I love collaborating with individuals that I believe are competent and knowledgeable. There is almost never a time when I don't learn something valuable about how I go about things when I have these interfaces. Now, the second part is this: I hate collaborating with individuals who honestly bring nothing to the table that is useful, or are completely benign in the process or they only like to hear their own voice. Those experiences leave me frustrated and sometimes even upset.
That being said, I am sure students feel the EXACT same way often times when thrust into these types of situations by us teachers. I know every time I say we are doing a group project, there is about 20% of my class that are holding their breath in virtual pain to see who "they got stuck with". Why? Because we as "good" teachers like to try to pair up our "good" students with our "not-as-good" students. The looks on their faces is both priceless and sad at the same time.
Case in point: Last week I did this exact thing again for my Life Science class. Typically in the past, when I would "randomly" pull names out to put them in groups, I would always be sure that the top students were split up and that I didn't have close friends together in the same group. Why did I ever do that? That was completed ridiculous on my part. In theory it makes sense, but the reality, it is a humongous headache for the teacher, a drain on the achievers, and a relatively un-engaged free ride for the loafers. I put the groups together the way I wanted them this time (under the guise of, ahem, randomness) and I put achievers together and friends together. The reaction was stunning. Instead of frowns and eyeballs looking at the ground, I had huge smiles and quick discussions on what type of activity they were going to do.
I ask myself, "self, what does this do for the underachievers?" It forces them to be responsible for their own work and I, as the educator, will be able to devote more of my time with them to have them feel engaged and responsible for their work and not get the free ride so many have had before. The higher achievers will have an opportunity to work with A) someone they like and B) someone who shares their desire to put forth something excellent. This is a win, win in my book. I can't believe it took me 13 years to realize this.
I also believe that blogging will help with the monitoring of said projects as well. This gives an opportunity for me to engage with the group as a whole and on an individual level as well. I can gauge how students are doing within the parameters of the project. I believe a timeline of events needs to be present as well with clear guidelines by the group who is responsible for what that will be available for all to see (blog, google, etc). Again, I believe this is another means for helping all students involved in the process.
I believe this can be an unbelievable breakthrough for me in my classroom. Group assignments in the past were dreaded by students and also yours truly. Yes, I did them because I believe in the concept of them, but the execution usually fell flat. As I move away from this course and into the beginnings of summer, I can see clearly now how my classroom will be vastly different next year. I am already planning on doing things differently than I have ever done before, but I believe for the better. There will be intentional opportunities for a more collaborative classroom and a more harmonized working environment for the students. I look forward to this.
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