Some Hints for Collaborative Grouping

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1. Be clear to yourself and your students about why you are using collaborative groups as a teaching technique in a particular session. What is the goal or objective? How does grouping accomplish this effectively?

2. Sometimes you’ll have to force students to arrange themselves properly. Often they’ll talk over their shoulder to each other, and you must tell them to move into more suitable positions.

3. Give your students some time to get to know each other, especially if the members haven’t worked with each other before.

4. Vary the members of the groups when it is appropriate. Always allowing the same students to form the same groups may lead to problems and defeat one of the purposes of collaboration, which is to continue to get the class members to take responsibility under different circumstances.

5. Be as specific as possible, before the groups form themselves, about what you want them to do. Listing, writing and so forth, are good things to ask them to do the first few times they group.

6. Assign or have each group assign itself a member to act as a recorder and reporter for the group’s responses and ideas when this is appropriate.

7. Disagreement between groups and even within groups is healthy and can stimulate discussion. Don’t stop disagreement as soon as it starts.

8. What can you do during collaboration work? Move from group to group, adding to or listening to the discussion. This can be important, for when the groups report to the class you will have had a chance to hear their ideas and can lead the discussion by calling on various groups at appropriate times. It also gives you a chance to be sure the groups are working in the right way.

9. Follow through. One purpose of grouping is to return to a classroom format and begin a discussion or get responses from each group. Remember, though, that some collaborative work is not shared with the whole class.

10. Timing is important. Know ahead of time how many minutes you want the groups to be working, and always leave plenty of time for discussion at the end of the class. Try not to give the groups too much or too little time; determine how much time they’ll need on the basis of the task you are having them do.

11. It helps to write directions on the board or give a handout listing specific questions or things the groups are to consider.