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Effective teamwork depends on many things. At a minimum, it requires capable people working together cooperatively to achieve a common goal.

According to author Patrick Lencioni, author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, truly cohesive teams trust one another, engage in unfiltered conflict around ideas, commit to decisions and plans of action, hold one another accountable for delivering those plans, and focus on achieving collective results.

Effective teamwork ultimately requires practicing a small set of principles over a long period of time, says Lencioni. "Success is not a matter of mastering subtle, sophisticated theory, but rather of embracing common sense with uncommon levels of discipline and persistence."

Unlike individual accountability, which I've written about in previous posts, group accountability is about the willingness of all team members to call each other on performance or behaviors that are detrimental to the team. This requires a great deal of trust and commitment, and it also requires courage.

Holding one another accountable can actually demonstrate respect as well as maintain high expectations for everyone. This peer pressure encourages everyone to take part in achieving the team's goals through shared leadership, which I believe is vital to successful teams.
Teams that avoid holding one other accountable:

Create resentment among team members who have different standards of performance

Encourage mediocrity

Miss deadlines and key deliverables

Place an undue burden on the team leader as the sole source of discipline

Teams that do hold one another accountable:

Ensure that poor performers feel pressure to improve

Identify potential problems quickly by questioning one another's approaches without hesitation

Establish respect among team members who are held to the same high standards

Avoid excessive bureaucracy around performance management and corrective action

In addition to a foundation of trust and commitment, clarity around individual roles and responsibilities in relation to the team's goals is vital for group accountability to occur. There can be no ambiguity and every member must know exactly what is required in order to achieve the group's goals.

It is helpful to encourage group accountability behavior so individuals feel more comfortable speaking up with regard to each other's performance level. Providing specific feedback on witnessed behavior demonstrating group accountability during meetings can go a long way toward encouraging others.

Keep the focus on achieving team goals and not individual accomplishments. In fact, rewarding individuals can actually be counterproductive and often undermine group goals. In the same way a basketball team suffers if players refuse to play as a team, so too do workgroups when individual performance is praised above the group's achievement of goals. This is not to say individuals shouldn't be rewarded, however, if their accomplishments are singled out too frequently then group goals may become secondary.

Ultimately, there should be both an internal and external focus on accountability. Each person must be internally focused with full accountability for his or her own goals. And to be an effective group member, there must also be an external attention focused on accountability for the group in order to meet its goals.

This external focus on accountability requires holding each other to the same standard you hold for yourself, helping each other stay focused on the task necessary to achieve the group's goals, and challenging each other to raise their level of performance.

As Lencioni says, effective teamwork is simply about embracing common sense with uncommon levels of discipline and persistence. And group accountability is one way to ensure your team can raise its performance and reach its goals.

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Group Accountability for Effective Teamwork

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Effective teamwork depends on many things. At a minimum, it requires capable people working together cooperatively to achieve a common goal. According to author Patrick Lencioni, author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, truly cohesive teams trust one another, engage in unfiltered conflict around ideas, commit to decisions and plans of action, hold one another accountable for delivering those plans, and focus on achieving collective results.

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The term "collaborative learning" refers to an instruction method in which learners work together in small groups to achieve a common goal. Individual...

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Providing examples and models, especially for English Language Learners to further clearly explain directions

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Have students collaborate with one another, via purposeful grouping, to allow for development of social skills as well as exposure to others' opinions.

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Mesquite Elementary School, in Tucson, Arizona, attributes much of its turnaround in student performance -- and their ongoing success -- to their Reteach and Enrich program. Within the first year of implementation, even before teachers had worked out all the kinks, Mesquite went from a "performing" school (as labeled by the state of Arizona) in 2002 to an "excelling" school, the highest ranking, in 2003. The school has maintained an "excelling" status ever since.

The goal of the program is to give students the opportunity to master essential skills and knowledge before they move on to the next level. Here's the approach:

1. Each week has defined curricular objectives.

2. Teachers assess students on those objectives at the end of the week.

3. Based on assessment results, teachers assign students to either reteach or enrich sessions for the following week.

4. Beginning the following Monday, students attend either a 30-minute reteach or enrich session every day.

Reteach: Teachers reteach objectives using different lessons for students who need additional time for mastery. The teacher whose students performed best on the previous week's assessment teaches that week's reteach students. Students stay with that teacher for the daily half-hour sessions the whole week to minimize transition.

Enrich: Teachers expand on objectives for students who have mastered the basics. Students in the enrich class rotate to a different teacher each day so they can experience varying teaching styles as well as learn with different peers.

Reteach and Enrich (R&E) is highly replicable; every school in the Vail School District has implemented the program, and it continues to lead to improved student performance. However, there are some essential elements that are key to making it work.

1. A Common Curriculum Calendar

R&E depends on a shared set of clearly defined curricular objectives that are scheduled out for the entire year. This means that for any given week within each grade, all the teachers are teaching the same objectives. However, they are not necessarily teaching the same way; the instructional approach is left up to each individual teacher. The calendar keeps them on track by setting the pace so that teachers know that by year's end they will have taught -- and students will have learned -- all the essential standards. Says Vail superintendent Calvin Baker, "When we hold students accountable for very specific standards, and we expect all of them to know that standard, then we hold ourselves accountable for getting that job done."

2. Dedicated Time

Everyday at Mesquite, from 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m., the whole school is involved in R&E. In addition to this daily half hour, R&E requires time for teachers to review and assess student data as well as plan instruction to meet each child's needs, both generally and within the program. At Mesquite, each grade has dedicated common planning time for teachers while their students are in "specials" (e.g., P.E., computer lab, library time, and so on).

To fit all that in, time management is also of the essence, right down to classroom transition time. For R&E, all the students transfer from their regular classroom to their assigned reteach or enrich room in under a minute, thanks in part to the convenient setup of their classrooms around a common area (see video below).

3. Collaboration

Collaboration is a key part of Mesquite's culture and is essential to R&E. Students rotate to different teachers during R&E, so every teacher must know every student in his or her grade level. Teachers share information about their students' progress so that all the teachers in a grade level share ownership of every child's education. They plan together and share resources and lesson plans that have been successful, and they seek insight from one another on lesson plans that were less effective.

4. Formative Assessments and Data Analysis

Early on, the teachers at Mesquite created their own weekly assessments; now there is a team of teachers at the district level that writes them. The assessments are short -- usually just five questions on one objective -- but they provide consistent insight into students' progress so that teachers can address any needs promptly. Diane Samorano, Mesquite's student achievement teacher, tracks the assessment data and the data from schoolwide screenings and quarterly benchmarks. She meets with the teachers every two weeks to review the latest results, to identify students who are struggling, and to help teachers plan instruction accordingly.

5. Involved and Informed Leadership

In order to address a variety of student needs, teachers must have access to resources, and principals must know what's going on in the classroom. Katie Dabney, principal at Mesquite, routinely visits classes, converses with students, and attends every data meeting for all grades. "As instructional leader, I have to stay on top of the data and be actively involved in searching for students who are at risk or need an extra challenge."

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Mesquite Elementary School, in Tucson, Arizona, attributes much of its turnaround in student performance -- and their ongoing success -- to their Reteach and Enrich program. Within the first year of implementation, even before teachers had worked out all the kinks, Mesquite went from a "performing" school (as labeled by the state of Arizona) in 2002 to an "excelling" school, the highest ranking, in 2003.

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Utilizing different methods of teaching for diverse learners (visual, bodily kinesthetic, musical, etc.)

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Ensuring help and support is effective | Holy Trinity & St Silas

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This video shows four of the five student groups. Students have several products they are creating as part of a "Living Things" science project. In this video the students are dividing up work among group members and putting deadlines down on their calendars.

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Building Student Collaboration and Agency

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Effective Group Work in College Science Classrooms

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Video #14 Group Work Why does group work always seem break down? Some students take over the project while others sit back and watch. The workers are unhappy because they don't feel like the work is divided fairly. The hitchikers are unhappy because they feel their opinion and ideas aren't wanted.

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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 and communications with others.

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Published:

Disclaimer: This essay has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the work written by our professional essay writers. You can view samples of our professional work here.

Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of UK Essays.

Participation usually means students speaking in class: answer and ask questions, make comments, and join in discussions. Students who do not participate in those ways mentioned above are often considered to be passive and are generally penalized when participation is graded (Jacob & chase, 1992).

Participation in classroom:

To engage the students in Participation in a classroom is an important method of teaching. It provides the students opportunity to receive input from fellow students, to apply their knowledge and to enhance public speaking skills. From the Participation of teachers can get a more accurate idea that what is the understanding level of students about the concept being taught (Maznevski 1996).

Engagement in classroom participation:

Engagement within the learning environment generally refers to the relationship between the learner and the content or topic being pursued. While the highest levels of engagement are seen when the learner is passionate about the topic, significant levels of engagement can be achieved through a variety strategies that actively involve the learner in activities and environments that make learning both interesting and challenging. Engagement with content leads to higher levels of learning (Whelan, C.1997).

Our experience reveals that for many students class participation is a big problem. Teachers often complain about student's passive behavior in class participation. But up till now there has been a very little research into the promotion of class participation. But studies have been conducted in social scial sciences and business studies (e.g., Egan 1996, Hyde & Ruth 2002, Litz 2003).

More often low self-esteem, anxiety, and general lack of confidence is considered responsible for student's non-participation in the classroom (Kennedy, 1997; Thomson, 2001).

Student Participation:

Lack of participation could be due to multiple factors. My first thought was that student's reluctance could be due to lack of understanding, but it could very well be that he does not feel connected to the curriculum; he cannot relate to it. Students who are empowered by their school experiences develop ability, confidence, and motivation to succeed academically. They participate competently in instruction as a result of having developed a confident cultural identity as well as appropriate school-based knowledge and interactional structures (Cummins, 1983).

Active learning

Bonwell, C.C., and J. A. Eison (1991) suggest that Active learning is generally defined as any instructional method that engages students in the learning process. Active learning requires students to do meaningful learning activities and think about what they are doing. The core elements of active learning are student activity and engagement in the learning process.

Adopting instructional practices that engage students in the learning process is the defining feature of active learning. The importance of student engagement is widely accepted and there is considerable evidence to support the effectiveness of student engagement on a broad range of learning outcomes.

Importance of language:

Language is a mean of communication by which human beings express their feelings, emotions and fulfill their needs.

According to Tariq Rehman, 1996:

Language is a coin and what it buys in the market is "power". Higher status and attractive jobs are attached with English language. The demand for learning a language is linked to empowerment. So English language is promoted in university education, so that the students can attain their goals. But this prevailing of language in higher education is not as simple as it seems because all the students have diverse demographics which do not equally support the speaking of English in classroom.

The language barrier becomes an additional hurdle in student's classroom participation. kachru (1992 pp.66-67) found that poor pronunciation and Accent problem stops many students to participate in classroom discussion.

Kachru, (1995) points out majority of Asian students study through the medium of English but they are not proficient enough in English and reflect their regional varities of English while speaking.

Sociolinguistics view of language:

Sociolinguists are of the view that individual differences in oral communication among students are dependent upon social variables like age, status, ethnicity, gender etc. when students step in classroom, their pattern of language is already influenced by these factors (ScottHYPERLINK "http://www.readingonline.org/articles/handbook/wilkinson/#scott95", 1995).

In he earlier studies, student's communicative competence was considered as an important set of rules by learning these rules they can comprehend and participate in classroom context. If the student fulfills the specific requirements about language use, he can communicate effectively with class fellows and teachers. If they don't comprehend the class room communication system their learning is affected and they learn comparatively less. Due to language problem they participate passively in classroom activities. Difference between home language and classroom language also reflect upon development of student's communicative competence. If these both languages are identical somehow, students are motivated to learn literacy events taken place in classroom (Morrow, HYPERLINK "http://www.readingonline.org/articles/handbook/wilkinson/#morrow93"1993; van Kleeck, HYPERLINK "http://www.readingonline.org/articles/handbook/wilkinson/#vankleeck90"1990HYPERLINK "http://www.readingonline.org/articles/handbook/wilkinson/#vankleeck90", HYPERLINK "http://www.readingonline.org/articles/handbook/wilkinson/#vankleeck90"1995HYPERLINK "http://www.readingonline.org/articles/handbook/wilkinson/#vankleeck90", HYPERLINK "http://www.readingonline.org/articles/handbook/wilkinson/#vankleeck90"1998; van Kleeck HYPERLINK "http://www.readingonline.org/articles/handbook/wilkinson/#vankleeck87"&HYPERLINK "http://www.readingonline.org/articles/handbook/wilkinson/#vankleeck87" Schuele, HYPERLINK "http://www.readingonline.org/articles/handbook/wilkinson/#vankleeck87"1987; Whitehurst HYPERLINK "http://www.readingonline.org/articles/handbook/wilkinson/#whitehurst98"&HYPERLINK "http://www.readingonline.org/articles/handbook/wilkinson/#whitehurst98" Lonigan, HYPERLINK "http://www.readingonline.org/articles/handbook/wilkinson/#whitehurst98"1998).

Vygotsky's social constructivist theory played a major role in language learning theories. He is of the views that all learning is socially integrated.

Motivation:

The process of learning begins when an individual faces various social situations. These situations provide certain type of experience to the individual as the nature of the situation, which further enables the individual to behave in a certain way. All of these social situations give some sort if instigation, which act as motives and drivers for the individual. These motives and drives may be evident in the form of behavior of the individual concerned. Such kind of behavior undertakes the purposes which are indirectly dominated by the drives and motives. Therefore, a motive may be said as the base of the behavior of the individual, which works as internal factor to make individual behave in the desired direction.

A motive is an internal factor that arouses, direct and integrates a person's behavior. It is not observed directly but inferred from his behavior or simply assumed to exist in order to explain his behavior (Marry, 1964, p.7).

These motives not only describe the desired goal but also the role of the individuals in the concerning social situation. This undertakes individual's social as well as psychological condition.

Motivation is a general term used to refer to any arousal of an individual to goal-directed behavior. The term motivation when applied to human is a Social-psychological concept and motivation cannot be considered apart from the individual's conception of himself, his social status and roles, and the existence of society and culture which define situations and appropriate and desirable behavior.

(Theodorson and Theodorsm 1969, p.26)

Motivatin & participation:

Studies have linked motivation and participation to students achievement (Eccles & Wigfield, 2002). Students who gave importance to learning the material and have greater expectancy to be successful in a course are more likely to achieve at higher levels (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000).Learners with a more positive attitude towards lifelong learning tend to be more persistent, more self-directed, and more self-confident (de la Harpe & Radloff, 2000). They efficiently use cognitive strategies to maximize their learning (Zimmerman & Martinez-Pons, 1992).

Achievement Motivation:

Achievement motivation is an important determinant of aspiration, effort and persistence when an individual expects that his performance will be evaluated in relation to some standard of excellence (Sill 1972, p. 27).

Relationship between Performance and Achievement motivation:

Atkinson and Connor (1966) conducted a study to find out the relationship between the task performance of students and the strength of their achievement motivation. The texture of the study revealed that the students with stronger motives to achieve success and avoid failure show greater performance for difficult risks and more efficient and faster tasks performance for difficult risks and efficient and faster tasks performance than those who had relatively weak motive to achieve success and avoid failure. The finding of this study suggests that stronger achievement motives determine the degree of the performance of the individuals which struggling to achieve their certain desired goals In the same token (Atkinson, & O'Conner. 1996).

Achievement goal theory:

Various kinds of purposes of students towards participating in class room activities are based on their sentiments, thinking, performance and attainment according to achievement goal theory (Midgley, 2002; Ames, 1992).

Most of the researchers emphasized on two major types of goals:

Mastery goal: it enhances competence in the students.

Performance goal: it concentrates on acting upon that competence.

Both of these goals may be attained through the personal goal of the students (Urdan 1997; Kaplan, Middleton, Urdan, & Midgley, 2002).

Personal Goals

The competence of the students might be improved through their personal goal and that competence is based on their own prior performance instead of the other's (Maehr, 1984; Ames, 1992; Nicholls, 1989).

Kaplan et al., (2002) argue that students of full devotion for the sake of being proficient in some specific skills may show their mastery goal.

Both performance-approach goals and performance-avoid goals are ultimately depend on students' personal goal (Skaalvik, 1997; Middleton & Midgley, 1997).

Diligence, attempts and efficacy beliefs are related with performance approach goal. However, refusal from participating in class room for the sake of achieving some tasks is often linked to performance-avoid goals (Elliot, McGregor, & Gable, 1999; Kaplan et al., 2002; Urdan, Ryan, Anderman, & Gheen, 2002).

Adopting difficult tasks, good learning strategies, questing for something at the time of need, positive behaviour according to various tasks and fascinating class room atmosphere are the good consequences which could be attained through mastery goals

( Ames, 1992; Urdan, 1997; Kaplan et al., 2002).

Classroom Goal Structures:

Ames (1992) stated that according to goal theory, class room, the nature of the students and their beliefs may affect the motivational factor of the students.

Class rooms with more performance- focused may put negative impact on students than that of a normal class room. Negative results may include various types of cheating and different kind of misbehavior in the classrooms (Kaplan et al., 2002; Turner et al., 2002; Urdan et al., 2002).

Multiple Goals

Students may have multiple goals along with other various types of goals as some researchers have noticed this in different ways. This is compound of different sorts of personal goals and it is therefore, called multiple goals. A few researchers indicated that multiple goals may have positive or negative effect as well (Meece & Holt, 1993; Pintrich, 2000; Wentzel, 1991)

Teacher Instruction and Achievement Goal Structures:

The students perceive their goal structures according to the instructions of their teachers (Ames, 1992). Different teachers give instructions according to their vision. Middle class teachers detail their students according to their knowledge and in the same manners teachers of all classes motivate and direct their students in their own way.

Turner et al., (1998) gave a brilliant idea about motivation of the students that what teacher says and in which manner, is main pillar among students to be motivated.

The Association between Personal and Environmental Factors

Covertly or overtly, the motivation of the students depends upon their behaviour as individuals as they treat in the classroom whether they obey the instructions or demonstrate ignorantly (e.g., Elliot et al., 1999; Pintrich, 2000; Patrick, Ryan, & Pintrich, 1999).

Most of the researches try to inquire in learning process in the class room but they seldom effort for knowing the atmosphere of interaction among students that how much differently they behave in the same classroom (Patrick et al., 2001; Turner et al., 1998, 2002 )

Aspect of person-in-context undertakes the responsibility to know how individuals and environments influence on each other (Lemos, 2001; Vauras, Salonen ; Magnusson & Stattin,1998).

Socio-cultural theories are used to assay the process of children being socialized in the classroom and in the systems of meanings along with the way they try to take these meanings by their own as well (Brown & Campione, 1994).

` According to Rogoff, (1990), pint of view, the child and social world are essencial for each other.

Factors affecting students' participation in the class and suggestions as well:

More of the students appear to have an inactive role in the class room participation (Weaver & Qi, 2005).

Synthesis, evaluation, analysis and application are the more important things which are to be developed during class room participation (Tinto, 1997); (ACER, 2008).

Weaver & Qi (2005) argues that in large class room size, most of the students maintain their secrecy as well and have less opportunity to participate in the class room activities.

The power of the instructor (Howard & Baird, 2000), gender and the age discrimination of the pupils (Howard, James & Taylor, 2002), the cognitive level towards class room(Chung, 2000;Tinto 1997) and also the sentiments of the students (Chung, 2000;Howard et al., 2002) are such factors which have significant influence on the interaction amongst students in the class room.

The societal behaviour of students and teachers as well has a great effect on class room participation (Weaver and Qi (2005).

The students get frightened by the instructor and lose their confidence to participate in different kind of activities in the class room (Dallimore, Hertenstein & Platt, 2004;Chung, 2000).

To lessen the gap among students and teachers and to provide student-friendly atmosphere enhance the degree of participation in various activities in the class (Weaver & Qi, 2005; Auster & MacRone, 1994). It means, the more the social links among student-teacher and among student-student, the more student-centered atmosphere there will be.

The participation in the class room increases the reasoning of the students, critical thinking and creativity skills in them as well. (Tinto, 2002; Foster et al., 2009; Wilson & Fowler, 2005). The best learning environment and participation could be increased through demolishing the factors like uncertainty and anxiety in the class room (Sim, 2006).

McInnis (2001) suggested that the participation of the students could be increased in the class room through redesigning our curriculum and different types of courses in a significant manner which may prove a mile stone in engaging different groups of students with one another. Tinto (1997), related class room with academic and social interchange and by keeping this point of in mind, even a lay man can propose the idea of producing the social links among students with other students and with teachers also.

Confidence & Classroom participation:

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary defines 'confidence' as the 'mental attitude of trusting in or relying on; firm trust, reliance, faith, assured expectation, assurance arising from reliance (on oneself, circumstances, etc.)'. In the literature on the topic, confidence has been defined as a trait (Bernstein et al, 1994; McKinney, 1960) and as a situationally specific concept (Brodie, Reeve & Whittaker, 1995; Champion, 1993).

Confidence is "assuredness in oneself and in one's capabilities" (Erwin & Kelly, 1985, p.395).

In relation to social interaction it has been defined by Manning & Ray (1993) as "calmness and assertiveness during social interaction" (p.180).

Manning & Ray (1993) found confidence as being the opposite of shyness and as situational.

Some researchers referred to self- efficacy as confidence (Wanberg, Watt & Rumsey, 1996) whereas, Bandura, originator of the term "self-efficacy" wrote in 1997, that confidence and self- efficacy are not the same. Confidence has been thought to be part of self-esteem or to be synonymous with the concept of self-esteem (Wells & Marwell, 1976), whereas Coopersmith (1967) argued that self-confidence was a term used to describe the "subjective state" of self-esteem and reported that "an individual who expresses negative attitudes towards himself thereby indicates that he has little confidence in his abilities to deal effectively with the events that confront him."

Lawrence (1999) defined self-esteem as confidence writing "confidence is self-esteem in practice and has two aspects:

Confidence in abilities

Confidence in personality

Owens (1993) viewed self-esteem as being comprised of general self-confidence and general self-deprecation; he explained general self-confidence in terms of positive self-evaluation.

Indeed, this lack of confidence' (DFES, 2002, p.1) on the part of large numbers of students was considered specifically in recent policy documents concerned with the drive to enhance basic skills. It is, certainly, a crucial factor in learning at all levels.

Reisenberger (2002) suggests that although there are still situational and institutional barriers for student's participation in the classroom to be overcome more attention need to be directed towards dispositional barriers, particularly factors linked to learner's confidence.

Students feel shyness when they are asked to take part in classroom (Fassinger 1995; CELT 1998).

Sometimes students show lack of confidence because of the fear that they may seem unintelligent to their fellows and teachers while answering the questions or presenting their point of view on an assigned topic and so they feel it comfortable to remain silent (CELT, 1998).

Thsee issues can sometimes be traced to a lack of participation by students (Howard & Henney 1998).

Many research work indicates that although the individual learner can affect his/her own level of confidence, tutors, peers, mentors and workplace supervisors can help increase the learner's confidence by providing support, encouragement, and constructive feedback. Such learning support needs to unpack meanings of confidence in task-specific contexts in order to overcome particular dispositional barriers.

Self confidence:

The students who feel shy and hesitate to ask the various questions in the class are assumed to have lower level of achievement motivation. Whereas those who do not feel this kind if hesitation are expected to have higher level of achievement motivation

Students' Personality Type and Attitudes towards Classroom Participation:

Personality is one of the affective factors that are equally important for explaining differential success among students. Extroversion is linked with risk-taking; introversion is considered under the concept of self-esteem (Brown, 2000).

Passive students: mean who do take part in class room activities frequently are often punished by the teachers. Overtly or covertly, their being passive in the class could be either because of their personality. Personality is two types as following:

Extrovert

Introvert

These types of personality affect classroom participation according to the situation.

Personality is also more important for learning process. Extrovert personality is linked with risk-taking where as introvert is associated with self-esteem. (Brown, 2000)

Similarly, Galvan and Fukada (1997/1998) put forth their experience of avoidance from participation in student-centered classroom because of personality factor. They also concluded that extroverts participated in the classroom more than introverts. Often students of introvert personality couldn't raise even a single question.

Extroverts are more interactive than that of introvert students in class room because introverts like to have few friends in the class but extroverts keep on enhancing their company (Myers, 1962).

Introverts often fail to achieve the norms of the academic requirements due to less participation in classroom (Barrett & Connot, 1986) as Carskadon (1978) concluded that extroverts, though have few thoughts, they act more than that of introverts who have more thinking power but act less than extroverts. Myers (1962), suggests that extroverts tend to prefer learning situations that afford interaction, while introverts tend to prefer small groups. Galvan and Fukada (1997/1998) found that extrovert students participated more than introverts. The participants who self-reported as having passive learners were least likely to initiate a question or volunteer an answer to a teacher's question. Additionally, knowledge of personal preferences can help teachers and administrators understand and predict student performance so they can restructure the situation to facilitate more student participation. Barrett and Connot (1986) found that introvert learners do not get involved in classroom activities and have lower academic achievement. Extrovert students usually produce more action with fewer thoughts whereas introvert students produce various thoughts with little action (Carskadon, 1978).

Constructivism of theory of classroom learning:

Constructivism theory of learning and knowledge emphasis upon the learner's active participation in constructing his own knowledge (Anderson, 1987; Jonassen, 1995; Resnick 1983, 1987; Schauble, 1990; von Glasersfeld, 1989, 1992). Constructivists consider that knowledge is gained when a learner uses his prior knowledge to understand the new information. So knowledge can be enhanced by instruction or guidance of teacher, but it is not a direct outcome of teacher's instruction. As the construction of knowledge is dependant upon the prior knowledge of student, so all students get the understanding from teacher's lecture according to his existing level of knowledge.

Social constructivist perspective:

Knowledge is socially constructed through collaborative efforts made by human beings (Brown, Collins & Duguid, 1989; Cole, 1985; 1-lewson, Kerby & Cook, 1995; Lave, 1988; Vygotsky, 1978). Knowledge can not be gained or a new concept is difficult to understand without its social context.

Classroom factors:

Tha construction of knowledge is also affected by classroom environment factors (Garner, 1990). A new concept is well understood by interaction with fellow students and teacher in classroom.

Student' Self-regulation of classroom behavior:

Self-regulation of cognition and behavior is an important aspect of student learning and academic performance in the classroom context (Corno & Mandinach, 1983; Corno & Rohrkemper, 1985). There are a variety of definitions of self-regulated learning, but three components seem especially important for classroom performance. First, self-regulated learning includes students' metacognitive strategies for planning, monitoring, and modifying their cognition (e.g., Brown, Bransford, Campione, & Ferrara, 1983; Corno, 1986; Zimmerman & Pons, 1986, 1988).

Students' management and control of their effort on classroom academic tasks has been proposed as another important component. For example, capable students who persist at a difficult task or block out distractors (i.e., noisy classmates) maintain their cognitive engagement in the task, enabling them to perform better (Corno, 1986; Corno & Rohrkemper, 1985). A third important aspect of self-regulated learning that some researchers have included in their conceptualization is the actual cognitive strategies that students use to learn, remember, and understand the material (Corno & Mandinach, 1983; Zimmerman & Pons, 1986, 1988).

Knowledge of cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies is not sufficient to promote learners achievement; they also must be motivated to use the strategies as well as regulate their cognition and effort (Paris, Lipson, & Wixson, 1983; Pintrich, 1988, 1989; Pintrich, Cross, Kozma, & McKeachie, 1986). There are some classroom tasks that can motivate the students (cf., Corno & Rohrkemper, 1985; Malone, 1981), it is also evident to suggest that student's perceptions of the classroom and their individual motivational orientations and beliefs about learning are relevant to cognitive engagement and classroom participation and performance (e.g., Ames & Archer, 1988; Nolen, 1988).

General expectancy-value model of motivation (cf., Eccles, 1983; Pintrich, 1988, 1989):

This model presents three motivational components linked to the three different components of self-regulated learning.

An expectancy component, which includes students' beliefs about their ability to perform a task in the classroom:

The research suggests that students who believe they are capable engage in more metacognition, use more cognitive strategies, and are more likely to persist at a task than students who do not believe they can perform the task (e.g., Fincham & Cain, 1986; Paris & Oka, 1986; Schunk, 1985).

A value component, which includes students' goals and beliefs about the importance and interest of the task:

It includes students' goals for the task and their beliefs about the importance and interest of the task. This motivational component essentially concerns students' reasons for doing a task. The study recommends that students with a motivational orientation involving goals of mastery, learning, and challenge, as well as beliefs that the task is interesting and important, will participate in more meta-cognitive activity, more cognitive strategy use, and more effective effort management (e.g., Ames & Archer, 1988; Dweck & Elliott, 1983; Eccles, 1983; Meece, Blumenfeld, & Hoyle, 1988; Nolen, 1988; Paris & Oka, 1986).

An affective component, which includes students' emotional reactions to the task:

It deals with students' affective or emotional reactions to the task. There are a number of affective reactions that might be relevant (e.g., anger, pride, guilt), but in a classroom

learning context one of the most important seems to be test anxiety (Wigfield & Eccles, 1989).

Effect of Socio-economic factor on classroom participation:

Socioeconomic status is positively correlated with both educational attainment and achievement. The higher the student's socioeconomic status, the greater his or her educational accomplishment is likely to be.

The national Longitudinal Studies revealed several direct positive relationships between educational success (classroom participation) and socioeconomic status. One such relationship was found between the student's socioeconomic statuses and their scores on various standardized tests administered as part of the study. One each test students from successively higher socioeconomic categories got better mean scores.

Students come to college/university with variety of talents and handicaps that predispose them to towards academic success or failure and as they move through academic institute they continue to be influenced by these factors and others that are beyond the control of educational institutions.

Family background and classroom participation:

Student's position in college and society are determined in large parts by their family background. Coleman (1996) and Jencks (1972) found that one-half to two third of student achievement variance is directly related to home variables such as socioeconomic level (Greenwood and Hickman, 1991, p. 287).

Some home environment factors that influence student achievement include social class of family, early home environment, parenting style, "type" of mother child interaction, effect of the mother working, parent involvement in school decisions and activities, family and student aspirations, and the number of children in the family (Rubin and Borgers, 1991). The more children in the family, the less time parents interact with each child.

Family and students aspirations for the future are another aspect of the influence of class, racial, or ethnic background. Parents who set high standards and have high aspirations for their children are more likely to have high-achieving children. James Coleman and colleagues found that black and white seniors had comparable aspirations; the difference was in taking the necessary steps to carry out their goals. Black students felt that they had less control over their environment and left their fate to luck and chance (coleman et al., 19666), though many lower-class black mothers find multiple strategies to encourage their children's academic achievement (Rosier, 1993).

Educational and social class background and classroom participation:

Educational and social class background is the most important factor in determining differences between students. In fact, Jencks findings indicate that family background accounts for more than one-half of the variation other in educational attainment. Regardless of the measure used -occupation, income, parent education-family socioeconomic status is a powerful predictor of academic performance.

Children succeed in large part because of their family background and what parents do to support their children in their education. Parenting style and parental expectations play a crucial role in setting the child, educational agenda. Guidelines about after - school and weekend activities, television watching, home- work and other school- related decisions give the child structure and help the child set goals (Dornbush and Ritter 1992; lee, Dedrick and Smith,1991). One of the most important ingredients in a child's success in school is the degree of what parental activities help or harm child's school achievement. Involvement of parents is shaped by their social financial resources, their opportunities to be involved, and their own orientation towards education.

Cultural effect on classroom participation:

Difference in cultural background does also have effect on perceptions about classroom participation. Japanese students show long silence in interpersonal dealings and protection of face in classroom as well (Winbush 1995). Chu & Kim (1999) found that Vietnamese students prefer to be right than to initiate the discussion.

According to Chu & Kin (1990) Concept of classroom participation among Asian students is different than other students. They consider the class participation just as answering the questions not to interact actively with fellow students and to pose questions. They are reluctant to comment on fellow's presentations. They always prefer one-sided feedback from the teacher rather than from whole class critique.

Dunphy (1998) found that western universities have their own social conventions that are not familiar to overseas students. Their social conventions also include the rules for classroom participation.

Parent's involvement in the educational process affects achievement:

Parent's involvement in the educational process also differs by social class. A great deal of research has focused on the "cultural capital" that students bring to institute from their family life. Some of this facilitates classroom learning; some does not (Bourdieu, 1977). In fact, social class can become a form of "cultural capital" lead to different learning experiences. The cultural capital of middle-and upper-class students- for instance, those with educated mothers (Rosenwing, 1994) provides useful resources for educational experiences, where as that of the lower classes provides resources not valued by dominant social institutions (Lareau, 1985).

Higher class parents are active in their children's education at home and at institute, whereas lower class parents do what the faculty asks. Both sets of parents hold similar educational values, however the higher class parents have more cultural capital and as they use it their children get benefits from it in achieving academic goals. Parents of working-class students are less comfortable dealing with teacher than those of higher-class students, who feel more comfortable communicating with teacher and are involved with institute's activities (Lareau, 1989).

Unless there is significant parental support and supervision, these factors are correlated with children being tardy or absent from school, not doing homework, not having contact with their parents (Mulkey, Crain, and Harrington, 1992; Pallas, 1989; Moore et al., 1996).

Effect of teacher on classroom participation:

The results of (Wright, S.R., Sanders, W. L., & Horn, S. P. (1997) study well document that the most important factor affecting student learning is the teacher. In addition, the results show wide variation in effectiveness among teachers. The immediate and clear implication of this finding is that seemingly more can be done to improve education by improving the effectiveness of teachers than by any other single factor. Effective teachers appear to be effective with students of all achievement levels, regardless of the level of heterogeneity in their classrooms. If the teacher is not effective, students under that teacher's tutelage will achieve inadequate progress academically, regardless of how similar or different they are regarding their academic achievement.

This finding is corroborated by recent research on the cumulative effects of teachers on the academic progress of students (Sanders & Rivers, 1996). These recent studies show that teacher effects on student learning as inferred from standardized test scores are additive and cumulative over grade levels with little evidence of compensatory effects. Thus, students in classrooms of very effective teachers, following relatively ineffective teachers, make excellent academic gains but not enough to offset previous evidence of less than expected gains.

Differences in teacher effectiveness were found to be the dominant factor affecting student academic gain. The importance of the effects of certain classroom contextual variables (class size and classroom heterogeneity) appears to be minor.

Effect of co-education on classroom participation:

According to 'second- wave' feminist in the 1970s and early 1980s work, girl were marginalized and belittled in the classroom, the victims of systematic discrimination from male classmates and teachers and the school system itself. The account provided in these studies resonated with female readers, as they reflected many of our own educational experiences. It was argued convincingly that the catalogue of discrimination that girls and women experienced in the educational system explained the low achievement of girl at moths and science in compulsory education, and the relatively low numbers of women progressing to further and higher education(stanworth,1981;spender,1982).

There are broadly two explanations for boy's failure to match girls in terms of achievement. The first emanates from the 'poor boys' discourse identified by Epstein et al.(1998),which argues that boys are now disadvantaged in schools. In this discourse, girls' improvements are often presented as having been at the expense of boys. Cohen (1998) has shown how low educational achievement among boys is seen as the result of external fault, such as the teacher, school, or method of learning or assessment. So suggested remedies to improve boys' educational achievement emanating from the 'camp tend to be based on a supposition that boys' comparative underachievement results from a failure to make education sufficiently appealing to boys.

Strategies for Improving Class Participation

Divide the class into small groups:

Dividing the class into many small groups for open discussion will minimize student's fear of their fellow's negative feedback (CELT 1998; Chu & Kim 1999). It can also enhance direct teacher feedback which many Asian students treasure (Chu & kim, 1999).

Guide the students to show good attitude to their fellow's comments:

The students who show positive attitude towards their fellows participation should be encouraged, but the students who decrease the other student's confidence level should be discouraged (Fassinger 1995).

Encourage students to take part in class freely:

Give free hand to students to response and actively interact in the classroom. They should be ensured that it is their time to speak now and minimize their fear of being wrong.

Use better questioning strategies:

To enhance the students rate of class participation better questioning strategy is needed. Teacher should use open ended question that they could response according to their point of view. Students should be given a waiting time to prepare their answer. Students should be called by name in class. Their responses should be appreciated so that they overcome their fear of being wrong (CELT 1998, Howard & Henney 1998, Nunn 1996).

Dunphy (1998) and Howard and Henney (1998) suggested that to guide the students and make the concept of class participation according to student's cultural background can prove beneficial for the class participation to take place. Fritschner (2000) also supports the above of view by saying that teacher should prepare the students from beginning of classes so that class participation happens itself.

Structured is also an effective mean to enhance participation. Winbush (1995) found that all the students read out the notes which they take on cards during discussion.

Classroom environment that encourages classroom participation:

Constructivist theory does not deal with pedagogy. It describes some techniques for students to get benefit from learning experiences and multiple ways to think over a problem e.g.

To pertain their own ideas

To determine how much new information is understood with help of their own ideas.

To take into account a number of possibilities by which now concept can be comprehend.

To assess the value of various perspective about a concept.

As instruction by the teacher facilitates the learning of students, so there should be some challenging classroom activities for the students. Such environment is created if student is actively engaged in learning process rather than just listening (Anzai & Simon, 1979).

In constructivist classroom students are actively engaged in discussing, taking notes, explaining ideas, convincing others, and commenting upon other's views. Such type of student's activities is not carried out in traditional classroom.

Such classrooms are feasible only for those students whose style of learning is dependent on listening carefully the teacher and taking the notes. But the student who construct their knowledge while to enhance student's understanding in the lesson it is essential that teacher give him chance to think over the concept or problem independently, and concentrate on student's work to guide and help him to integrate the concept. Such task can be accomplished by creating group work, class discussion and interactive lectures in the classroom time. Such class room environment helps the students to develop critical thinking, to initiate the discussion, and comment upon others views (Mazur, 1993; Van 1-leuvelen, 1991).

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The Effects and Importance of Classroom Participation

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Published: Disclaimer: This essay has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the work written by our professional essay writers. You can view samples of our professional work here. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of UK Essays.

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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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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.

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Why is collaboration important?

Collaboration is a key twenty-first century skill. The curriculum mandates that students engage in collaborative learning across the board-from Healthful Living/PE (participating cooperatively in group activities) to Mathematics (group problem-solving) to English Language Arts (group discussions). According to Robert Slavin, collaborative learning can narrow the achievement gap between white students and students of color.[*] Students use collaboration skills to socialize and make friends. The workplace requires collaboration. Businesses - Google and Apple, for example - are eliminating cubicles and creating team workspaces. Creativity thrives on collaboration. Creative thinking is another twenty-first century skill. Finally, if you have the skills for it, collaboration is a fun way to learn!

What is collaboration?

It is a complex set of skills, abilities, and behaviors that can be taught and modeled, including, to mention a few:

Communication skills: listening, attending to verbal and non-verbal cues and information, giving and receiving positive, useful critiques;

Cooperation skills: leading and following and switching from leading to following, taking responsibility for group tasks, attending to group process;

Emotional skills: being aware of one's own and others' feelings, expressing feelings appropriately, and showing compassion and empathy;

Mental skills: focusing on a task until complete, following a conversation, processing it, summarizing it, and taking creative leaps based on it.

What prevents teachers from teaching collaboration?

First, a small misunderstanding, "There's no time to teach it - I've got to stick to the curriculum!" But in the North Carolina Standard Course of Studies, collaboration crops up on page after page, in every grade level and many subjects. (The fourth grade Science curriculum asks students - not teachers - to describe, discuss, communicate, or explain in twelve of twenty-four objectives. Students must work in groups to do this.) It's in the curriculum, and we must teach our students how to do it so that they will succeed.

Second, few teachers study collaboration. How many teachers have taken a course on group dynamics, group communication, or group management? How many schools of education teach peaceful communication or effective critical response practices? Who feels like an expert collaborator? Wouldn't we rather do it ourselves?

How can we teach and model collaboration for our students? How can we lead our students toward a collaborative classroom?

Here are two things that I do when I'm working with any group - whether young people or seasoned professionals - that can foster a collaborative environment. They are not difficult, they require no special training, they don't take much time, and they can be powerful tools for strengthening collaboration skills. The first is "checking in." The second is including evaluation of the group process as a part of every collaborative work session.

What is checking in?

Checking in means giving everyone a moment to reflect on how he is feeling right now, and then allowing him to name his feeling. If I ask you how you are feeling right now, you might take a breath and make a quick survey of your mental, physical, emotional or spiritual state. You might notice a familiar tension in the neck or shoulders. Or perhaps you recall that you have several things on your to-do list and then notice that your heart rate has increased. Or you might remember something that has happened lately that has you feeling proud.

How do I lead my students in a check-in?

When I ask people in a group to check in, I ask for a one-word check-in or a short phrase that describes how you are feeling, now. Then I wait quietly for ten seconds to give time for reflection. Then, one-at-a-time, each person names his feeling while everyone else gives him a moment of full attention. It is as important to give focus to each speaker as it is for each one to speak.

I am looking for feeling words like happy, sad, mad, scared, ashamed, calm, embarrassed, proud, energetic, sleepy, tense, excited, bored, full, hungry.... Some people like to use words that avoid feelings, like fine, good, or OK. Sometimes I ask them for a second word-I coax them toward feeling words. Other than that, I listen silently as fully as I can-with my ears, my eyes, my heart, and my spirit. I respond non-verbally and non-judgmentally.

As the adult in the room, my role includes keeping it safe to check in. All feelings are OK. I don't need to fix anybody's feelings.

What is the purpose of checking in?

Checking in allows feelings in a room. It acknowledges that we all experience feelings. It lets students practice looking inward and attending to the complex world of feelings that enriches the human experience. It engages intra-personal intelligence. It gives students practice naming feelings-some don't know the feeling words. It gives everyone practice seeing what feelings look like and hearing what they sound like in other people. It builds trust in a group. It fosters compassion and empathy.

And, from my point of view as the teacher, if a student expresses dismay or a strong feeling, that gives me important information, and I know I may want to offer her some extra support or attention or give her a break that day.

When is it good to check in?

In some groups I work with, we check in at the beginning of each day, and check out at the end. In classrooms, I use check-ins when students are unable to focus as they usually do, or when I sense something is going on among students that I want to get an inkling about. If students come in from PE giving each other evil eyes, I might start class with a check-in. It is possible to use roll call as a check-in. Students can also check in with each other in small groups. Some primary teachers have a place on the wall near the door with pictures of happy, sad, scared, hurt, and mad above a piece of felt. Students can each have a name tag or popsicle stick with Velcro on it that they can stick on the felt under the feeling they are experiencing when they enter or when they need to. There are other times and ways to check in, as well.

What about evaluating group process? How do I lead my students in group process evaluation?

Here is one way: When I split students into work groups, I give different tasks to different students. If there are five students in a group, for example, one would be responsible for knowing what their assignment is, another would be responsible for keeping the group focused on the assignment, another would be the facilitator (that means he makes sure everyone gets heard) another would be the scribe or note-taker, and the fifth would observe the group process and report on it. When students are working on a dramatic presentation of their writing, one role is director-that person listens to all ideas and then decides who does what (and all others must obey her). Students rotate rolls, so that everyone practices different group tasks on different days.

I give the process observer a card with this question: "What did someone in your group say or do that helped your group collaborate?" At the end of the group work session, I allow five minutes for reports from each group's process observer: he says what someone said or did that helped the group work well together. I keep a scroll of paper hanging on the wall where we write these helpful sayings and behaviors. That scroll becomes the basis for building a classroom norm of collaborative behavior. When a group gets stuck, they can refer to the list to see if there is something they could do to get unstuck. (I learned to keep the scroll on the wall from arts educator Deborah Brzoska.)

What are the benefits of evaluating group collaboration?

Over time students realize that collaboration can be broken down into its parts, and that they can choose to engage in any number of behaviors that help a group work together. They learn to look at behavior as a series of choices that help or hinder group work. They see their peers earn acknowledgement for positive behavior, and they want some of that, too. They gain a repertoire of helpful behaviors that they can practice in a safe setting. They become better collaborators over time, and they learn to attend to not only the work but also the way they do the work.

These two simple, yet powerful classroom activities-checking in and evaluating group process-take a little time. But they give back a great deal because they help to create a classroom that values the abilities and behaviors that make up skillful collaboration. If your students teach each other how to collaborate well, they will spend more of their group time focused on their assignments, they will be happier with each other, and they will produce more creative work.

Sheila Kerrigan, 2011

[*] Robert E. Slavin, "Cooperative Learning," American Educational Research Association's Review of Educational Research

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southeast center for arts integration blog

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Why is collaboration important? Collaboration is a key twenty-first century skill. The curriculum mandates that students engage in collaborative learning across the board-from Healthful Living/PE (participating cooperatively in group activities) to Mathematics (group problem-solving) to English Language Arts (group discussions).