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Managing Large Classes with Group Work

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You can form groups to take advantage of various skill levels. ... Post the groups on the blackboard before students enter the room. ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Managing Large Classes with Group Work


1
Managing 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/

2
Topics 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

3
Definitions
  • 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)

4
Pros
  • 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.

5
Cons
  • 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.

6
Timelines
  • 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.

7
Mixed 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.

8
Tips 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

9
Tips 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

10
Activity 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.)

11
Student 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.

12
Student 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.

13
Giving 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.

14
Activity 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

15
Giving 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.

16
Assessing 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.

17
Assessing 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.

18
Managing 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/
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