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Teaching & Learning at York U. Libraries

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Tips for Great Group Work in the Classroom

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21 Team-Building Activities for Students

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Team building isn’t just for the corporate workplace—it can also be used in the classroom to encourage collaboration, problem-solving and decision-making. | Creating connections in your classroom will ensure your students are engaged. Use these team-building activities to lay a solid foundation for learning.

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SplashLearn Blog - Educational Resources for Parents, Teachers & Kids

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20 Best Indoor and Outdoor Team Building Activities for Kids

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Team building activities for kids are great to engage students with learning material. Use these 20 indoor & outdoor activities to get your students up & about!

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Center for the Professional Education of Teachers

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Break away from the “I did all the work, and they did nothing” refrain.

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3 Group Work Strategies That Help Hold All Students Accountable

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From delegating roles to involving students in rubric design, here are group work strategies to help hold all students accountable.

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Are you curious about the tangible benefits that teamwork-focused activities can offer your students?

Participating in team activities can help students develop essential communication and collaboration skills while preparing them for success inside and outside of the classroom.

In this article, we will share four benefits of teamwork, as well as show you how you can start teaching your student teamwork skills right now.

Four Benefits of Teamwork for Student Development and Success

1. Teaches essential social skills.

Teamwork teaches essential communication and social skills, such as active listening and effective speaking.

When working as a team, students learn how to listen to their leaders and coaches in order to perform their individual roles. Students learn how to listen to one another in order to function as a cohesive unit.

Teamwork teaches students how to respectfully and confidently express their ideas and opinions effectively in a group setting.

It's important for students to recognize that speaking is not the same as talking. Speaking is about understanding how to communicate with an audience.

The way in which a student speaks to other group members demonstrates her level of understanding and respect for others.

2. Improves self-confidence.

Teamwork teaches students that their voices are respected and valued.

Knowing that she will be heard helps build a student's self-confidence, while encouraging further participation in group activities.

This becomes a self-sustaining cycle: participation in team activities teaches students how to be better communicators, which in turn helps every member of the team feel valued and respected.

As a result, even the most introverted and quietest members of the team can become active participants and learn to enjoy team activities.

3. Reduces bullying.

One of the biggest benefits of teamwork is its potential to dramatically reduce the effects of bullying on students.

When a student knows she is valued and respected by others, she will be able to rise above the hurtful acts or comments of a bully.

Being a part of a team that genuinely cares about its members will also give a student a strong support system.

Ultimately, team members tend to stick together outside of collaborative settings (like sports practice and clubs), which means they can support one another in challenging settings.

Furthermore, the self-confidence from team activities may empower a student to stand up for other victims of bullying who may not have a similar support system.

4. Sets students up for future success.

The benefits of teamwork almost always translate into success outside the classroom.

There are very few career paths that operate in isolation. As an employee in almost any industry, people are required to work closely with others.

That's why employers prefer to hire people who have demonstrated their ability to work as a part of a team.

Introducing students to collaborative environments early in their school experiences presents opportunities for them to more productive and joyful as they work with others in a team-based environment.

This satisfaction will be reflected in their job performance and career advancement.

How to Teach Teamwork Skills to Students

At home

Successful teamwork begins with great communication skills.

If you want to teach these skills to your students, lead by example.

Listen carefully to what she says and make sure you communicate with her in a clear, respectful manner.

Family activities such as board games and cooking are great for teaching important social skills such as collaboration, compromise, and respect.

At school

School is the perfect place to develop your student's teamwork skills.

She should have plenty of opportunities to develop her listening and speaking skills during partner activities and group projects.

Team sports, school plays, and debate teams are also great experiences for learning how to be a part of a team.

Don't underestimate the impact that a qualified, professional instructor or coach can have on your student's enjoyment of team activities.

Why Choose Marlborough

Marlborough is exclusively devoted to the education of young women.

Weaving together engineering, digital arts, robotics, media, academic research, and entrepreneurship, the Shari and Ed Glazer Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Marlborough delivers a superior college preparatory education in an environment imbued with high ethical values.

Here at Marlborough, we don't just teach girls to keep pace with the changing future.

Instead, we teach them to boldly pursue ideas which set the pace for the future.

Your Next Steps

Here at Marlborough, we place a large emphasis on teaching girls the essential communication, teamwork, and leadership skills they need to become well-rounded, successful individuals.

Want to learn more about the Marlborough experience?

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Four Benefits of Teamwork for Student Development & Success

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Are you curious about the tangible benefits that teamwork-focused activities can offer your students? Participating in team activities can help students develop essential communication and collaboration skills while preparing them for success inside and outside of the classroom.

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Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning

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Overview

Having students work in groups lets them practice the skills they are learning. Speaking in front of the whole class can be scary, and combined with the tension of speaking to the teacher, the situation can be downright terrifying to students. Breaking them up into groups not only develops social skills useful in the professional environment for which they are training, but gives them a chance to perform in a supportive environment before a test or even before having to do homework on the topic on their own.

Organizing the Groups

Keep in mind the following elements of group work when selecting the appropriate type of group work for your class.

Size: Two to six people in a group is ideal. The smaller the group, the more likely each student will be to contribute to the discussion. Groups of two or three students are sufficient for simple tasks for which consensus should be reached quickly. Groups of four to six are better for more complex tasks in which a greater number of ideas may improve the final results.

Selection: You should either assign students randomly to groups or select students so that each group has an equal distribution of talents. Do not let students choose their own teams, for they may team up with friends or form cliques that can get off topic. Video on group formation (running time 4:57).

Duration: Use the groups for a brief discussion in class or for all semester. Long-term groups work more substantively and less superficially.

To derive the greatest benefit from the group interaction, you should spend a few minutes clarifying the students' roles and the expectations for the group's work.

Designating Roles in Groups

Groups that are created for in-class discussion can be easily organized around a four-person model based on roles. Each member of the group plays a specific role that supports the team's collaborative effort. These roles include:

Leader: Responsible for keeping the group on task, maintaining the schedule (meetings, deadlines), and maintaining contact information (phone numbers, emails).

Encourager: Encourages conversation and inclusion of all opinions, and guides the discussion toward consensus.

Prober: Ensures that the assumptions are correct and that there is sufficient evidence for the solution.

Recorder: Writes down the group's solution that will be submitted for the group grade.

While some people will tend to lead and some will tend to follow, everyone should be willing to compromise and modify their ideas in the interest of group unity. If the groups are going to be working together on a long-term project or multiple tasks, you may wish to modify these roles to emulate roles that one might encounter in your discipline. Ensure that the students rotate through these positions. Try to break a long project into at least as many tasks as there are people in each group and have the students rotate through the roles each time they start a new task.

Sharing Group Results

Students should share the results of their group with the class at large. This holds them accountable to show their work. Having to show the other groups what they did can increase their motivation to produce higher level work. While in the past, instructors were used to having groups report out their work either verbally or on newsprint posted on walls along with a walk-around format, for long-term projects, many social pedagogies now exist that can be employed, such as Prezi presentations or having students create a Public Service Announcement (PSA), blog, or a web page of their results. Do not forget to debrief students about the lessons they might have learned from the group work.

Resources
Designing for Difficulty: Social Pedagogies as a Framework for Course Design
Discussion can motivate students, especially when the activity involves authentic learning-that is, real world and messy-allowing students to collaborate, reflect on, and synthesize their learning. When planning the structure for a discussion, look for one that will hold students accountable to their peers, not just the instructor, in a public way (Bass & Elmendorf, 2011).
IDEA Paper #49 Effective Classroom Discussion
This paper sets out basic principles to create the expectation for student discussion, as well as the role of the instructor in fostering discussion in class.
Team-Based Learning
Team-Based Learning is an advanced form of group work in which content coverage is pushed outside of the class, with students using precious in-class time to take quizzes to show they have mastered the content and then practice the application of critical disciplinary skills such as problem-solving and argumentation. For more information, go the TBL website, which has many videos, including ones on forming groups, the difference between groups and teams, and peer evaluation of team members.

Who Is Doing This at IUB?

The National Study of Student Engagement data show that 68% of IUB seniors engage in class discussion. Many IUB professors commonly use various discussion techniques. Some specific examples are listed below:

Prof. Jill Robinson (Chemistry) uses small groups for problem solving and "clickers" to collect student responses to get students to think deeply about fundamental chemical principles that can influence our climate. She does so even though she is teaching a large class (140-student C118: Principles of Chemistry and Biochemistry) and often teaching in a challenging classroom space.

Biology Professor and Carnegie Scholar Whitney Schlegel leads students to learn with their peers by engaging in discussion, problem-solving, and inquiry by using team members as a resource in classes of over 100. She utilizes a high-tech classroom so that students can show the products of their group work during class.

For More Information or Help

To meet with a CITL consultant, contact us.

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Stump Your Partner

Students take a minute to create a challenging question based on the lecture content up to that point.

Students pose the question to the person sitting next to them.

To take this activity a step further, ask students to write down their questions and hand them in. These questions can be used to create tests or exams. They can also be reviewed to gauge student understanding.

Think-Pair-Share/Write-Pair-Share

The instructor poses a question that demands analysis, evaluation, or synthesis.

Students take a few minutes to think through an appropriate response.

Students turn to a partner (or small groups) and share their responses. Take this a step further by asking students to find someone who arrived at an answer different from their own and convince their partner to change their mind.

Student responses are shared within larger teams or with the entire class during a follow-up discussion.

Catch-Up

Stop at a transition point in your lecture.

Have students turn to a partner or work in small groups to compare notes and ask clarifying questions.

After a few minutes, open the floor to a few questions.

Fishbowl Debate

Ask students to sit in groups of three.

Assign roles. For example, the person on left takes one position on a topic for debate, the person on right takes the opposite position, and the person in the middle takes notes and decides which side is the most convincing and provides an argument for his or her choice.

Debrief by calling on a few groups to summarize their discussions.

Case Study

Create four to five case studies of similar difficulty.

Have students work in groups of four or five to work through and analyze their case study.

Provide 10-15 minutes (or adequate time) to work through the cases.

Walk around and address any questions.

Call on groups randomly and ask that students share their analysis. Continue until each case study has been addressed.

Team-Based Learning

Start a course unit by giving students some tasks to complete, such as reading or lab assignments. Consider assigning these to be completed before class.

Check students' comprehension of the material with a quick multiple-choice quiz. Have students submit their answers.

Assign students to groups and have them review their answers with group members to reach consensus. Have each group submit one answered quiz.

Record both the individual student assessment scores and the final group assessment score (both of which are used toward each student's course grade).

Deliver a lecture that specially targets any misconceptions or gaps in knowledge the assessments reveal.

Give groups a challenging assignment, such as solving a problem or applying a theory to a real-world situation.

Find more information on this strategy at  the Team-Based Learning Collaborative.

Group Problem-Solving

There are many instructional strategies that involve students working together to solve a problem, including inquiry-based learning, authentic learning, and discovery learning. While they each have their own unique characteristics, they fundamentally involve:

Presenting students with a problem.

Providing some structure or guidance toward solving the problem. Note however, that they are all student-centered activities in which the instructor may have a very minimal role.

Reaching a final outcome or solution.

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Examples of Collaborative Learning or Group Work Activities

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Students take a minute to create a challenging question based on the lecture content up to that point. Students pose the question to the person sitting next to them. To take this activity a step further, ask students to write down their questions and hand them in.

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As a student, I was never a fan of group work. I still remember the time my teacher paired me with "Tyler" for a research project. I'm sure my teacher's intentions were good. But I knew from the start that it wouldn't be pleasant.

Tyler wasn't a bad kid, but he wasn't what you'd call a high performer. Our teacher assigned our partners, and we all knew the intention behind the groupings. High achievers were paired with those who could "use some help."

This wasn't my first group project, and I knew my role. Do all the research. Write the paper. Come up with something for Tyler to say during the presentation. Hassle him to learn his lines. Get the same grade.

A Novice Teacher's Perspective

When I began teaching, I was no more a fan of group work than I was as a student. It was messy. It took up too much class time - not to mention grading and planning time. I didn't understand how students would learn the content if I didn't explain it to them.

Group work was something I was to do. I had read the research on the importance of peer learning. Administrators celebrated teachers who used group work. And they encouraged the rest of us to give it a try.

But no one had shown me how to do it well. When I saw other classes doing group work, I noticed all the common problems.

One student did all the work, while others fooled around. Projects that looked good hanging on the wall, but didn't demonstrate meaningful learning. (Jennifer Gonzalez refers to these as "Grecian Urns").

I felt that group work was something you did during an observation. When you wanted your students to actually learn something, you explained it to them or they read about it in a book.

Benefits of Group Work

It took years before group work became a regular part of my classroom routine. But once it did, there was no looking back. Not only were my students getting more out of each lesson, but it was a lot easier on me as a teacher

In a lecture-based classroom, the teacher is at the center of all classroom activity. She delivers the content through lecture. She asks questions, decides who answers, and determines whether the answer is correct. The teacher tells students when they can use the bathroom and what page to turn to in their workbooks. She even provides pencils and paper to students who don't have any.

It is important for both students and teachers to know who's in charge. But teacher-centered classrooms can be terribly inefficient. With twenty to thirty students in a room, the teacher becomes a bottleneck. Students get frustrated when they don't get enough attention or have enough freedom. They begin to act out. Teachers get overwhelmed because they can't give students the attention they need. They get upset because students "aren't listening." They assert their authority more firmly. It quickly becomes a vicious cycle.

Group work isn't about making pretty posters to hang on the wall. And it's not about matching struggling students with high-performers to boost their grades. It's about giving teachers permission to solve every problem or provide every answer. It's about students learning to learn from each other and to use their resources.

Promoting Effective Group Work

For effective collaboration to occur, it's important to understand why group work is valuable. But understanding the 'why' is not enough. Establishing group work as a regular classroom routine takes time. Teachers and students both need to learn norms and develop the social-emotional skills that make group work effective.

I've worked with some educators who believed that effective group work was not possible. Some simply don't see how students will learn if they don't explain the content. Others think it's a passing fad. Still others believe that "it won't work with these kids."

Sadly, the latter is often used to justify regimented and drill-based instruction for students of color. Despite the fact that "collaboration is linked to higher grades for black students." Furthermore, similar benefits were not found for white students. (According to a 2018 report by the American Institute for Research).

If you are coaching or supervising educators who have these misconceptions, it's important to be patient. Many of these teachers have tried group work before, without success. They will need extra assurance and support to be successful this time around.

Here are some tips to make group work engaging and impactful in any classroom.

Start with an Engaging Activity

The first step to effective group work is an engaging activity. Students need to have a reason to work with their group. The right activity should be inquiry-based - where students have a challenging problem to solve. It should be a bit too difficult for any one student to do on their own. But it shouldn't be so hard that they can't get started on their own.

Some great activities for this purpose are The Sieve of Eratosthenes (math) and Team Story Analysis (language arts).

Teach Group Process

Inquiry-based learning allows students to learn content through discovery. But we still teach the process explicitly. Many students have become used to a sit-and-learn approach. If we want them to engage in active learning, we need to actively reset their expectations.

As you introduce group work to your classes, explain what is expected. Start class with a discussion of what good group work looks like: students participate equally, listen to one another, etc. Keeping groups small (2-4 students), helps ensure that everyone has a role.

You may choose to assign roles. For my short story projects, each group had a captain, a scribe, an artist, and a presenter. The team's job was to read a short story and record important information in a graphic organizer. The scribe completed the organizer. The artist created a poster or slideshow. The presenter was in charge of sharing the team's work with the class. The captain coordinated roles. If the group needed to ask me a question, it had to come from the captain.

Make it Count

There's an old saying in business, "What gets measured, gets managed." I still remember how focused and well-behaved my students were on test days. At no other time could I hand them a few pieces of paper and expect 40 minutes of peace and quiet.

Now, I could have just enjoyed the respite those days provided, but that's not my nature. I wanted to harness this focused concentration and reproduce it throughout the year. After all, part of my job as an educator is to prepare students for their future careers. I couldn't think of any job where your value is measured by what you do once or twice a month. In the real world, what matters is who you are and what you do on a daily basis.

If we want students to make an effort during group work, we need to let them know it's important. And the way we let them know is by attaching a grade to it. I use test grades as the standard unit of measure, as students understand that quite easily.

"This activity counts as one fourth of a test grade," or "this project is equal to a test grade."

I use a group work rubric so students will know how their grade will be calculated. This rubric focuses on process, product, and presentation. Students earn 'process' points by communicating well and involving all team members. Their 'product' score is based on the artifacts they produce. 'Presentation' is based on how well they share their work with the rest of the class.

Advocates of standards-based grading rankle at the idea of grading classwork. I agree that it may be more to grade students purely on mastery of standards. But such grading systems can have negative consequences for student confidence and motivation.

Set a Timer

I can't overstate the importance of using a timer in the classroom. Recording times that students are on-task vs off-task can improve student behavior, even in a lecture-based class. For group work, it's an absolute necessity.

A common challenge with group work is that students won't self-start. As teachers, we feel the clock ticking. We know how much we need to cover. Why don't our students have the same sense of urgency?

We need to transfer that sense of urgency to them using clear, measurable units of time. Before they begin, let them know how much time they have to complete the activity. When the time is up, they will be expected to present to the class and hand in their completed work. Prominently display the countdown timer for all to see.

For most students, the clock and the grade will provide enough incentive to stay on task. Others will be motivated by the desire to appear competent to their peers when they present.

It's important to recognize that clocks and grades are extrinsic motivators. When students don't believe they are able to meet external standards, the strategies can backfire. We should constantly assess students' "level of concern." If their concern level is too low, increase the challenge. If their level of concern is too high, dial it back.

Using a timer may not have much of an impact the first time you use it. Some students will not realize their time is up until it's too late. Time management is a component of social-emotional learning (SEL). If students aren't ready to present when called upon, be supportive. They are already developing their sense of time. And learning that they will need to be more focused the next time around.

At First, You Probably Won't Succeed

The key to success with group work is practice and experience. The strategies above will point you in the right direction, but they won't make all your challenges disappear.

Create room in your pacing guides and unit plans to allow for weekly group activities. If you make group practice a weekly habit, the level of engagement and the quality of work will steadily increase.

If you're not sure how to plan an engaging hands-on lesson, use a planning template. This workshop lesson plan template provides a three-part structure that is perfect for group work.

Creativity, Collaboration, and Conceptual Learning

For more ideas on promoting active learning in your classroom, subscribe to our weekly Educator's Newsletter.

You can also join innovative educators from around the world in our Facebook community. We're dedicated to bringing creativity, collaboration, and conceptual learning to every student, in every classroom.
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Group Work Strategies That Work - Room to Discover

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As a student, I was never a fan of group work. I still remember the time my teacher paired me with "Tyler" for a research project. I'm sure my teacher's intentions were good. But I knew from the start that it wouldn't be pleasant.

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Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning

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The idea for sharing this post came from a session I recently conducted at the annual teaching conference organized by my university. A pedagogical conundrum was raised by a colleague whose enthusiasm and question stayed with me and inspired me to write this post. The question posed by this colleague is relevant to all instructors who have ever used group work to assess their students: How should one deal with the issues that arise when members of a group are not picking up their share of the responsibilities during a group work project?

The benefits of group work are well recognized (e.g., http://goo.gl/N8kqhy), as are the reasons students don't like working in groups (Taylor, 2011). We have all had groups that operated magically, when group members brought out each other's strengths and helped each member shine; but we have also had groups that failed miserably when members did not get along or did not pull equal weight in completing a group project.

Although much has been written about group work and its benefits and challenges, as well as variables, features, or components that can contribute to positive learning outcomes (Tomcho, & Foels, 2012), issues of implementation seem to pop up every time instructors get together to talk about their teaching challenges. In this post I focus on the persistent challenge of imbalance when not all group members contribute equally. What follows are a few simple ideas you might wish to consider that have worked well for me during years of trial and error in my teaching, as well as insights from my research.

1. Design a group project in which the students work in phases.

For instance, starting with a project idea, then moving to project development, followed by preliminary project outcomes - and requiring students to "check-in" at each phase before delivering the final project. Not only does this help ensure that the groups won't wait until the final deadline is upon them to work on their project, but it also enables the instructor to touch base with every group and to offer guidance, support, or mediation, if needed, during the process.

2. Develop an element of the project that allows group members to make their own choices.

In my teaching, I usually give students the freedom to choose a topic area that interests them within the scope of the course or that is the most relevant or meaningful to the team members. This decision helps create a sense of ownership and enhances the students' level of engagement, both of which are crucial for working on large group projects, and especially for those requiring students to carry out the work in phases throughout the term (see, for example, Enghag & Niedder, 2007, on the theoretical basis for student ownership of learning).

3. Within a group project, include a component requiring individual students to submit non-onerous individual work.

For example, the project could include a personal reflection piece (e.g., e.g., Huang, 2011a), in which each member individually reflects on the process and product of his or her own portion of the group work. Apart from the pedagogical benefits of learners engaging in individual reflection (Pavlovich, Collins, & Jones, 2009), this task or component will inevitably provide insights about the division-of-labor issue commonly raised by instructors and students alike. Both learners and the instructor can glean a great many insights from those individual reflection pieces, which instructors can take into account when assigning either project or final grades, depending on their individual approach to assessment. This process also enables students to gain greater understanding about what worked well and what could be improved.

One important matter to keep in mind when implementing the reflection component is the need to ensure that we, as instructors, clarify what we mean by "reflection" in order to minimize a potential mismatch between our expectations about reflective learning and our students' understanding of what it entails. What we'd like our students to do is to engage in critical reflection - that is, thinking that involves different levels of reflection, rather than simply restating or describing what they did, or what I have called "non-transformative" reflection.

The goal is to encourage students to move beyond simply recalling what they did either individually or together within the group and instead to reflect on their personal discoveries about their own learning and the process of working collaboratively (i.e., understanding, analyzing, and evaluating the process and the product of their group efforts), and, importantly, to "verbalize" what they would do differently the next time around (i.e., pointing to the future).

This component is an example of what is called "writing/speaking to learn" (Manchón, 2011). For this task, it's important that students not be required to follow any formatting or style guidelines. The reflection should be an informal piece of writing, much like a diary entry, and can be in any modality (e.g., writing, audio recording, video clip) that suits the characteristics or preferences of individual students to allow for their individual expression. For some additional simple guidelines about implementing learner reflection, refer to Huang (2011b).

4. Devote a segment (30 minutes or so) during class before all group projects begin to implement two important steps.

Step 1: Get to know each other. The first 10 minutes can be a period for all students to find and meet with the group members they have either been assigned or have self-selected. They should then spend some time exploring each other's communication styles, which may arise from personal or culture-related differences (Lewis, 2006), to help them better anticipate different communication preferences and approaches to group work. This time can be spent sharing responses to guiding questions or statements, such as "I would describe my communication style/personality as ...," "I tend/prefer to deal with conflict by ...," and "I would appreciate my team members doing/not doing ...." (Huang, 2014). Guiding questions are especially helpful for groups that are culturally and linguistically diverse.

Step 2: Establish group norms. During the next 20 minutes, encourage each group to negotiate its own group norms (derived from Step 1) and ground rules. During this time, members of each team should elucidate, negotiate, and establish roles, responsibilities, and expectations. This process makes explicit the specific contributions and ownership of responsibilities that each team member negotiates and agrees to.

Below is a sample checklist that instructors can modify and use to facilitate this process and help prepare each group project to succeed (Huang, 2014). You can revise the items to suit a project or provide the list as an example for each group to use in creating its own list. The list can also be revisited during each check-point mentioned earlier and adjustments made as needed. Upon completion of the project, instructors can request the checklist(s) to be submitted (but not graded), along with other deliverables that are due.

5. Prepare students to expect the unexpected.

Rather than directing their every concern to you, students should be encouraged to become problem solvers not only by identifying problems, but also by developing solutions and choosing and evaluating the best ones so as to balance personal learning with the group's project goals. At the same time, you'll want to create and maintain a culture of openness that lets your students know you are readily available to provide guidance when groups reach an impasse.

In any group work situation, it is always possible that compatibility issues will arise between or among team members, as well as conflicts or problems with unequal distribution of work. The pre-group-project considerations described above, however, can easily be implemented to help minimize the likelihood that conflicts will develop that could negatively affect learning and outcomes. They may also help instructors and students in dealing with the specific common challenge of students who are not pulling their own weight in group collaborations, while maximizing the benefits of a group project not only in terms of content, but more, if not most, importantly, in learning how to work with others - a valuable life lesson that's best learned through experience.

References:
Enghag, M., & Niedderer, H. (2008). Two dimensions of student ownership of learning during small-group work in physics. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 6(4), 629-653.

Huang, L.-S. (2011a). Language learners as language researchers: The acquisition of English grammar through a corpus-aided discovery learning approach mediated by intra and interpersonal dialogues. In J. Newman, S. Rice, & H. Baayen (Eds.), Corpus-based studies in language documentation, use, and learning (pp. 91-122). Amsterdam: Rodopi Press.

Huang, L.-S. (2011b, Fall). Key concepts and theories in TESL: Learner reflection. TEAL News: The Association of B.C. Teachers of English as an Additional Language, pp. 9-13.

Huang, L.-S. (2014). Lessons learned from team-facilitation in ELT: Strategies for navigating the challenges and making it work. IATEFL ES(O)L Newsletter, pp. 13-17.

Lewis, R. D. (2006). When cultures collide: Leading across cultures (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Nicholas Brealey Publishing.

Manchón, R. M. (Ed.). (2011). Learning-to-write and writing-to-learn in an additional language. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Pavlovich, K., Collins, E., Jones, G. (2009). Developing students' skills in reflective practice: Design and assessment. Journal of Management Education, 33(1), 37-58.

Taylor, A. (2011). Top 10 reasons students dislike working in groups...and why I do it anyway. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, 39(2), 219-220.

Tomcho, T. J., & Foels, R. (2012). Meta-analysis of group learning activities: Empirically based teaching recommendations. Teaching of Psychology, 39(3), 159-169.
Dr. Li-Shih Huang, Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics, Department of Linguistics, Learning and Teaching Scholar-in-Residence, Learning and Teaching Centre, University of Victoria, BC, Canada.

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Students Riding on Coattails during Group Work? Five Simple Ideas to Try

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How should faculty deal with the issues that arise when some students ride on the coattails of others during a group work project?

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An effective group work together to complete a task in an agreed time, with each member contributing to the team according to their skills, experience and personality.

There are various stages that you will go through in a group project to achieve a task. Planning is critical to effective group work and will give you direction and help you coordinate your work in order for efficient task completion. The following guidelines should help you make a start with your task:

First of all it is important to establish a set of group guidelines. Get to know the members in your group, their strengths and preferred ways of working. Try to recognise that everyone has an opinion and that individuals have different methods of working and learning.

It is advisable to appoint a group leader and also a scribe to record the group's activities.

Discuss the group's task or activity in order to reach a shared understanding.

Summarise the shared understanding of the problem on a board or piece of paper.

Discuss how you are going to approach the problem. Brainstorm to create ideas, plans and tasks for your group. Everyone should be involved in discussion and in agreement on what direction the group is taking and why.

Decide on specific tasks and allocate them to individuals or subgroups. The subdivision of the problem or topic into smaller tasks may already be apparent to some extent by the wording of the question. However, it may be necessary for you to read around the topic first to facilitate the division of the task and identify particular interests. Make sure you are clear on everyone else's tasks in order to prevent duplication.

Ensure that each group member has responsibility and accountability for their task with an agreed deadline.

Once you have decided on your tasks and roles it is vital that you arrange regular meetings to review your progress and decide on what direction your work should take next. Each member should attend these meetings.

Consider a time-line for your project, this is particularly important for longer projects: Set dates for the completion of specific tasks.

Any resources, information or knowledge should be shared.

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An effective group work together to complete a task in an agreed time, with each member contributing to the team according to their skills, experience and personality. There are various stages that you will go through in a group project to achieve a task.

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5 Tips for Dealing with Lazy Group Project Members - College Info Geek

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Group projects suck... especially when one of your group members isn't pulling their weight. So what do you do in that situation? Discuss this video: https://www.reddit.com/r/collegeinfogeek/comments/45hptr/5_tips_for_dealing_with_lazy_group_project_members/ My book "10 Steps to Earning Awesome Grades" is completely free, so check it out if you're interested in improving your grades!

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A strategy for giving students explicit feedback on group interactions promotes participation and collaboration.

Today, students in my Integrated Math 1 Support Class are taking a group quiz. As they work together, I overhear them say things like "I think we need to combine like terms" and "Did you multiply to get 3x squared?" and respectfully correct one another by saying, "I think it should be negative since it's a negative times a positive."

What distinguishes today from yesterday? This is the first time I've used the group feedback strategy with these students, and in a matter of minutes, it's made a world of difference.

Collaborative learning allows students to solve problems, construct explanations, critique other students' reasoning, and engage in rich academic discourse. But as teachers, we all know how difficult it is to get students to communicate and collaborate. The group feedback strategy can help students learn effective group-level behaviors and understand the interactions you expect. It promotes student participation, collaboration, and equity.

Teachers take public notes while students work in groups. This strategy works for assessments, labs, literature circles, and study groups. You can use this strategy for large or small tasks and remind students of these expectations whenever they work in groups. Here are some ideas for using it in your classroom.

Preplanning

Before starting a task, make sure that students understand your expectations. Give them a list of expected group norms ahead of time. You may want students to (1) ask and answer clarifying questions, (2) share ideas with team members, (3) justify reasoning, and (4) critique and question the reasoning behind team members' perspectives.

During team tests, for example, I want to see students explaining ideas and strategies to one another, leaning in and looking at each other's work, asking questions, respectfully disagreeing with teammates, and working on the same problems at the same time so that various suggestions and strategies can be shared and discussed. I do not want to see students working on problems individually, copying answers from others without understanding the work, or having lengthy off-task conversations.

Implementation

During implementation, display your student feedback to drive student actions. This way, students understand the implications of their actions and words as they work.

Feedback can take many forms. Typing on a document table while projecting it, typing on a designated slide or in the speaker notes section while students collaborate on a virtual assignment, or writing feedback on posters around the room are just a few suggestions. Use color coding, plus or minus signs, and a dynamic grade to help students distinguish between positive and negative feedback. Consider the group's work and their discussions.

Highlight the positive interactions you witness and explain why they are positive as well as who was involved. Recognize students for their valuable contributions, such as clarifying questions or providing a small idea that sparks further discussion. I publicly acknowledged it when a quiet student mentioned a "box" that helped his teammates remember the area model tool. It communicated to the entire group that his comment was valuable and raised the student's standing within the group and in the classroom.

Keep negative remarks to a minimum to highlight and reinforce positive actions. I like to include neutral comments for random things I hear or notice; it's a fun way to connect with students while also letting them know you're paying attention. When a teammate read something in a British accent, I commented. The team laughed and was surprised that I heard it from across the room. The British accent became an inside joke for the rest of the year.

Encourage students to read the comments you provide to their own and other groups for more ideas on how to interact positively. Keep a list of sentence frames or sample feedback handy if you worry about running out of comments.

Debriefing and Grading

Share your feedback with the entire class. Allow them time to read through each group's comments. I also recommend holding a class debriefing discussion the first few times you use this strategy to acclimate the students. During this 5-minute discussion, I usually highlight a positive team point or ask students to share one they will try next time.

Some teachers prefer to give grades, while others prefer to give feedback. I think it's important for teachers to hold students accountable for their collaboration, and I've had more success when group feedback is graded. One idea is to weigh the group task's collaboration score equally with the academic work completed.

Each time I give students a group test, I grade their collaboration and weigh it as 40 to 50 percent of their group test grade. This has inspired both high achievers who usually work alone and low achievers who don't want to let down their teammates.

You could also make this grade dynamic so that students must demonstrate positive collaboration in order to receive full credit, but they can also lose points for negative behaviors.

For example, start all groups with a 6 out of 10 scale that increases by one point for positive comments and decreases by one point for negative comments. Whether or not a grade is assigned, providing feedback and communicating positive collaborative behaviors should always be prioritized.

I recommend implementing this strategy semi-regularly; even once every few months will have a long-term impact on how students collaborate in your classroom.

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A Step-by-Step Guide to Teaching Students to Work in Groups

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A strategy for giving students explicit feedback on group interactions promotes participation and collaboration.