Title: Managing Large Classes with Group Work
1Managing Large Classes with Group Work
- Georgeanne Cooper, Director, Teaching
Effectiveness Program - http//www.uoregon.edu/tep/
- Leslie Opp-Beckman, Technology Coordinator,
Instructor, - American English Institute
- http//oelp.uoregon.edu/
2Topics of Discussion
- Definitions
- Pros and Cons
- Timelines
- Mixed Ability Classes and Groups
- Tips for Assigning Students to Groups
- Student Accountability in Groups
- Giving Every Student an Opportunity to
Participate - Assessing Group Work Activities
3Definitions
- Ideal vs. large language classroom
- Classroom management (managing student behavior,
managing class activities and learning, managing
your workload) - Traditional teaching vs. cooperative learning
or group work - Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs)
4Pros
- You can design group work to take only a few
minutes or to take an entire class session. - You can actively engage all students (do not
allow individuals to dominate groups). - You can form groups to take advantage of various
skill levels. Group more capable students with
struggling students, and encourage peer teaching.
- Group work can help build relationships between
students and help them form study groups. - Learning group skills is a valuable asset for
being successful in the workplace.
5Cons
- Some group work requires a significant amount of
time and may not fit conveniently into a lesson
plan. - Occasionally there are conflicts with group
members that must be resolved. - In some cases it is difficult to determine
accountability. More capable members are tempted
to take over the activity to ensure a good
grade. - It can be difficult to design a good group
activity that keeps students fully engaged.
6Timelines
- Group activities can be designed to fit into a
variety of time allotments from two or three
minutes to an entire class session. Be sure to
let students know how much time they will have
for an activity. - If the activity will take more than a few
minutes, remind groups periodically how much time
they have left. If the activity is divided into
parts, remind students (when they have two
minutes left for a part) that they must finish
and prepare to go on to the next part.
7Mixed Ability Classes and Groups
- There are several ways to group students when
there are mixed abilities within the groups. - You may want to group by ability and give those
groups different tasks that support success with
each group. - There may also be advantages to mixing abilities
and teaching more capable students how to teach
others rather than doing the work for them.
8Tips for Assigning Students to Groups
- Group size should be appropriate to what you are
asking students to do. When students work in
pairs or threes and abilities are not a main
concern, you can group students quickly by
counting off into groups of three from where they
are sitting in the room. - If you want students to be in particular groups
according to abilities you can do one of the
following
9Tips for Assigning Students to Groups
- Post the groups on the blackboard before students
enter the room. - Pass back homework with a number on the back.
When it is time to get into groups tell the
students to look for the number on the back of
their homework. If you use this method, have the
areas where students with the same group number
will assemble clearly marked. - Count off by the number of groups you want and
then ask each group to assemble in a specific
place in the room
10Activity 1 Two (or Three) Heads are Better than
One
- This is an activity using the theme or topic
Holidays around the World. We will start with
one of the upcoming holidays in the USA,
Christmas. - Divide a piece of paper in half so that you have
2 columns. We will give you the topics for each
column. Work alone. Take one or two minutes and
quickly write as many words as you can in the
first column by yourself. (Note that
pronunciation and spelling are issues to address
at some point, but are not the focus of this
particular activity.)
11Student Accountability in Groups
- The best group activities are those which truly
require a group to accomplish the task. - Have the group produce something together that is
evidence for their efforts. - If the task has several parts, ask groups to
divide the responsibilities among group members
and produce something (a written document) which
holds them accountable for the task.
12Student Accountability in Groups
- If you have time to ask groups about their
activity, call on someone in the group who tends
to struggle rather than someone who is always
able to complete a task. - Tell groups beforehand that you will be calling
on different members and that it is their job to
be sure everyone in the group is prepared to
answer.
13Giving Every Student an Opportunity to Participate
- Discuss the guidelines for productive group
behavior. - Group work gives students a chance to learn how
to share leadership roles, develop good listening
skills, help and support one another, and teach
each other.
14Activity 2 A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words
- You will see a picture on the same topic
Holidays around the World, Christmas in the
USA. - We will look at three levels of peer or group
teaching activities, from easy to more complex - Building vocabulary
- Creating noun phrases and verb phrases
- Writing a short narrative or story
15Giving Every Student an Opportunity to Participate
- As groups continue to work together they can
become more productive. This is the advantage of
keeping students in the same working groups. - You can also change groups if it is important to
have students working with a variety of other
students. - How you group students and how long they stay in
the same groups depends on what you are trying to
accomplish with group work.
16Assessing Group Work Activities
- If you are new to doing group work, take it slow.
Keep your groups small (pairs or threes) and keep
the activities simple and short. Structure the
activities and ask groups to show you what they
have accomplished in writing. - Be sure you have students doing enough individual
work to understand their levels of knowledge and
skills so that their grades accurately reflect
their effort. If you are grading students on
their group work, credit for the group activity
should never bring an individual students grade
down. It should only add to their individual
scores.
17Assessing Group Work Activities
- If students are turning in a written record of
their group activity, ask them to sign their
names and give a brief sentence or two about
their contribution to the task. - You can also ask students who have been working
together in a group over a period of time to
rate each others performance. This should be
done in confidence and each rating should be
accompanied by an explanation for the rating.
18Managing Large Classes with Group Work
- Georgeanne Cooper, Director, Teaching
Effectiveness Program - http//www.uoregon.edu/tep/
- Leslie Opp-Beckman, Technology Coordinator,
Instructor, - American English Institute
- http//oelp.uoregon.edu/