Chapter 7
Group Work That Grows Understanding

OK, I promise to keep the drama to a minimum tonight.

I found this chapter especially interesting, since I personally find small group work to be painful and less than gratifying.  Tovani is a fan of it, and I can understand why:  according to her book, the students in her classes that are divided into small groups get a lot out of the experience and work well together.  When I read this, I immediately thought, "Yeah, right.  In what alternate universe is this occurring?"  But I tried to keep an open mind and read the rest of the chapter.

Turns out, Tovani didn't have this type of success with her students right away, and although she had read about the many benefits of small group work for students (stimulates higher levels of thinking, develops social and listening skills, encourages articulation of learning and helps students make connections), her students didn't just do this off the bat.  She first asked them what bugged them about small group sessions.  She then honored those complaints by having a class discussion about them and how to work around the difficulties of not being assigned to a group with friends or being in a group where some people slack off and other people dominate the discussion.  She and the class discussed and agreed upon "norms" that would set parameters for how everyone was expected to participate and how to navigate problems when people took over or didn't engage.

She and another instructor modeled for the class how to be a good group member versus a rude group member and had the class give feedback about what they observed.  She then had them engage in small groups many, many times throughout the school year.  With practice, they got comfortable with the set-up, mostly adhered to the norms, and in general, seemed to enjoy the experience.

Sounds like a ton of work, right?  I thought so, too.  But I do have to say, no teacher I have ever had, in the many, many years of school I have attended, ever tried to lay the groundwork like that for a successful small group experience.  So to be fair, I don't really think I can judge Tovani for touting it as a good way to teach, because I don't really know what it would be like to be a group where everyone pulled their weight and interacted in a way that was conducive to all members learning something.  Maybe it is a lot of work to get there.  But maybe it is also a great opportunity to teach some life-skills, like working well with others in an effort to benefit the group more than the individual.  I think a lot of us have made it to adulthood and more or less figured that issue out through trial and error.  But it would have been nice to have some "norms," especially considering that a lot of other people have made it to adulthood without figuring out how to work well cooperatively in a group.  And if the benefits are truly what she cites for having the small group experience, then all that work might be worth it after all.

Group Huddle