Troubleshooting Small Groups

Many teachers try to implement small group work in their classrooms, run into a few common roadblocks and decide the small group work is "not worth the effort," "too complicated" or something else to that effect.  On pages 92-93 of Do I Really Have to Teach Reading, Cris Tovani discusses three of the main issues teachers and students encounter when trying to implement good small group work and provides some possible solutions via a set of "norms" she discussed with the class prior to implementing her small group strategy.  It is important to note that she discussed these possible issues with the class before they happened, anticipating them so that they couldn't wreck an entire day's lesson.  "We talked about these norms as a class, tweaked a few parts, and then voted.  Everyone in the classroom had to either agree to the norms or make a suggestion to improve them" (Tovani, 92).  By making the process somewhat democratic, Tovani lifts the veil of teacher-inscrutability for her students, something she does often to get them on her side.

Tovani's first problem: "I hate being in a group without my friends" (91).  She sees this as being both a hinderance to learning (the student may spend much of the activity pouting about the groups instead of focusing on the work) and an unnecessary problem caused by the teacher.  Her solution is to "honor group requests as best I can, however... I get the final say about group composition."  In return, students are required to "tough it out and request a different group next time."  While this may seem practical, may seem like an authority figure being forced to explain simple common sense, the fact that this policy is explicit makes all the difference.  There is no whining about partnerships, just an appeal process later on.

The second problem is "I don't like being in a group in which some people slack off and don't do their share of the work."  The student response to this problem is a simple implementation of the honor system: the students are frequently made aware that refusal to do the work hurts only them.  Meanwhile, Tovani promises her students that she will not apply unfair group-grades to their group work efforts saying instead that she "will notice who is contributing and who isn't, and respond accordingly" (92).

Finally, "I don't like being in a group when I don't know what to do and no one will help me."  This is a dual pact between the students and the teachers; the students must promise to ask questions and remain engaged even when they are confused rather than falling off-task and the teacher, Tovani, pledges to "model how the group is supposed to do something.  I will also observe groups and share what is going well and what isn't working, in order to help groups run smoothly."  Teacher availability and consistant check-ins regarding the quality of the work being done in the groups are important for students to hold up their end of the bargain and remain engaged.

Small group work can be a great help in the classroom, both in terms of making difficult material clearer for students and democratizing the class so that the students have more stake in their own learning.  While these and other problems may arise, the best troubleshooting tactic is to anticipate and preemptively deal with these issues so that they don't ruin a great activity.