The Problem with Group Work

The class's clique-ey-ness in seating presents challenges when faced with group work as well. This is not to say group work falls on its face, but sometimes there are unexpected obstacles.

This was most obvious when I was teaching a lesson one day. Granted, I'm not the actual teacher and my word is generally afforded less heed than Mr. Tree's, but I had thought my plans were rock solid. To keep students from flowing between groups, I had note cards with numbers on them that I passed out. Students were to enter groups of 3-4 based on the number on their card. For most students, this is not how it happened. This became clear when I heard students discussing switching groups and the like. Though I felt this was somewhat irritating, as I had purposely assigned groups outside of the students' cliques, I did not think it was worth a power struggle, nor that I had the authority to back up any rules that were outside of the norm in the classroom. Then students began merging groups, and it was possible that this sort of fluidity was a norm in the classroom, but probably more likely that I was an interloper who did not afford much respect, especially if I was going to make students read difficult text. In this case, the class's social environment was clear to me in a different way as well. A couple of students either switched groups or gaped at the group they were put in because of personal differences. Despite what some students have told me, not all in this class "are friends," and many members have a strong distaste for other members (or sometimes, nearly all members) of the class.

Another activity, this time with Mr. Tree at the helm, showed a more limited version of the issues arising with group work with in the class. There were three groups, so each group had about eight students. The students did largely remain within their groups, but with such large groups, students were able to segregate themselves within each group, and those who did not wish to participate really had no impetus to do so. So they didn't. Additionally, within a space as large as 1/3 of the classroom seating, were able to segregate themselves spatially as well.

More recently (today, in fact), there was more group work and yet another interpretation of the ground rules for groups. In this activity, the class evenly had three readings divided amongst themselves more or less evenly, and then were split into groups unrelated to this reading, so as to be able to jigsaw the reading and have members of the group who had reach each. Students counted off in 3s for this, and then Mr. Tree would take one group while Brandon took one and I a third. Mr. Tree's group was about 10, as was mine, but Brandon's was only 5. Additionally, nearly every member of one clique was in my group. This was likely not a coincidence.

The problems with group work pose a couple of conclusions about the class culture. First, students act in their self-interest. Given no constraints regarding where they should be, students will choose to be with their friends. Second, the way students work in group work, i.e. some will complete the task quickly, while others won't even begin to complete, points to the necessity for clearer group work expectations and norms.