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Ways you can arrange students for group work to support every students needs and skill level. 

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Ways you can arrange students for group work to support every students needs and skill level. 

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Ways to Arrange Students for Group Work - TeachHUB

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When in the classroom, or virtually, putting students in groups can be an effective teaching strategy. Explore our ways to arrange students for group work.

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5 tips on how teachers can help students do group work effectively. 

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5 tips on how teachers can help students do group work effectively. 

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Encourage small-group effectiveness by clarifying the task, focusing on production, modeling successful behavior, monitoring progress, time, and noise, and building community.

Photo credit: VirginMoney via flickr (CC BY 2.0)

When teachers ask students to work on a task in groups, they issue an invitation for engagement and, potentially, for chaos! Here are five tips that can help encourage productivity and keep mayhem at bay.

1. Be clear and specific about the task.

There's nothing more frustrating than launching group work and seeing ten hands in the air or (worse) hearing students complain to one another, "What are we supposed to do?" If possible, limit initial verbal explanations to a general overview of the task and process. Then, provide crystal clear, detailed electronic or paper-based directions to each student in the group. Anticipate potential questions and areas of confusion by using a checklist format, providing visuals, or recording instructions for groups to listen to on iPads (this is particularly helpful if you have English learners in your class). Consider instituting a "1-2-3, Then Me" format in which students get one minute to read the directions silently, two minutes to discuss the directions with one another or with other groups, and three minutes to plan their approach to the task before they can ask you for assistance.

2. Make production the outcome.

Putting students in groups to simply "discuss" is a recipe for disaster. If students have to work toward producing something to turn in, present, or share with another group, they are less likely to linger in off-task conversations. Products should require all group members' participation or contributions. This might involve a graffiti-like poster in the middle of the table on which everyone records ideas, or a graphic organizer that every student completes. If each student is doing his or her own version of the task, announce that you'll be collecting one paper per group, to be revealed at the end of the activity. When time is up, use random criteria, such as "person in the group with the shortest hair" or "person with the birthday closest to the teacher's" to determine whose paper it will be.

3. Model successful transitions and interactions.

Show (don't just tell) students the basic mechanics that are critical to success in your classroom. Maybe it's how to move between stations, the process for using a discussion strategy, or how to talk during a "think-pair-share." Devote the first few weeks of class to conducting dry runs (i.e., students moving from place to place, students retrieving and returning materials, students using technology appropriately, etc.). Use volunteers to act out example and non-example conversations with "elbow partners." Post or provide sentence frames as scaffolds for group dialogue. This kind of up-front investment will pay off when students are able to move, transition, and converse efficiently.

4. Monitor progress, time, and noise.

Make students partners, if not primary agents, in keeping tabs on their progress, the time, and the noise level. If groups are producing something tangible, they (and you) can see what they have left to do. Use a decibel reader app (e.g., Decibel 10th, a free app by SkyPaw Co. Ltd), or launch a site like Bouncy Balls (from Google Chrome) for visually appealing ways to gauge the volume of the room. Track time with an online digital stopwatch or another easy-to-see timer. (Try this fun five-minute countdown timer from YouTube.) Make sure to give students less time than you think they need in order to build a sense of urgency. Check in when time is running low to see if groups require more. ("Fist to five -- how many more minutes do you need?") If some groups finish before others, have a next-step question or task ready for students to tackle.

5. Incorporate community builders.

Sometimes group work falters simply because students don't know, like, or respect one another -- yet. Full-class community-building activities are critical; but smaller, deliberately planted, group-level bonding moments also reap rich rewards in helping groups gel, release tension, and exercise courtesy. This might involve using an opening prompt like, "Before you start, share your favorite ice cream flavors," or asking students to fist bump each other as they complete each step of the task. Consider displaying fun anchor questions for students to discuss once they are finished. Anchor questions keep students from drifting into uncharted work or conversations, while providing a structure that lets students stretch beyond the content to discover connections with one another. They can be related to the content or task (e.g., "Where have you seen this topic portrayed in real life or in the media?") or appeal to general interests (e.g., "If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?").

Teachers are more likely to design and implement meaningful group activities when they have the management strategies to do so. Taking the proactive steps like those we've described can enhance engagement while curbing the chaos.

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Encourage small-group effectiveness by clarifying the task, focusing on production, modeling successful behavior, monitoring progress, time, and noise, and building community. Photo credit: VirginMoney via flickr (CC BY 2.0) When teachers ask students to work on a task in groups, they issue an invitation for engagement and, potentially, for chaos!

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by Jennifer Rita Nichols

Educators have learned much about the benefits of using projects for learning, and collaboration is easily recognized as an important skill for students to build. There are very few arguments against having students work together in class and on assignments.

However, the challenge facing many educators is not in wanting their students to work together, but in figuring out how to group students together in the most effective ways. We do not want to create groups that hinder the progress of any of our students!

This simple guide can help you the next time you are creating groups for an assignment or task in your classroom!

1) Do consider distance and access to online collaboration tools.
If you are assigning a larger project that requires teamwork outside of the classroom, it is important to group students in a manner that allows them to meet easily if needed. If all your students have access to one another online, then great! Usually, though, some may need to meet in person.

2) Do group students according to ability.
Depending on the assignment, you may really want to consider ability grouping. Studies have shown that in many cases, multi-level grouping of stronger and weaker students does not have the effects we would hope for. If the assignment doesn't offer different ability levels the chance to equally participate, then allowing stronger students to work together can push them further.

Also, the 'weaker' group can benefit from the teacher's support, and also can't rely on the stronger students for answers and to lead the project.

3) Do vary between teacher and student chosen groups.
It's an important learning experience for students to create their own working groups. You may want to start with smaller assignments and use them as teachable moments for what went right or wrong in each group. Will they choose to work with their friends? Yes. Should they be able to? Yes! We need to teach students to work effectively with friends, as friends can often offer the greatest distractions from productive work, but also the greatest fun in learning.

4) Do consider common interests.
As a teacher, we can often recognize common interests or skills in different students within our class. Often, those students don't even realize how much they have in common as they are each busy with their own circle of peers. Teacher groupings can provide the chance to keep building your class community by helping students build new relationships. Pair students with similar interests on a project and the results may surprise you - and them!

5) Do group students according to a skill that needs development.
If you have several students that need to work on a certain skill, you may want to group them for an assignment and create a focus on using that skill. Various skills can be used in similar assignments, so it is possible to form groups that are each struggling with a different skill while working on the assigned task. Some may need to work on effective communication, problem solving, organization, or time management; others may need to focus on comprehension or following instructions.

In mixed groupings, a student who is strong in an area will tend to take the lead. If the group is more equal in regard to a skill, they will need to work it out together.

6) Do create completely random groups.
It leaves a lot up to chance, but explaining to the class that their group or team will be chosen by drawing names is a great way to take it out of both the teacher's and students' hands. Make sure to explain ahead of the draw what behaviour is expected of them, and especially that bullying comments will not be tolerated. There is no reason that you can't acknowledge that we sometimes need to work with people we would not have chosen in life, and that it is a very important thing for them to learn how to do.

This method works best for smaller, more general assignments. It's effectiveness varies depending on your class dynamic, but is worth incorporating with other grouping strategies. In fact, once they are used to this, you will find that they complain less with this method than when groups are chosen on purpose.

7) Don't use the same grouping method every time.
Students need to learn to adapt to changes, and also have many different skills that they need to work on. If you always create student groups the same way, you are not considering your goals for the assignment or lesson. There are many ways to group students, and each way is effective for different reasons. Varying your methods will allow you and your students to get the most out of each group work assignment you present. Consider your goals first, then choose an appropriate grouping method to get the best results.

8) Don't avoid using group work.
Your students will never learn to effectively work in groups if they rarely do it. Collaboration is very important, and although students working in groups can be more chaotic than when they are alone at their desks, it is definitely worth doing. Even difficult classes can learn to work together - just don't give up! The more often they are exposed to collaboration, the easier it will become to manage. Your students will learn more from each other than they would ever learn by working on their own!

9) Don't use group work to solve personal conflicts.
Class assignments are not the time to force students to get along. If you have students that clash often or are having trouble in their relationship, do not pair them for an assignment. Personal conflicts should not get in the way of their academic success, don't set them up for failure! You also don't want to compromise the safety of any of your students, and sometimes that means avoiding certain pairings in groups.

You must use your judgement as a teacher and know what is ultimately best for your students. Never put any of your students in a bullying situation for the sake of group work. It's never worth it.

10) Don't be rigid or overcommitted.
Sometimes a group just isn't going to work. It happens. They may start off fine, but then break down and become ineffective. Occasionally, they even become too conflict-ridden to 'fix' in time to save the assignment. You need to be willing to accept this, and open to changing things. You may have spent a fair amount of time creating that perfect group for the project, but it's best to understand that these situations don't reflect on you as a teacher, but are a normal part of learning to work together.

Be open to modifying groups as needed. Split them up, merge them with others, or allow for individual work if the situation calls for it. If you do it right, you are even modelling something very important for your students-the ability to recognize when something needs to be changed and actively changing it.
Image attribution flickr user woodelywonderworks; 10 Dos & Don'ts For Group Work & Student Grouping New Teacher

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10 Dos and Don'ts For Group Work & Student Grouping

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by Jennifer Rita Nichols Educators have learned much about the benefits of using projects for learning, and collaboration is easily recognized as an important skill for students to build. There are very few arguments against having students work together in class and on assignments.

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How do you hold individual kids accountable during small group work activities?

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How do you hold individual kids accountable during small group work activities?

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Blog Post

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How do you hold individual kids accountable during small group work activities? < Teaching Channel

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There are some great cooperative learning strategies you an use to hold all students accountable during group work projects. One is "Random Reporter". With the random reporter stately, all students have to prepare to answer a question, idea etc. Each student is assigned a number within the group.

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Do your students give excuses for their poor performance in class? Are excuses like "there was no sufficient time to prepare," "the questions were too tough," "the material was not taught in class," etc. often used in your class? Student accountability is an important trait to develop in your students. It helps them take responsibility for their actions, learning, and helps improve academic performance and achievements.
Introducing student accountability in the classroom
It may not be easy initially to instill this behavior in your students, but with your constant support, students may slowly learn to develop it. Here are some ideas to achieve student accountability in your classroom:

What is student accountability? Few students understand the need to take responsibility for their actions. Therefore, it is essential that you frame rules at the beginning of the year on the actions that are acceptable and unacceptable in the classroom. Unacceptable behavior should have a prescribed consequence (like a time-out) that should be followed closely. The student then decides whether he/she performs the acceptable/ unacceptable task. Understanding this crucial concept will help students take responsibility for their actions.

Be firm with your rules. It is often observed that leniency only encourages students to break rules. When a teacher bends the rules for someone in class, others will expect the same treatment. Failure to comply will lead to complaints of favoritism that adversely affect the dynamics of the class. Thus, following your rules is a good way to instill accountability in your students.

Create a positive environment

Be positive, non judgmental and supportive to the students. Since your students are trying to change their behavior, there may be slip ups initially. Remind the student that every action has a consequence and that it was their choice to face the punishment. You may also have a group system in which students remind and support each other.

Inform parents of the game plan. At times, incorrect or imprecise information is conveyed to the parents. To prevent this and generalize student accountability even outside the class environment, parents should be kept in the loop. If a student misbehaves or fails to turn in the work on time, you can ask the child to call and inform the parents in your presence. Such practices will reduce the incidence of mistakes from occurring and increase the practice of taking responsibility.

Help your students develop a plan to achieve their goals. Instruct them to draw a triangle. At the tip of the triangle, write the goal that needs to be achieved (i.e. improving performance, submitting assignments on time). On the base, write down the steps necessary to achieve the goals. This gives them the opportunity to formulate their own goals and strategies. Writing them down serves as a reminder to the students on their committed to their goals and teachers may encourage them to sign the work and also get it signed by their parents. A copy of this is maintained by both the staff and parents to help the student achieve his/her goals. After two weeks, teachers and students can review the goals to see how much was attained, discuss whether the goals were realistic, figure out changes to the plan or set new goals. Such practices will help students to be proactive in their learning.

Keep an achievement chart

Another way to instill student accountability is to encourage students to evaluate their own work, performance and participation in class. Create an achievement chart that records the various activities and behaviors in class (for example: active involvement in class, academic performance in tests, timely submission of assignments, achievement of goals, etc.). This chart is to be scored by the student daily on a three point scale of 0, 1, and 2 where 2 is good, 1 is average and 0 is bad. At the end of each week, the student adds the score and makes a chart which is a record of their learning. The chart demonstrates how well each student has achieved their objectives of learning and which areas needs more work and effort.

Thus, by teaching students to be accountable for their work and take responsibility for maintaining a level of academic performance, we are encouraging them to be in charge of their own success.
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Discuss Here: What are the methods by which you successfully introduced student accountability in your classroom?

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How can I Introduce Student Accountability in Class to Enhance Student Performance?

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Do your students give excuses for their poor performance in class? Are excuses like "there was no sufficient time to prepare," "the questions were too tough," "the material was not taught in class," etc. often used in your class? Student accountability is an important trait to develop in your students.

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Animated Video created using Animaker - https://www.animaker.com Instructions for my class on the procedures to follow when working with a partner in my class.

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Character Videos for kids - Responsibility

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Good character is key to 21st century skills. Help your kids and students by reinforcing these messages through Cutie Roo Character Videos.-- Created using PowToon -- Free sign up at http://www.powtoon.com/youtube/ -- Create animated videos and animated presentations for free.

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T.E.A.M. work: Marc Durant-Bender at TEDxYouth@SELS

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What does teamwork mean to a 4th grader? Find out in this engaging and entertaining look at the power of T.E.A.M. In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience.

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24 Easy Ways To Encourage Teamwork In School

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24 Easy Ways To Encourage Teamwork In School

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If you are quick to criticize others, enjoy knowing that you're a bit smarter than someone else, or sometimes put others down to make yourself feel better, then you're not really that interested in teamwork. It's not the end of the world if you utilize the ol 'red pen mentality' and regularly critique others. But it's not a very helpful thing to do.
Especially in a school.
That's because most schools are built on teamwork, camraderie, and mutual appreciation. In other words, teachers help other teachers. Students help other students. Students help teachers. Teachers help students. And so forth.
Everyone helps everyone.
That's the goal, at least, for most modern schools. We're all in this together and figuring out how to encourage teamwork in school is something every administrator, teacher, and student should know how to do. Lucky for you, the always fabulous Mia MacMeekin built this visual guide that lays out simple (but effective) methods for team building. What works for you?

Source: http://blog.atomiclearning.com/24-easy-ways-encourage-teamwork-school

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24 Easy Ways To Encourage Teamwork In School

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If you are quick to criticize others, enjoy knowing that you're a bit smarter than someone else, or sometimes put others down to make yourself feel better, then you're not really that interested in teamwork. It's not the end of the world if you utilize the ol 'red pen mentality' and regularly critique others.

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by Lev Vygotsky

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Lev Vygotsky and Social Learning Theories

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Social learning theories help us to understand how people learn in social contexts (learn from each other) and informs us on how we, as teachers, construct active learning communities. Lev Vygotsky (1962), a Russian teacher and psychologist, first stated that we learn through our interactions a…

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5 Techniques To Make Teamwork More Manageable

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5 Techniques To Make Teamwork More Manageable

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Team collaboration achieves more than a single individual can on his or her own. As new disruptions shake the market and processes grow even more complex, work tasks are becoming increasingly challenging, leaving you dependent on different people with a wide range of expertise.

But here is the catch. This kind of workplace diversity can also create barriers to efficient team collaboration.

According to research published in Harvard Business Review by Lynda Gratton and Tamara J.Erickson, team members collaborate more easily and naturally if they perceive themselves alike. Meaning, the greater the diversity of background and experience, the less likely the team members are to share knowledge or show other collaborative behaviors.

Here's the disturbing controversy: On one hand, it's proven that similar people work well together. On the other hand, as work tasks continue to get more complex, people with different kinds of expertise and background are forced to work together.

How do you overcome this challenge? Here are five techniques to try:

Leaders rely on the knowledge of their team members, which is why collaboration is becoming an essential ingredient for success. Therefore, your leadership style should reflect this. In general, collaborative leadership is all about the skillful management of relationships that enable the team members to succeed individually while also accomplishing a mutual objective. Although it's easier said than done, it's clear more focus should be directed toward resourceful relationship management.

To move toward one direction, people need to clearly understand the destination. Objectives and Key Results (OKR), a technique used by Google to define and track objectives and their outcomes, is worth a try. Its main goal is to connect company, team, and individual objectives with measurable results. A great value in OKR is its ability to clearly communicate leaders' expectations and connect different-level goals into one whole. Since these goals are kept public in front of everyone, the teams can move in one direction and know what others are focusing on.

According to a survey conducted by Microsoft Office, professionals waste up to 3.8 hours a week on unproductive meetings. No matter what you call them-status updates or team gatherings-these meetings will be seen as a waste of time if there is no value in them. You can turn this around with thorough preparation, because if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.

If there is one effective process that can be easily taken from companies like eBay and Skype, it is the Progress, Plans, Problems (PPP) process. This process is a management technique for recurring status reporting. The PPP process provides a great overview of how everyone on the team is doing. It communicates three essential parts about every team member: biggest achievements, current goals, and major challenges.

Working in a team should not feel like an obligation. Integrating a little bit of fun and humor to all of this can only make the team collaboration more efficient. Socializing and getting to know each other makes the team more dynamic and connected.
-Külli Koort is a fierce proponent of achieving more with less frenetic effort. That's why she works at Weekdone, a startup that builds status report software for managers who wish to gain more insights to their teams. You can connect with her on Twitter.

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5 Techniques To Make Teamwork More Manageable

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Team collaboration achieves more than a single individual can on his or her own. As new disruptions shake the market and processes grow even more complex, work tasks are becoming increasingly challenging, leaving you dependent on different people with a wide range of expertise. But here is the catch.

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Implementing Group Work in the Classroom

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Implementing Group Work in the Classroom

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Implementing Group Work in the Classroom | Centre for Teaching Excellence

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Group work can be an effective method to motivate students, encourage active learning, and develop key critical-thinking, communication, and decision-making sk

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Using Collaborative Learning to Build Student Agency

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Making group work not just helpful but necessary fosters student-led learning.

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Call it "active learning," or "classroom participation" -- every teacher wants to know how to motivate students to particpate, and how to nurture more involved students and fewer apathetic ones. With a little extra planning, that is possible.

Below are four common reasons students don't participate and techniques to solve those problems and spice up your lessons.

Maybe it needs to be repetitive because the students don't really "get it," or maybe you're reviewing for a test. In any case, they're tuning out.

Solution #1: Assess their prior knowledge.

This could be as simple as asking students, "What do you know about (topic)?" and writing their responses on the board. You could also try a pre-test or a graphic organizer like a K-W-L chart . The goal is to find out what they already know (or think they know). You create buy-in for the students because they feel smart, and you can tailor your lesson to the information they don't know or don't remember correctly.

Solution #2: Try skills grouping.

Divide the class into groups based on what skills they need to practice - not forever, but for a class period or two, so they can focus on what they really need help with. So have a group that works on multiplying fractions, one on dividing fractions, and one on converting fractions to decimals. Make a group of "already got 100% on the test" kids and give them an extra credit activity or let them preview the next lesson. Then take time to move between the other groups and help them review. You'll have more students engaged in the lesson and they'll get specific, focused practice time.

Solution #3: Let them teach each other.

Especially good when reviewing before a test: divide the class into groups and give each group a topic. Set some guidelines and then let them teach each other. Encourage them to do interesting activities - write tests for each other, design review games, etc. - and evaluate each group on the accuracy of their content, the creativity of their approach, and how well they work together as a team. This is also a great way to discover how to motivate students.

This is really half the problem. The other half - especially with older students - is their fear of "looking stupid" by asking questions.

Solution #1: Allow anonymous questions.

Put out a "question box" where students can submit questions any time. Give each student an index card and ask them to write something about the reading assignment they did for homework. If they don't have a question, instruct them to write a comment on the reading. Collect the cards and use them to lead a class discussion. You'll easily recognize what parts of the reading confused a lot of students and they won't feel embarrassed.

Solution #2: Allow them to work together.

We can't do this all the time; individual students need to be assessed. Ask yourself: is the goal of this activity for them to learn the content, or for them to be assessed? If you want them to learn the content, why not let them work together? When they bring in their homework, do a quick survey for completeness, then put them in pairs and let them review the homework together. Encourage them to make changes if their partner's answer looks right. When they've finished, review as a class. Students may be less embarrassed to share a group's answer than their own and you may be able to complete the review more quickly.

Solution #3: Try a jigsaw approach.

No, we're not talking about puzzles or scary movies. If you're introducing new, difficult content, divide the class into groups and ask each group to master only one portion of it at a time. If, for example, you're teaching the American Revolution, have one group focus on the Continental Congress, one on Washington's Army, one on French support for the war, and so on.

Ask them to do a reading on their topic - to become the class "experts" on that subject. Then split up the class into new groups that include one "expert" on each topic. Ask these new groups to work together to write an essay or complete a worksheet that requires information about all the topics. They will teach each other in the process. Learn more about the Jigsaw Approach.

Problem: There's too much information to present in too short a time.

Sometimes there's no way around it: you simply have to get a lot of information out there in a short amount of time. So you opt for a lecture and just want your students to absorb the content. Instead, they fall asleep or stare out the window. What can you do?

Solution #1: Keep it "bite-sized."

Remember: research shows the average student's attention span is as long as her age. So even high school kids can only handle about 15 minutes. If you have a lot of information to convey, re-arrange your lesson plans so you never lecture for more than 10-15 minutes.

Break up large concepts into smaller sections - give a brief lecture, then do an activity to help it "sink in." Repeat this process over several days. You'll increase participation - and improve comprehension, too.

Solution #2: Keep them busy.

Don't allow students to stare into space while you talk. Give them something to stay connected. Try "fill in the blank" lecture notes. Delete key words and phrases in your lecture notes to create a "fill in the blank" worksheet. Then ask students to fill in the worksheet while you lecture. Another fun variation - lecture bingo .

Solution #3: Look into the future.

Before a lecture, give students a prediction activity. For example, tell them you will be lecturing on Shakespeare and ask them to predict what you will say, or give them a set of true/false statements and ask them to take their best guess.

As you lecture, instruct students to compare their guesses with what you actually say.

When the lecture is over, have a class discussion and evaluate how accurate student predictions were.

Problem: The lesson emphasizes the teacher, not the students.

Solution #1: Keep them busier than you are.

The traditional classroom of yesteryear had the teacher at the front of the room, droning on while students doze. Re-imagine your classroom as a place where students are busier than you are.

Keep the "sit still and let me talk to you" moments as brief as possible; get those kids working! Give them worksheets, activities, discussions, and projects. That doesn't mean you get to sit around -- you will still be busy, moving from student to student or group to group, correcting, evaluating, or providing feedback. But now everyone is busy and involved.

Homogeneous grouping? Heterogeneous grouping? Tracking? Forget the buzz words: having students work in groups is one of the best ways to increase student participation. Don't keep them in the same groups all the time -give them a chance to be the "smart kid" who can help someone one day and the kid who needs help the next.

Take a traditional worksheet or activity and give it to students in groups. Offer a reward to the group who finishes first with the most answers correct and watch them go! Note: it helps to have additional prizes available to keep groups motivated after the first group "wins." Even high school students enjoy these competitions.

Solution #3: Give them a voice and a choice.

Do students ever get a "say" in your classroom? Of course you need to make most decisions, but there must be some things you could leave up to them - whether it's what color chalk you use today or how long they practice a specific activity.

Kids tune out because they feel like their ideas don't matter. Show them their opinions are important and they'll pay better attention and speak up more in class.

There will always be some unreachable student who won't respond, even with these efforts. But if you give these a try, you may be presently surprised at the previously unreachable students who just might join in!

How do you encourage participation in your class? In what ways did you discover how to motivate students? Share in the comments section!

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top 12 ways to increase student participation

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Top 12 Ways to Increase Student Participation

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Call it "active learning," or "classroom participation" -- every teacher wants to know how to motivate students to particpate, and how to nurture more involved students and fewer apathetic ones. With a little extra planning, that is possible. Below are four common reasons students don't participate and techniques to solve those problems and spice up your lessons.