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)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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.)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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/