K. Janae's High Five - Secrets to Group Success

Okay, okay. I really do not know the secrets to group success. But, I have found five little nuggets of knowledge that will likely be helpful to those who want to ensure success in small group settings in their classroom. So, without further ado...

1. Size really does matter

• Just like grandma's pie recipe; it's all about the perfect recipe. For grandma, its mixing the right combination of sugar and flour and baking soda. For the teacher, its about determining the perfect combination of like or different abilities and the right number of students for each group. Most people say three is lucky number, but according to a study done by University of Florida faculty, four seems to be the secret ingredient. Four gives just enough for active participation by all members and works well when the groups need to be split up smaller into pairs.

2. No, sorry you can't just sit back and put your feet up

• As the educator, small group work is not an excuse for you to enjoy a few moments of peace and quiet at your desk. While your students are working together, the teacher should also be actively engaged in the process. This is best performed in three stages...

Observation - Intervention - Evaluation

• When observing the educator assesses the efforts of all students so that they can provide feedback if necessary. 
• Intervening is on necessary if the observation leads the educator to believe that students are off task, confused or there is unnecessary group tension.
• When evaluating, teachers should remember to look at both the progress and contributions of the individual and the group as a whole. 

3. It's all about the aesthetics

• If your classroom is not set up for group work, or designed in a way in which it can be easily adapted to accommodate small groups of students working on material, it could be argued that it will more difficult for your students to preform the desired group tasks. Pods, or tables are super fantastic for this purpose! I kind of drooled over these several classroom designs that Edutopia shared on Pinterest. (Nerd moment, I know!)

4. Don't do it just to do it

• There's a lot of power in group work. Nobody said that it had to be done where everyone turned their desks into a square and worked together on a worksheet. Group work should be designed to empower students. It should help add variability to instruction and help reach students with varied learning modalities and multiple intelligences and maximize their learning.

5. DIFFERENTIATION

• Small group work swings doors wide open for classroom differentiation. Classroom differentiation is about teaching to meet all students needs. By distributing students into groups they can be designed that like (or different) students can be placed together to work at their own pace. Check out this sweet infographic on differentiated instruction!

Simply put, group work allows the educator to create a learner-first environment and encourages them to master content at their pace, in the best way that suits them.

Simply put, I don't ever want to use group work just to use group work. And when I do, I want to wholeheartedly engaged in the learning process alongside my groups of students.

Here's a high five from You to Me, K. Janae