Chapter 7- Group Work That Grows Understanding

"Cirriculum is often thought of as a set of specific knowledge, skills or books to be covered.  I propose instead that we think of cirriculum as a set of important conversations that we want students to engage in," (Arthur Applebee, pg. 89).
     Tovani begins this chapter by stating how well her students work in groups.  All of the students are discussing as they should, asking questions about the reading for their historical topic, and taking notes on their posters for their work.  However, group work and discussions were not always this easy for Tovani.  Tovani says, "There is an art to discussion," (pg. 90).  Students need to know what they are doing right and they need timely feedback to continue working the right way. 
     Content teachers get frustrated and do not know how they will teach their content and reading to their students when their classes are full of thirty or more students.  The answer here is small groups.  Tovani did a lot of research when it came to small groups and discussions.  She observed teachers who had "fool proof" plans in discussions and she wanted to mke sure she would not have to control and babysit every discussion taking place.  Tovani wanted to be able to walk around the room and see all groups discussing, working together, and staying on task.  She found the way to do this is to set norms.  These norms need to be agreed on not only by the teacher, but by the students as well.  She asked students what they enjoyed least about working in groups.  From this point, she made the norms and actions and had the students agree or disagree with them.  If the students disagree, they had to fix the norms to where everyone would agree. 
     After norms were set, Tovani needed to model what she wanted to see in the small group discussions.  She uses a fishbowl technique in where she will model what she wants to see in the small groups and the students will take notes to help them understand what is expected.  She asked her good friend and author Chryse to help her demonstrate.  Chryse models what a good student in a small group will act like and Tovani models what a bad student would act like in a discussion.  As they act out this situation, the students are taking notes on a paper given to them to separate good ideas from bad ideas and actions. 
     Once students know what to expect, they need time to practice.  "Group discussions give students an opportunity to rehearse and construct connections before they sit down to that daunting blank screen or piece of paper," (pg.93).  I can relate to this comment especially with the class we are in now.  I feel like without discussing the text in our small groups, I would be completely lost at times.  It helps to bounce ideas off one another.  Tovani makes sure that the students ideas are being recorded from the discussion either through a sticky note technique or through a more sophisticated worksheet.  She notices that by walking around and giving her students positive feedback, they strive to do better and engage in more sophisticated behaviors.
     Tovani wants to send the message that working with others is very important.  "Small groups also give more students a chance to participate in a way tha they wouldn't do in large groups," (pg. 98).  I personally do not like group work at all, but when you have something you are passionate about to discuss and work with others who are passionate about the same thing, it makes it much better!

So... Here is what works:

• MODEL for your students how to discuss.
• Give students SPECIFIC and POSITIVE feedback.
• Use INTERESTING texts for discussions.
• ANTICIPATE trouble spots.