group that dominated the class; it was like a wolf pack, and one student was the alpha wolf. In class she would say things like, "We've (meaning her clique) have been discussing this assignment, and we don't think we should have to do it." She and her clique were extremely vocal and openly defied me during class by playing on their computers or refusing to do in-class activities. They were disrespectful and so immature. I don't think I handled this as well as I could have. I was happy when the quarter ended.
Hi Scott,
I've used the tactic of write-ups to critique group members' work. It works well, and it forces more participation that is cooperative.
Patricia
