Encouraging Effective Group Work

Hi everyone,

Thought I would share some of the fabulous Group Work posters submitted for marking. One of the most invaluable skills our pupils can leave us with, is knowing how to work as part of an effective team. Through our music lessons, we are continually striving to develop this skill as we find that when pupils arrive in Year 8, they have little idea of how to commnicate effectively, listen to opinions, share ideas, compromise, deligate roles, manage their time and stay focused on task displaying self-discipline.

 

 

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

 

"Cooperative learning is the use of small groups through which students work together to accomplish shared goals and to maximise their own and others’ potential."

Johnson, Johnson and Holubec (ASCD 1994)

 

What I observe with our new Year 8 pupils is that although they may work IN groups, they very seldom work AS groups, simply as they have not yet developed those skills at the heart of teamwork. This is what we strive to grow within each individual, so that they leave in Year 10 for their next school with this imperative life skill.

 

Encouraging group work is vital as it targets a range of important aspects. iTeach (2009) have stipulated the following benefits:

 

Group work can also encourage and help pupils to:

• use and manipulate knowledge in practical situations;
• develop language and social skills needed for cooperation;
• use exploratory language to try out ideas;
• stretch their language as they talk critically and constructively;
• support and build on each other’s contributions;
• take turns in discussion;
• develop other important life skills including:
• organisation;
• negotiation;
• delegation;
• team work;
• co-operation;
• leadership
• Develop and increase their thinking skills by explaining and negotiating their contributions to a group. In other words, they are able to use this "low risk" situation to begin to establish what they know and to find out what they have yet to learn;
• Acknowledge and utilise the strengths and talents of individual pupils;
• Explore a topic in a limited time frame;
• Develop a sense of responsibility through group accountability and assessment

  



So what strategies can we as teachers implement to try and help encourage effective group work?

 

1) Allow sufficient time for pupils to plan and discuss within their groups: This is something I have only recently made a point of including. As I gain more confidence and experience, I am seeing ways to change and adapt things to make learning more effective. Rather than explaining the group task and sending pupils to practise, I now explain the task, get pupils into their groups and give a 'Planning Time' where pupils sit in circles to discuss how they will approach the activity.

 

2) Vary the outcomes of the groups: Music allows this to happen quite easily. Rather than restrict a task to one specific outcome, pupils can be very creative. Once pupils are clear of the success criteria, I find it a brilliant motivational factor to allow them to achieve the criteria using a combination of drama, dance, singing, instruments, rap etc.

 

3) Have pupils form their groups before giving them the task instructions: Again, this is something I have only started doing and it works a treat! Before, I used to explain the task, but half the pupils were that excited about discussing who they would work with, that they were missing out on listening ahout what to do. Now, I let pupils form their groups first, and when they are all satisfied with their teams, I progress to explain what they will be doing.

 

 

4)  Have clear objectives and expectations: I have found that if I am disorganised when I start a group activity, the liklihood is that the groups are disorganised as they lack clarity. Having clear objectives has helped dramatically - this means both telling pupils exactly what they have to do and describing what the final product of their group work will look / sound like, supported with written guidelines. Explaining the big picture or final goal is important, especially when the group work will take place in steps. Giving timed deadlines for each chunk of the group task has worked really well too.

 

5) Choose an appropriate group size: This obviously depends on your classroom. In my room I have the main classroom plus 3 small practise rooms. The maximum I can really have in a group is 5 which is what is recommended by Davis (1993), 'Groups of 4-5 tend to balance well the needs for diversity, productivity, active participation, and cohesion.'

 

 

 

6) Use the Jigsaw technique: This is relatively new to me, and it is something I have only tried once and am definitely going to try again! Once the groups are organised, divide the topic into sections and give each group a section to master. This is highly motivational as each group is working as part of one big team. In the final presentation, each group displays and plays their work and the other groups are learning something new as they watch and making connections with the section they have been working on. Really like this - I've used it in my RE teaching but am thinking of ways to use it in Music too.

 

7) Take on the role of faciliator: Whilst groups are working, I have found that it is important pupils know you are there for support. I have started to circle around the room slowly, joining each group for 5 minutes at a time, listening to their discussions and asking some questions to spark ideas of how to add creativity into their performances. Once the light has been ignited and discussion is sparked in a creative route, I move onto the next group.

 

 

These are just some of the things I am using to help pupils develop this imperative skill. I know there is still so much more I can be doing and I will try to implement new techniques as the year goes on.

 

Alanna :) x