Voices from the Field:
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| In this weekly column, teachers share what works and what doesn't. |
| Tena Linsbeck-Perron is a multi-age teacher. In this column she shares her procedures and ideas for getting the most out of students during group work. |
| In my classroom, group work is the norm and cooperative learning is important. For any group work project, each student fills out an "Individual Plan of Action or IPOA." I conference with each group, using the plans as the focus. |
| Students start and end each work period with a "meeting." At the beginning of the group session, each student refers to his or her "IPOA." During the last 5 minutes of the class, they each fill out an accountability log. (Everything is kept in a folder and placed in a crate in the classroom.) |
| In addition to requiring a plan of action at all meetings, I also encourage students to choose various roles and to change those roles periodically. Students who try to "run the show" are as detrimental as those who do nothing. With that in mind, we brainstorm as a class ways to avoid or intervene when we see this starting to happen. Our list is recorded on an easel that we can refer to when working on group projects. |
| My class creates rubrics for all projects. This is totally student driven. After initially modeling how to create an effective rubric and product descriptor that is easy to read and scores products fairly, I step back. My students are quite adept at this now. I strongly suggest doing this as it helps the kids become part of the process. Additionally, students determine the roles necessary to complete a project. |
| Simply "doling" out work does little to help students learn. Rather, my students and I look at the big picture and decide how to complete the project with all members responsible for showing understanding of the essential question at hand. With a nod to Literary Circle roles, there is always a "discussion director," and that role—as well as others—rotates throughout the project. For instance, a student may complete the vocabulary aspect, while another works on the images and another completes a graph, but all are focused on one aspect of a portion of the project. They then move on to the next portion together and exchange roles. |
| Group work outcomes are graded twice, each carrying the same weight. The product is graded and students receive an individual grade according to their plans of action and accountability logs. However, I try to keep a watchful eye, as I know there are some kids who do poorly in these situations without support. |
| As students move through life, they need to learn how to work effectively with all kinds of people. Group work provides opportunities to do just that. |
©2006 Tena Linsbeck-Perron |
