Readling Reflection Three - Designing Groupwork

Chapter 1: Chapter 1 describes group work as any task where a group of students can work on a self-directed task in which every student is involved. The chapter also says that to complete the task, students will need a little out of every group member, so that every student in the group has a role. The chapter also discusses the lack of difinitive research on the effectiveness of groupwork, however, from trial and error the author says that most teachers agree that groupwork is more effective than independent work. It is unfortunate, but at my school site this semester, I have yet to see any good examples of groupwork, based on what it is defined as in this book. The only times that the students have worked together it has been at their own direction with no clear reason as to why they are doing so.

Chapter 2: Chapter 2 discusses the reasoning behind why the author feels that groupwork is effective, as well as what additional knowledge is gained through the completion of groupwork tasks that is non-content related. The last section of the chapter talks about how groupwork can also be a key aid to a teacher in solving classroom problems. Groupwork will allow students to spend more time working on a given task, as the students hold each other accountable for their work. It also is a great form of differentiation, according to the author. Using my CP1 as an example, I have to agree that groupwork is a great aid to teaching. Not only does it allow students to better learn content-related material, but it is a way for students to keep an eye on each other's behavior. With 36+ students in a classroom, classroom discipline is more easily achieved with the students keeping each other on task.

Chapter 3: Chapter 3 talks about the problems associated with groupwork tasks, including lack of participation from members of the group, and some group members taking a dominant role in the group. The chapter talks about the reasons that students take the roles they do in their group and how their roles in the group effect the outcomes of their learning. I have experienced this first hand in my clinical practice 1. Prior to me taking over, the students were allowed to work in groups with whomever they wanted, and the behavior problems discussed in this chapter were very similar to my experiences. When I began to take the time to plan the groups, assign roles, and determine exactly what the groups needed to accomplish, most of the problems were gone.

I feel like this book is being read too late within this program, as it seems that it is simply 'preaching to the choir' about groupwork. We have all been bombarded with the benefits of groupwork throughout the program, and most of us have had the opportunity to lead groupwork in our own classrooms. As far as what I would like to learn it would probably just be to gain more experience using groupwork on different tasks, and maybe how to better jump from independent work to groupwork and back seamlessly.