Group Work

Roughly a third (perhaps this decreased as the years went on) of my classtime was given over to Group Work.  Learning to work in groups is essential for so many reasons.  Here are some quick points about Group Work.

• Students generally (with 1 or 2 exceptions per class) hate Group Work

• One reason students hate GW is because of the inequity in work that often results from it.  Therefore, in the beginning 4 or 5 GWs I assign students randomly.  I tell them it is a kind of "audition".  They discover who works hard, who stays focused, who is goal oriented along with discovering people that they just enjoy working with.  After those sessions - I allow students to pick their own groups.  The hard workers end up in the same groups, those who don't also end up in the same group (where they learn to focus and contribute).  It really is a great system - and though they begrudge doing it - over the course of a year (sometimes two if they take me twice) some very valuable affective lessons are learned.

• Another reason many students don't like Group Work is because it forces them to be "on" all the time.  Looking, thinking, synthesizing, writing.  This is exactly the reason I find it so valuable.  In a class discussion it is possible for even the most brilliant to be passive and perhaps contribute (and think) once or twice a period.  In Group Work, it is continuous.

• Once they are in their chosen groups (which they can change at anytime btw) I also insist they alternate the  person who does the actual writing.  While they all contribute, there is one writer - another very valuable process (listening, writing, etc).

When students don't do the reading
As soon as they finish the quiz, the will put it on my desk and push desks together and get started on the group work - they will have the rest of the period to finish it.   It is also important to grade those quizzes right away - as they turn them in - so you can see who read - and who did not.  The students know that if they didn't read, they are not allowed to get into a group and must instead do the reading now.  When they finish reading, they may get started on the Group Work by themselves (OR - if another student didn't do the reading they can work on part of it together (turning in what they get done, and finishing the rest for homework - or they can each write, and turn it in tomorrow).  In any case - there should be no penalty for students who didn't read turning in the group work the next day - they have already paid the grade price on their quizzes and having to do the Group Work for homework.