My idea is basically to assign groups, and every week I’ll give the groups assignments to be handed in. Every member of a group is responsible for answering one of the excercises in the assignment, so they can’t freeload, and the group score on the assignment is given to every member of it. So, a “good” student would (in my mind) be willing to help “weaker” students in order to get as good a score as possible.

The risk of the good student doing all the work is of course still present, but I would think that everyone in the group still benefits as opposed to a system where everyone does their own work. For some reason, my students have not been very group-minded previously. Something about the Finnish school system maybe, I couldn’ t say.

Thanks, team.

It helps to watch them like a hawk in the beginning of the year. In general, it is the same students who are quick on the uptake of the material so once you get them on the right track, they’ll stay there. And those who become my peer teachers later on in the year (I’ve had a surprising handful of those in each class) will usually peer tutor as others had been doing.

So I watch them, I go with them to their new groupings, I listen in. And when I hear them just giving away the answer I stop the session. I remind all at the table that the goal here is for everyone to have the “Feeling of Win” (I picked up a bit of their video game terminology but it seems to work) that comes with learning a concept and that being handed the answer actually results in a “Feeling of Lose”. And on top of that, I point out to my peer teachers that they, themselves, are being cheated. “Didn’t you struggle with this concept and have to think your way through it?” I’ll ask, “And then you are just going to give it away for free? Even I am not that generous.”

On top of that, I model what I’d like them to do. I never answer questions directly. One of my biggest pet peeves when I taught at the university level was how often a student would cleverly reword, “Please give me the answer?” I learned that somewhat evasive helpful hints, would answer a concern without reinforcing the student’s ability to game the system.

I usually answer questions with questions. Or I give “hints”. And if I’m asked a question from a struggling student my first question is, “Please take me through your thought process so that I can see where you are coming from.” “Why did you do [x]?” “Are you sure?” “Are you sure that you are using all the clues from the problem to craft your game plan, here?” “I’ll give you a hint, there is a very important word in the problem statement itself that you are ignoring.”

My students seem to parrot that behavior. We teach as we are taught, no?

Maybe this could be a weekly or unit driven block of time, say every Wednesday, where 1 group works on a review sheet while others get your individual attention?

Just a thought-

Also, your blog is amazing. Have you read anything of late about “Disruptive innovation” in the classroom by Clayton Christensen? I’m about 60 pgs in in his new book. The reviews said his big prediction was that over half of classroom instruction in high schools will be done online within 15 years or so…..

Doug

Other methods are the Jigsaw method (just google for it), which is an excellent group work method for dealing with freeloaders who usually don’t participate in the work very much.

The Progressive Inquiry method is another method, which focuses on knowledge building in small groups. It’s especially suited for situations when the goal is to gain deep understanding of the subject area, and not so well for rote learning.

There are some other methods as well listed in LeMill for collaboration: http://lemill.net/methods/language?tag=collaboration&language=en
– feel free to add your own descriptions into LeMill, or improve the existing ones.

By the end of the year, they rocked.

@Dan One online option is to create screencasts using CamStudio (or similar) and some sort of tablet input. I’m lucky enough to have a school-provided tablet and I have created screencast movies that are available on our school portal. When students need to remediate a specific skill they watch the 3 minute clip, either at home or at school. The downside, up to this point, is that it is always the same problem. I’m hoping to create a larger library of movies from which to pick and choose.

As for the scalability, I’ve found that all of my students (grades 8 – 11) are benefiting from the screencasts that I made specifically for my algebra unit in grade 8.

The next stage (which connects the tech option to the collaborative pedagogy) is to have the students create screencasts for skills that they have mastered, or even as an assessment to show that they have mastered the skills.

I have three practice problems that I have students do on their own. Not guided practice, which comes after modeling but truly independent practice. And I make them HARD.

I set the students loose on them. And when someone thinks that they’ve got all three, they get to show me their answers. Right or wrong, we have a verbal conference about why they used the approach that they used. If it turns out to be an “oops” with regard to the way they punched numbers into the calculator, I point that out. If it is due to misunderstanding, I try to guide them in the right direction.

If they get the right answer, I call out to the class as a whole, “Bernard had achieved expert level on the concept of Combinatorics! His brain is now yours to pick. Put it to work for you.” Hands start to raise all over the classroom for folks who wish to pick Bernard’s brain. Not only do they have the self-awareness that they could use extra help, but they are also aware enough to know that they need to hear another voice/perspective/take on the material or skill.

Of course, all of this would be worthless without my first week of class where I review data with them that shows that peer teaching (aka collaborative pedagogical practices) is an efficient means of studying. I then do a lesson on efficiency (same output but less time, greater output if same time) to show them how this is ideal. Then I ask who wants to put in more hours for lesser learning. No hands, usually.

Then we also have a heart-to-heart discussion about the benefits of learning from a variety of sources and how each other are a variety of sources.

I know how to set up this classroom culture where students are their own advocates for these pairings, and the L3s (what my district calls those who learn most quickly) want to have their brains picked and take responsibility for helping their classmates understand the material. And this was my first year using it and it was a huge success. I just need to spend my summer reflecting on it to be able to identify the specific concrete steps involved.

But I hope what I’ve given you is helpful. If it isn’t, feel free to pick my brain (I made a funny :) based on my previous typings) at the email address provided.