Designing Groupwork Chapters 1-3

Chapter 1 of Designing Groupwork, by Elizabeth Cohen, discusses the power of groupwork. "If a teacher wants to produce active learning, then groupwork, properly designed, is a powerful tool for providing simultaneous opportunities for all class members" states Cohen. This chapter also discusses how groups are set up and what implications this has on the structure of the group. If students truly have the authority in their groups, then they will take over, and delegate the authority for themselves. If the teacher is the one hold the authority, it is likely that the students will always look to the teacher for authority.
I have seen an example of this in our education classes. In one of our classes, a teacher had us participate in a socratic seminar. The professor places themselves in the circle, near the front of the classroom. In addition, the professor would often times redirect the conversation and take control of asking questions. The result was that everyone in the group looked at the professor when they spoke, and seemed to look to her for confirmation for the points they were making.

Chapter 2 gives concrete reasoning for why groupwork should be used in the classroom. An example they give is Geraldo. Through groupwork, Geraldo is able to make mistakes and learn from his peers. If he had been given verbal or written instructions from a teacher, he most likely would have shut down because of his language needs. The structure of the group allowed him to figure out for himself what he needs to do to complete his work. This gives him more confidence and will help him remember what he learned far better.

Chapter 3 discusses the hierarchies that often form in classroom groups. This is a common problem found in the implementation of groupwork. This can lead to issues such as low students learning less, high performing students' continual domination, and social behavior issues. The point of this chapter is to highlight one of the many issues surrounding groupwork.

Chapter 1 Reading Reflection

One thing that really stuck out to me in this chapter was how resistant secondary education is to change. The author has this to say, "Of course, all this resistance to chagne is neither accidental nor perverse. In a sense, schools are designed to be conservative institutions. One of the main functions of education is to transmit the core traditions of a culture to its children" (20). This statement rings true. If you really want to change a culture or a society, you have to invade the schools and change what is being taught to the children. Think back to the American Indians. Children were taken from their families and put in schools where they were taught to assimilate into the white culture. So then, is it because of our culture that schools are so unwilling to accept change? What is implied by this statement? Are our schools here to educate our children, or to teach them a specific culture? What I would like to know is why was the current education system established. My parents believe that education used to be very successful, and feel that in current times, it is now failing. They think that education has changed greatly from when they were in school.

One thing that the author said, that I did not really agree with was that he claimed that drop out rates were slowly lowering and that graduation rates were increasing. He did not site any sources or studies to back what he was claiming. From everything that I have read, it seems that there is little change in this area.

I would like to spend more time this semester, learning about the 11 key ingredients that this book claims makes a good high school.