Reading Reflection 3 - Groupwork ch. 1-3

The power of group work as a strategy is that it provides multiple tiers in which students hone life skills and cover standards at the same time. Through the myriad group work scenarios students practice speech, reading, debate, acceptable failure, group skills, analysis, synthesis, independence from authority and dependence on the power of a group. All these skills in 1 tool make a compelling case against the sole use of traditional classroom settings which emphasize quiet compliance.

When wielded properly, group work veers away from simple recitation of facts and random bits of knowledge. It lends itself to designing lessons that require conceptual learning because it demands thinking, discussion, and intellectual discourse. While honing higher level thinking skills, group work also embraces the whole spectrum of learning styles. Students who otherwise would get lost in directions given from center stage have an arena where they can read them, hear them, touch them and see them modeled and repeated. At my last school each time we did group work the CELDTs who were at 2 or 3 benefited from having a classmate fluidly translate a couple words which ultimately opened up the entire lesson for them.

Group work is definitely not a panacea for all classroom situations. It has its traps and needs to be thoughtfully implemented. The danger is that the emergent boss, recluse, social butterfly and know-it-all will surface in a group of 4 in a matter of seconds if the parameters are not clearly defined. Proper planning and stressing group accountability is away to avoid these character types.

Cohen stresses that the advanced reader is often a coveted and revered member of the group. I think that as we go deeper into the digital era, those who have the cognitive, analytical and logical girth to be computer gurus or computational whizzes are the ones who emerge as the super hero.