Reflection Blog #2: Group Work: A Teacher's Journey to Make Group Work More Effective

After a couple of weeks in my new classroom, I am beginning to feel more comfortable. I am beginning to tackle the daunting task of learning 25 new names and I feel as though I am learning more about the students every day.  The most encouraging thing about my first couple of weeks is how my CT is getting me involved.  This is my first observation where I am active within the classroom and not just sitting in the corner not contributing. I take roll every day and I assist with group work.  I feel that through group work I am learning a lot about my students. It becomes obvious rather quickly who likes to talk and take charge and who is more shy and reserved; personalities have emerged.  I was amazed with how intelligent and on the ball some of the students were.  As I listened, I heard interesting thoughts and opinions being shared that I am not sure I could have contributed to when I was their age.  However, there were students who did not contribute to the group.  Mostly, these students were the ones who did not read the assignment or do their home work. 

Although group work allowed for some insight into how these particular students tick, I am not sure how productive the group work was in contributing to the students learning.  My CT gave each group a handout with questions on it.  She assigned each group certain questions and they were to discuss their assigned questions and then share what they discussed with the class.  What I found to happen was that two or three people would contribute to the group.  The other members would just sit there or talk amongst themselves.   As I saw this occurring I wondered if group work is truly effective.  If you do not read the story or contribute to the group discussion, it is extremely difficult to learn anything, let alone be able to pass an assessment. So my question is how do we as teachers make group work more effective?

Through several education classes and my own observations I have learned a few things that seem to help group work run more smoothly.  I think the most important thing is to inform students of the expectations you have for them.  Let them know what they should take away from the particular group session.  If the students feel that nothing is really expected from them, then they will give a less than desirable effort.  Make sure that you as the teacher are walking around, listening to the different conversations.  Do not just sit at your desk and do something else.  If the students see that you are interested and taking the assignment seriously, the majority of your students will too. I think it is important for all the students to be responsible for writing their own answers or notes.  When there is a “designated writer” I feel as though that takes off a lot of the pressure from the other students and will typically result in them doing less of the work.  However, when everyone is responsible for turning in their own paper it requires the students to be more involved. Do not let the students pick their own groups and always give all the instructions before breaking them up.  Once you let them go, it is almost impossible to catch their attention to give any additional instructions.  I also found that when group work is constantly used it becomes less and less effective.  It should not be used every day for every assignment but should be used to serve an effective purpose. Group work should NEVER be used because of lack of planning on the teacher’s part or to give the teacher a break.  I am sure we all have had at least one teacher who used group work to help him/her out more than to help the students learn. 

I am still trying to figure out the best way to incorporate group work into the classroom.  I would love to hear other soon-to-be teachers’ thoughts and opinions on how to get the most out of your students when doing group work.