How to Work in Groups
Tips and Ideas for Getting Started with Cooperative Learning
Here are few troubleshooting tips and ideas to help you get started with group work, which can be a very rewarding and educational experience.
A new teacher starting group work for the first time, might run into the main problems of discipline and a noisy lesson. After all, it isn't just your typical frontal lesson. So, if you're still not convinced about the benefits of group work, consider first the following:
The Task and the Skills
Make sure the task is open enough for group work activity. In Language Arts for example, group work involves any combination of the four skills. Make sure that behind the task, students should be used at least one new skill you have taught them. Recently for example, my students had to analyze rap songs and decide on the main issues of the song. They had to read the songs, and write in English what their ideas were. This involved listening to others as well as sharing information, an important implication for education.
The challenge of group work is making sure it fits the activity you planned. Sometimes the group is too noisy and most of the efforts fall on one group member. It is probably wise to either change the activity or reexamine your seating plan. You might need to shuffle some students around in order to neutralize some of the class dynamics.
The Importance of Motivation
Once students get into the task, the implication for motivation is particularly great especially in High School. They have an opportunity to bounce off ideas with their peers, and as they do, they get more into the topic. When groups choose the topic on their own, they open up more opportunities for learning because they know they will benefit from finding out more about the topic.
Students don't know how to Work in Groups - Teach them
Start with small steps beginning with classroom tasks that warm the atmosphere up for cooperative learning. This could take the form of an information gap activity where one students has questions about a given topic the teacher just taught and the other students has the answers. (Alternatively, the students can design their own questions and answers). Students need a reason to learn and this legitimizes this need.
Start with small scale group tasks
When you feel that your class is really to experiment with group work, illustrate the task in slow step-by-step fashion. Don't continue until you have everybody's attention. Make sure students know you're the boss and they should listen to the procedure otherwise your classroom management will get out of hand. They will have plenty of opportunity to talk once they start the group work. Give them a set time for the assigned stage of work in class.
Tell them how many lessons they will have for the assigned group task. Give them a deadline and tell them what should be finished at home and what should be finished in class.
