So this is honestly how I felt. But I was very wrong. In these past 8 weeks I have been surrounded by some of the most wonderful people I have met in my entire life. These people are kind and generous, responsible and reliable and unbelievably brilliant. I have worked in numerous group projects that have included a great deal of A.) fun, B.) learning, C.) balanced/equal workload D.) effective results. I swear, this has never happened for me before. And while this is largely due to my amazing colleagues, I really think there is more to it than that.
Doesn't everyone have in them the potential to be an amazing collaborator? I think yes! It is all in how you build the environment around people. And how do I as a future teacher learn to build this effective, collaborative environment? After spending many, many hours with the amazing Kurtis Hewson, where collaborative learning was not optional, I think I have put together a few tips for myself.
1) Everyone must be working towards a common goal.
This may sound rather difficult, as we as teachers will have a myriad of students working towards many different things, but its really all in how you spin it. While one of your students may clearly be university bond by the time they're grade 2 and another is destined to be the next Michael (Jordan or Jackson or C. Hall) all students should be there to learn. Learning is the most important thing!
2) Forced group work is key!
I know this sounds bad, but really, we as teachers need to put our students into groups, a lot! But we must be careful to do it in meaningful ways. I still think that sticking your top student with a student that's really struggling, and a student who doesn't care into a group and making them work together on a project that's worth 50% of the final grade. This is tedious for all involved and can easily be seen as a punishment from all parties. Instead have lots of small group interactions. "Get into a group of 3 and discuss ....... for one minute." "I want Meagan, Andrew and Dan to work together to summarize this paragraph in 45 seconds." Force your students to work together in small increments. Force your students to work with people they don't often work with. By pairing new groups together you may hit upon a fantastic collaborative group! By collaborating for only a short time, these groups can easily disperse on the chance that the group doesn't work that well together. No harm, no foul.
3) Let collaboration be a tool, not a method of individual assessment
Group work is such a great way to build relationships and get many varied viewpoints on a topic. Its great for discussion and development of learning. Don't use group work as a way of assessing individual students and their progress.
At the end of the day, we want to be building a collaborative society. A group of citizens who want more for "us" than for "me." I have had the amazing joy of experiencing this for myself in these past weeks, but I really hope I can implement
Just in case you had no idea what my title was about, have a listen to this gem of a song and negate every line. Thanks a lot Kurtis for ruining Simon and Garfunkel :) | |