Groups, part 3 (when not to use them)

Hello everyone,


I think I need to expand some more on the uses of groups in the classroom.

I have found that there are times in the school year when work in groups is not practical or desirable.

When I first started teaching, I had a schedule full of remedial reading classes. The students were undisciplined and unmotivated, and I thought that if I put them into groups, I could individualize their instruction better, and they would have more opportunities to work on skills.

It didn't work.

Without more adult supervision, the students were unwilling to work individually or in small groups, and I was unable to hold them accountable for everything they were supposed to be doing. My class was quickly a disaster area, with books stuffed in unlikely locations and graffiti all over everything.

The next year, I sat the students in a conventional seating arrangement and we read together, and it worked much better.

It was manageable but boring.

If I were teaching those classes again, I would spend a part of the beginning of the year making sure that the class knew how to behave and establishing my rituals and routines. then I would begin moving them into pairs and groups.

Good readers can work in groups independently; poor and unmotivated readers need to be taught skills before they can be trusted in groups. (If you have more adults in the classroom, this is a moot point; the adults can manage the groups easily as soon as the students are able to concentrate in relative noise.)

Writing, on the other hand, is very easy to manage in a group, if the group is focused on the editing process. I organized my writing groups at the beginning of the year, taught them the way I wanted the groups to finish, then let them function.

If you find that the groups in your class are not functioning the way you intend--if in fact they are rapidly spiraling out of control, you ought to consider a few things. Is the class capable of independent work without adult supervision? Does the class have the skills necessary for the level of independent work? Is the work too hard? Is the work too easy? Have you trained the groups in the way you want them to function? Is your accountability system fair and functioning? Are you giving them too much time? Are you giving them too little time? Have you trained them to allow you to work with another group without going berserk? Have you trained them how you want them to come back to all-class activities from their group work?

Having the students work in pairs or larger groups is a good idea that will benefit your instruction; just make sure that you have thought out your management details before you construct your entire year around them.

Jeff Combe