Building a Thinking Classroom Together: December

From Bethany, 

“My students aren’t working well together in groups. Some take over and do everything while the others watch. Some are lost and don’t contribute anything or even try to follow along. How do I fix this?”

This is a common problem. Sometimes you have an impatient student that really wants to get to it. They are usually the ones that raise their hand and almost bounce out of their chair until you call on them. Sometimes you have a student who is still learning how to work with others and would prefer to just work on their own, so they take over and let the others just watch. Sometimes you have a student who is behind or missed recent classes and they don’t have any ideas to share yet. 

My first answer would be to instruct the group to move the marker to someone else. I often walk up to a group and tell them that I want Ella to have the marker on the next one. For mild cases, this will take care of the issue. I also make sure to spend time in that group asking questions of all the members to make sure everyone is on the same page. If they aren’t, I let the group know that they need to make sure everyone is understanding before they can move on.

In chapter 12 of Peter’s book, Peter teaches us about evaluating what we value; which is often the answer to this problem. With the class, create a list of things that define the good and bad of what you want to evaluate. In this case, what makes good and bad group work. The students already know how to define this and will give you great criteria to make a rubric (if they don’t give you what defines the things you want to improve on, then steer the discussion to that). For the next class, create a sliding rubric that contains 3 or 4 definitions from the list that the class came up with (see my example below). The next time you work at the boards, tape one rubric up at each board after going over it with the class. At the end of the hour, have the groups put an x in place on each sliding scale where they think they performed. You should also rate  2 or 3 groups on your own copies of the rubric (especially for the groups that contain the students that are struggling). Discuss with those groups how you both rated them and what they can do to make it better. Do this for 2 or 3 days in a row or until you see your groups doing better.  

The rubric above is an example my class put together for collaboration.

The sliding rubric has made a big difference for my groups. I have only had to do it a couple times a year. Also, there is no need to give a grade to them. Like Peter says in the book, students also realize that time is valuable. So when you give time to something in class, they will see the value. The discussions you have and the focus on specifics of group work will make an impact, even without a grade attached.

***If you have a question about the Thinking Classroom, or if you have a story or success that you would like to share, please: 

  • Email me at jstrom@win-e-mac.k12.mn.us
  • In the subject line, please put “Building Thinking Classrooms Together” or “BTCT”. 
  • Let me know 
    • how to refer to you (name, location, anonymous…)
    • what grade level you teach 

Until next time, keep on building! Together we will build a generation of thinkers.

Jessica Strom
Win-E-Mac School
MCTM High School Vice-President