This book is really helpful in demystifying the process of groupwork and ways to model it to students. I would like to focus on Chapter 4, which talks about evaluation and how to design tasks where all students will be engaged and learn. Cohen emphasizes that the process of learning is more important than the product of groupwork itself, and that we must be careful in how we assess students when they participate in group activities. If there really is a danger of social hierarchies being re-created and reinforced in group work, than design and evaluation will be critical in creating an even "learning field."
Cohen makes keen observations and suggestions--so far I agree with most of what she says. But the problem is the implementation. How much is easier said than done? How are we as novice teachers supposed to develop a rich store of complex activities made to keep everyone engaged and learning and equal? At my school site, San Dieguito Academy, one of my cooperating teachers embraces Cohen's principles wholeheartedly. Her group activities are very engaging, diverse, and effective. But my CT is a unique force of nature who can figure out these amazing activities while driving in her car on the way to work. There's no way I could model or lead activities to the same degree she does. My own foundation and teaching infrastructure just isn't there yet. Then there is the fact that this all requires a tectonic shift in thinking. We are doing this on the job, in the air, and with no guarantee that the activities will even work! I am undergoing some major growing pains as I try to not to focus on the outcome, since I was raised focused on nothing but that in many ways. As Cohen says, it does mean making some allowances for what progress and learning look like. It's not just a grade or a score or a "you got it! ding ding ding" sensation. It may be more subtle than that. The one who will really know is the student. So how do you evaluate learning, if you can't evaluate the product? I suppose it means we will just wind up assessing the process more than the product. As the Taoists say, "the journey is the reward."
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In this case, I would say it is not easier said than done. The success with which Cohen communicates all this is after 25 years of studying group interactions in classrooms ;)
ReplyDeleteAs you read further, you will see that developing the activity is only one small part of designing groupwork. A much greater emphasis must be on the role of the teacher. Our discussion and a video on Monday will bring this out, I believe.
I appreciate your reflections. I hope you find the journey to be worth the reward. It is a difficult thing, as an adult, to take on a new task that we are not good at, and to be patient as we get better. You too will become a force of nature, you will be like water--as a Taoist would say. ;)