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VOLUME XIll NUMBER 2

INNOVATION ABSTRACTS

PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STAFF AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

WITH SUPPORT FROM THE W. K. KELLOGG FOUNDATION AND THE SID W. RICHARDSON FOUNDATION

Improving the Small Group Approach to Learning

As an educator who has embraced her share of novel approaches in the classroom, I am constantly on the alert for new and effective techniques. Although lecturing has its place in the process, too much lecture makes the process too teacher-centered. Many students seem satisfied to stare passively and jot down the occasional note triggered by the vocal calisthenics of the performer at the podium. Later these same students may recall little of the content since they have not grappled with it or manipulated it into a useful form.

To supplement introducing new material in lecture, I have tried to use methods which force students to participate. When small group work became “the rage” years ago, I jumped in to experiment. I envisioned non- threatening learning. This vision splintered as small groups disintegrated into exchanges about the “ulti- mate date” or “hot places for action” on Friday night. Only when the “small-group enforcer” was approach- ing did the conversation drift back to the assigned task with a weak, “Joe, what was it that you thought?”

Although disappointed and frustrated by the results of my good intentions, I was not willing to abandon group work. I knew that I had to figure out how to tap its potential. I struggled with ways to make the groups real vehicles for learning, without my constant patrol- ling. After some years of refining, I have discovered two keys to small group effectiveness.

First, I have learned that directions to the groups must be explicit, so explicit that each group could be held accountable for completing the assigned tasks. Instead of saying, “I would like for you to discuss the article that you read for class today,” I have substituted specific tasks. Now these groups are likely to receive a list of tasks that might include, “Identify the thesis of the article you read last night” and “List the three main arguments that the author presents.” The groups become task-driven and do not easily stray from the focus of the discussion. Furthermore, groups could be assigned writing tasks to be shared with the larger group. If the focus of instruction had been on writing an effective conclusion in a short literary analysis, I could have assigned the task of writing such a conclu-

sion. But one problem remained—how to make the groups accountable for accomplishing assigned tasks without my becoming the visiting taskmaster.

Second, the key to group effectiveness and the answer to my policing was the overhead projector. By using a simple procedure, I found that I could avoid my dizzying circling around the room. After each group formed, I distributed a blank overhead transparency and a water-soluble pen to the designated leader of each group. This leader appointed a secretary to record the group’s responses on the transparency. Then, I ex- plained the magic of placing a sheet of lined paper beneath the transparency to create straight, more readable lines. If all groups were assigned the revision of the same thesis statement, a different color marker quickly ensured group identity. It also helped me to identify which group’s response had been projected.

This process works very well. It allows the students to collaborate while writing, to review the works of other groups, and to discuss their differences. Students respond more critically to the class-generated writing if they have struggled with the same assignment. They are more willing to labor with writing since their audience is their classmates. Finally, they seem to remain “on task” because the transparency is collected and reviewed by their peers.

These steps have relieved me of constantly monitor- ing groups, provided an atmosphere for student interaction, and made students accountable for using class time to really learn. With a little twist on an old technique, I have achieved some obvious improvements and feel much better about using small groups for classroom instruction.

Jo Ann Buck, Department Chair, English/Humanities For further information, contact the author at Guilford

Technical Community College, Jamestown Main Campus, P.O. Box 309, Jamestown, NC 27282.

EDB 348, Austin, Texas 78712

THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STAFF AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (NISOD) Community College Leadership Program, The University of Texas at Austin

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