Working Collaboratively

Dear Royce,

I read your letter and had to laugh. You are asking a question that most educators struggle with each year. I wish I could tell you that there is one technique or strategy that would solve this dilemma for you, but I don't think I would be being very helpful.

Collaborative groups and how successful they are changes as the personality of your class changes from year to year. Something that works really well this year may be a total flop next year. In addition, just because it's working today doesn't mean it will next week. If that happens take a step back and reconsider.

There are somethings that can help though. I certainly don't know all of them but I have found that these work for me.

• Be organized. The more organized you are the better your students will work. Make sure that everything you need is organized in advance.
• Model, model, model. The more comfortable they are with your expectations the fewer questions and obstacles they will have.
• Provide them with a WILF or a rubric to work from. If they know what you're looking for or they have a rubric that you will be using to assess their work, the more likely they will be able to work independently and produce work that matches your expectations.
• Make sure the work is rigorous enough to keep them engaged and challenged but no too difficult for them to be able to complete independently.
• Match the time to the assignment - too much work is just as annoying for the student as too little.
• Consider personalities and space. Some students can work with others and some absolutely CAN NOT. Some can work in close promimation others CAN NOT. If you have a student like this, don't spin your wheels trying to make it work. Let them work independently and let the others work in pairs otr groups.
• Set an expectation and a cue for conversation and noise control. For example if you say whisper or inside voices you need to have a cue that will allow them to monitor and modify. I say "Check you throat". No I don't want them to choke themselves..well..maybe. No, I want them to feel their throats and if they can feel vibration, it's too loud. It's a lot better than "Please hush, please hush, please stop, please. please, please.."

I hope this helps. Good luck and let me know how it goes!

Best Wishes - dawn smith