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A tendency to step in and correct students

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A tendency to step in and correct students

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A specific point Raunch made on correcting students really resonated with me. I have a tendency to step in and correct my students, as I'm sure many of us do, as they make a mistake. I am of course fully aware that I myself have learned so much from mistakes made and yet I'm hesitant to let my students make a mistake themselves. I believe it's the fear that they will remember the wrong answer only, even after I have corrected them.

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I recently heard Sammy Kempner from the Totteridge Academy in London on the Education Research Reading Room podcast discussing his extensive and impressive use of group work, as part of a department that has the 7th best progress scores for Maths in England. Yet, his colleague Adam Boxer, head of science at the same school, described himself as "not yet good enough" of a teacher to do the same thing in his classroom, and as a result doesn't use group work at all, because he finds it ineffective. I think there's some truth to both approaches. Carefully considered, well managed and planned group work? Great. Much of the group work going on in classrooms though, perhaps not meeting this standard.

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 I have always found setting group tasks challenging - this has highlighted to me the importance of explicitly teaching and clarifying the collaboratives skills and being careful to decide whether this is the most effective task for the context. My main challenges have been as explained in the video - 'laggard' group members and disheartened conscientious weight bearers. In my own experience, I'm not convinced by Slavin's thoughts on an extrinsic reward focus as it relies on the learner caring about these rewards. 

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 I have always found setting group tasks challenging - this has highlighted to me the importance of explicitly teaching and clarifying the collaboratives skills and being careful to decide whether this is the most effective task for the context. My main challenges have been as explained in the video - 'laggard' group members and disheartened conscientious weight bearers. In my own experience, I'm not convinced by Slavin's thoughts on an extrinsic reward focus as it relies on the learner caring about these rewards. 

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During distance learning, group work has been a tool for connecting pupils where as in whole class teaching quieter more reserved students are more likely to be 'lost' within a larger setting. Given the importance of social skills, practitioners will need to be mindful of the need to assess the needs of
students and developing these skills through discrete teaching where applicable.

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This has highlighted for me how I have not spent enough time teaching the skills needed for collaborative learning. If I am teaching essay writing, I allow several lessons for pupils to grow into the ideas, but I am very much guilty to letting pupils 'just get on' with group work and assuming their social skills are enough to see them through. Slavin's freeloader problem and Cohen's development of this are particularly interesting to me, as this is where I tend to find collaborative learning falls down. As already questioned by others, the need to further study of this of ASD pupils and helping both ASD and neuro-typical pupils interact with each other productively is something that I will look into more.

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Group tasks with very directed activities and specific outcomes are useful and do develop cooperation and social skills. After all, pupils can organise playground games well enough - they do know how to do it. Shy and quiet pupils can struggle, but if you choose the right group and give them a designated role, they can excel. However, in my experience good group work requires a lot of extra planning and resourcing. Good group work improves relationships in the classroom and gives pupils an opportunity to 'talk' about tasks which is just as important as 'thinking' about them. It's about meeting pupils needs at any given time in order to deliver the desired outcomes in the most effective manner. 

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Group tasks with very directed activities and specific outcomes are useful and do develop cooperation and social skills. After all, pupils can organise playground games well enough - they do know how to do it. Shy and quiet pupils can struggle, but if you choose the right group and give them a designated role, they can excel. However, in my experience good group work requires a lot of extra planning and resourcing. Good group work improves relationships in the classroom and gives pupils an opportunity to 'talk' about tasks which is just as important as 'thinking' about them. It's about meeting pupils needs at any given time in order to deliver the desired outcomes in the most effective manner. 

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In collaborative learning, every student has a role to play. If looking at Palliscar and Brown collaborative learning roles (questioner, clarifier, summariser and predictor) every student uses their strengths and capabilities (and limitations) to participate and contribute in a group task.

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I've found that when I allocate roles in a group, it seems to hinder rather than help collaboration. It is as though they feel they can't step out of their allocated role, even when it might benefit the group learning. I also think that if 'learning to collaborate' is actually an aim of 'collaborative learning' (as someone else so nicely put it) then do allocated roles really help? Isn't a group task most successful when people play to their strengths/adapt/are flexible and able to fulfil the needs of that particular group?
Perhaps allocated roles is the first step towards achieving this longer term goal?
Is there an argument for using the same groupings regularly in order to build up the trust which seems to be required?

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I was considering how demographic and even culture impacts the success of group work.  If pupils don't engage or even have conversations, for example, around the dinner table at home, how much of a detriment is this on their ability to discuss something at an academic level. This highlights the importance of our role as teachers in ensuring that structure and clear instructions are included whenever we do collaborative learning.

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There are students who, perhaps with ASD diagnosis, may find groupwork particularly difficult - is there research around involving students with such or similar communicative difficulties?

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Explicitly teaching how to work as a group

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Explicitly teaching how to work as a group

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Explicitly teaching how to work as a group, especially to younger children, is definitely the point that is highlighted within my mind. I think it is so easy to assume that children are automatically able to work as part of a group, this is also assuming they have decent social skills - both of which need to be taught methodically for there to be any success with group work. The point about incentives is also a big one, as I have seen groups of children where there have been at least one outspoken and one very passive individual. I have seen this turn from a group task to an individuals task very quickly, from the passive child not wanting to contribute and the outspoken or more confident child completing the work themselves. Adding incentives gives both parties an additional boost in motivation to work as a group, provided they know how to successfully.

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As a drama teacher, group work is a vital element of teaching. Group work is built into the subject and is very much part of its DNA. The classroom/studio/theatre is a space that encourages collaboration and the students often are motivated to participate. In order to ensure that effective accountability is achieved in the group, I usually swap roles around (director, actor, critic/audience, etc.). However, reflecting upon this unit, I think there is more I can do. I think these activities are more akin to group tasks rather than collaborative learning opportunities. The students are active and engaged but, with regards to creating a task that promotes active and deep learning, it's not effective as it can be. It would be interesting to explore this aspect further.

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Thanks to those of you who joined us live!

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Thanks to those of you who joined us live!

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1. Do continue to discuss the topic as it's all fuel for your debate response.
2. Do engage with the debate topic reading list - https://wakelet.com/wake/VBr9TXGm5FnRVh3QAGXfF
3. Do post your questions for C.J. ahead of our discussion next week on Monday 21 June 19:45 (BST) for 45 minutes - https://mypd.chartered.college/mod/forum/view.php?id=4563

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How has it been measure that group work, works? has students progress been measured after a sequence of group work and how has it been proven to be linked to group work if students progress had been made?

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How has it been measure that group work, works? has students progress been measured after a sequence of group work and how has it been proven to be linked to group work if students progress had been made?

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In addition to the direct outcomes from a group task - does collaborative learning result in any transferable benefits to other aspects of learning?

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It's clear that the role of the teacher in terms of modelling and providing support and feedback is important in steering students and influencing the success of group work. The assigning of roles is important - I have found that if this is not explicitly explained then students will simply divide up tasks and 'hope' that they come together. Monitoring the process and the progress of that is key - I especially like the idea of metacognition and prompting students to think about how and why they are making progress with the project - what's working well and feeding back to help resolve conflict. Sometimes I think teachers do this automatically without realising that that is what they are doing. However, the reflection at the end about the process would help students to think about and develop those soft skills that are important for students' character development. Without the reflective thought post process, would they actually learn how to work in a group  as effectively?

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Has anyone had any positive feedback from an inspection on group work and if so, what was the topic, year group and dynamics of the group? Thank you

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How does a jigsaw classroom fit into collaborative learning? The jigsaw method scored very highly on Hattie's Visible Learning and is a form of group work, but has clear differences to regular group work.

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Does group work ever work? Or does learning take place in collaboration? Classroom discussion are group?

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Might have to revisit this idea: ZPD is defined by Vygotsky (1978) as “the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers”

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Is the short answer - not very often? But, why was this mechanism for teaching so entrenched in classroom practice over the past 20 years?

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If we have to invest so much energy as teachers identifying if actual 'collaboration' is actually taking place - is this an efficient mechanism for learning?

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Is developing pupil protocols for effective group work an appropriate objective for learning. This seems like cognitive overload before the problem / task itself!

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How will the teacher ensure that all pupils are attending to the task during group work?

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Do we need to teach students how to do group work, how to work with others, model and role play this. Interesting to read how cognitive load thinks about this.

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Welcome everyone! Press play on the video above and post your comments here as you'd like - either throughout or after watching. Post new comments for each thought, one long comment, or reply to posts from other participants. Don't forget to post questions for C.J. in the space below as they arise for you! If you experience technical difficulties with video, please move to a Google Chrome browser if possible.

You might find it easier to have this discussion space open in a new tab/window and refresh it as you go -https://padlet.com/charteredcollegeofteaching/groupmaycert

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Our department (science) and whole school were constructively criticised a couple of years ago because the inspectors didn't observe much group work.   In a challenging school environment, staff are not keen on group work in case it goes wrong. The culture of the school is important with supporting group work.
So the 'essential elements of cooperation' need to be practiced and learnt by the pupils over time.
I liked the point on 'conflict resolution'.
Weighing the costs - selecting the right pupils for the right group needs careful thought and planning

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Requires more than one student. Think, pair and share comes to mind.

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This idea that the two are different really stood out to me. How the use of language changes the meaning. I always considered collaborative learning and group work to be synonymous.

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I have always been sceptical of group work because I have never seen the fabulous results that conventional wisdom seem to promise. However,  I can see why group work in theory could be effective.  I am a primary school teacher so I usually subscribe the failures to the lack of maturity and  social skills needed for the  children to work together well, but I am now very strongly considering whether the tasks were actually appropriate.  Probably not.  They are tasks that were put in place because I felt the need to vary the curriculum, and this was another 'tool' that I could use and there is an expectation within my school environment that the children need to 'do' group work.

I think the key part of this debate is the cost v's benefit. Unless there is a culture in the school that prioritises development of collaborative and social skills from the student's entry, and the training and development of teacher's own skills in planning, delivering and evaluating collaborative learning, then group work will not be an effective learning tool.

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The main point that flagged up for me was the role of the teacher. Trying to support content knowledge of learners is what we all try to do, but does this get in the way of collaborative learning? Thinking back to observations I have done, where group work occurred, teachers always try to support understanding rather than the skills needed to arrive at that knowledge. It is interesting to reflect on what impact this may have had, and whether then the purpose of collaborative learning was put to the side. I also agree that the skills needed for collaborative learning are important to teach explicitly. In my previous school, we placed high emphasis on teaching 'Habits for Learning', collaborative skills being one of them. I believe that this had a positive impact on the success of collaborative learning.