Reading Reflection 4 - Groupwork ch. 4-5

Each section of these two chapters on groupwork caught my attention since I have become very interested in making cooperative learning happen effectively in my future classrooms and in avoiding some of the pitfalls I have experienced in clinical practice when students work in groups. I will focus my reading reflection on planning evaluation, though, because evaluation is of great interest to my students and I know that I will need to have my answers down pat on this regard because my students and possibly their parents will likely have questions.

The way that evaluation is carried out influences groupwork. Cohen cautions that teachers must be careful to not evaluate student understanding too early in the group process. Individual students may not master the learning objectives after one group activity. Their light bulb may go off after the second or third, but if a teacher becomes too eager in ensuring that students are understanding every concept and getting all of the right answers, they will take away from the benefits of the group process and the critical thinking of individual students. This will be a challenge for me in teaching math. I have grown so accustomed to good teachers being those who have the littlest confusion going on in their classrooms. But as Cohen suggests, confusion is not necessarily bad and can lead students to deeper understandings as they explore concepts more deeply and learn from one another.

Cohen also suggests that teachers should provide specific feedback on group process performance as well as the actual content the group produces. If a teacher wants to evaluate individual student learning, Cohen states that they might give a test after the groupwork process is finished, to ascertain what each group member learned. If group grades are given, Cohen warns that some group members may be excluded from contributing because they are viewed as having weaker skills. Further, grading individual group members on their contributions to the group project may not be fair, since some individuals may have been excluded from contributing. If students are to give constructive feedback to one another on their groupwork, they must be trained in socially acceptable and sensitive ways to do so.

Cohen advises educators that they should think before they create competitive groupwork environments, or groupwork that is focused on earning an external reward as motivation. She asserts that rich tasks can result in the same level of motivation and feedback and positive reinforcement can be provided instead of grades.

I will definitely use groupwork in my own classroom and will be challenged to come up with tasks and strategies that motivate and train students to work well in groups. I will have to devise ways of evaluating student learning and assigning grades fairly. In teaching math, there are so many ways that cooperative learning can contribute to individual student learning through rich problem solving experiences. Every student is a critical thinker and can contribute when tasks are designed correctly. I think that I will likely use cooperative learning tasks as a means for students to learn about concepts in a meaningful way as well as learn to work in groups effectively. I will likely utilize individual tests and reports to evaluate whether each student has met the learning objectives at hand.