Mauldin,Derek-Facilitating+Group+Work

__** FACILITATING GROUP WORK **__ I chose the topic of facilitating group work (or collaborative learning) because I feel strongly that students have much to gain by participating in group work activities. It builds strong relationships between students by allowing them to work with not just with friends, but with all classmates. I believe that every individual student is possible of greatness, and when students work together, that greatness reaches new heights.

Collaborative learning is much more than just lumping students together to complete work. Teacher expectations need to be clear for students so that group work can be productive, not simply a time to socialize. With careful planning on the part of the teacher, group work can improve listening skills, problem solving skills, and communication skills.

I'm using this Wiki as an opportunity to share different strategies for incorporating successful group work in our classrooms. **__ TOP 5 THINGS I LEARNED __** 1) Group Work should generally be more challenging than individual work. This creates a dialog between students and gets the problem solving process underway. The level of difficulty should increase gradually so as not to overwhelm students. In time, they will be able to solve more and more challenging material by working together.

2) Collaborative learning should be introduced gradually. Start with pairs of students instead of large groups. As students build confidence working with others, increase group sizes. It's my personal believe that 4 or 5 students is an optimal group size. It strikes a nice balance between working with others, and ensures that every student is a participant. Large groups are OK on occasion, but every person in the group should have a role, and be a participant.

3) Don't force it. As we mentioned in class, there are going to be instances where students don't want to work with other students. That's OK. A student may be having an off day or simply want to work alone. They should be reminded however that working together is an expectation and that generally speaking, they are expected to participate. Give students specific roles, if a student is shy or reluctant to work with others, give them a silent task, such as recorder. You could encourage reluctant students by mentioning how much you as the teacher need them to help the others in their group.

4) Don't hover. Student's are less likely to participate fully with the teachers standing right over them. It's important to distinguish monitoring from hovering. Trust that students will stay on task until they give you some reason not to.

5) Explain your role as a facilitator. Give clear instructions and be available to answer questions but encourage student's to work through problems. The role of the facilitator is to make sure that the task, question, or problem is understood, and to make sure students stay on task with as little interference as possible. Facilitators should guide students towards an answer, not give groups the answer. This defeats the purpose of having student's work together to solve a problem. Once students fully understand what is being asked, answer their questions with a question that may provide a small hint or points them in the right direction. **__ FAVORITE RESOURCE __** media type="youtube" key="5LWE2HF1v1Y" height="315" width="420"  Tips on Cooperative Learning Video. This is an entertaining little video on how to facilitate successful cooperative learning in the classroom. There's not too much here that we haven't already heard but it's short and to the point, and would be a great quick reference of how to organize and monitor group work in the classroom. I particularly liked the suggestions of how to keep kids accountable, a critical component of group work. I give it a 5 out of 5... it's entertaining and informative. **__ ADDITIONAL RESOURCES __** 1) [|University of Waterloo Center for Teaching Excellence website]. I rate this page as a 4 out of 5. It's very well laid out and easy to read. It offers some great suggestions for determining the reasons behind collaborative learning, and gives lots of hints on how to be a good facilitator as the teacher. I found it very helpful, and while we have discussed this topic extensively in class, there was some great information here that I hadn't though of before. 2) [|The University of New South Wales] has an excellent web site dedicated to helping teachers implement successful collaborative learning opportunities. There's a helpful checklist and a great list of ways to support and monitor group progress. I give this site a 4 out of 5. It's well organized and has many helpful hints that I found useful. 3) [|The University of Texas in Austin Center for Teaching and Learning.] The video on this site deals with Team Based Learning (TBL). While this video is really directed towards older students (in college), much of what is covered could be adjusted slightly to work with younger students as well. As a resource for teachers of younger students, this may not be very helpful but I did get a few great ideas from it. One was to have students take work together on a quiz so that they had to reach a group consensus. I'd give this one a 3.5 out of 5... not great, but maybe you'll find something useful here. 4) [|What is the Collaborative Classroom?] This article is great... a 5 out of 5. It's much more in-depth than some of the other resources I found and gives specific examples of how to set up successful group work assignments and overcome challenges and conflicts that may arise in groups. There is also a section of the article that provides the research base for why collaborative learning is important in the classroom. 5) [|Tools for Teaching- Group work and study teams]. This is a great breakdown of how to design, implement, and evaluate collaborative student work. Like the previous resource, this one has some great suggestions on how to overcome student and faculty concerns regarding group work. It's good, not great... 3.5 out of 5.   6) This video discusses the goals of group work, and the differences between that and cooperative learning. Why is it the source of so much frustration for kids? When does group work actually work well, and when doesn't it? How does it prepare our kids for their adult lives? And how does it affect achievement? I'd give it a 4.5 out of 5. It's pretty good and I'm always interested in hearing about what works and what doesn't. Not every strategy will work for every teacher, but there's a lot here to experiment with. media type="youtube" key="Tdt-b4yMp-M" height="315" width="420" 7) Here's a funny two part video on teaching using the jigsaw method, which makes use of a collaborative component. I'm not sure how much substance you'll find here but I found it entertaining at the very least. For entertainment value it's a 4.5 out of 5. For substance, maybe a 3 out of 5. Sometimes a laugh is good enough... media type="youtube" key="VkBOvBV8zZI" height="315" width="420" align="center"

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