heart of heartlands lessons

Cacophony. Clutter. Chaos. Question marks seem to visibly float above the head of pupils. The atmosphere could not be more dense with confusion. One student is energetic and bubbling with ideas, eager to have them penned upon the A3 sheet provided. Another student is more concerned about when it is lunch time and continues to rock on his chair, wondering how much he can tempt gravity. Then there is the teacher, whose instructions, whilst worthwhile and relevant, enter into an abyss and have no effect. This, in the minds of some, is group work.

You might be thinking ‘Why open your post with a scenario that counters the pedagogy you are about to discuss/espouse?’

My response to such is that I believe, as educators, we all have the great responsibility of equipping our pupils with the cultural capital that will aid them to engaging with a rich tapestry of cultural concepts, therefore providing ample opportunity for them to refine their critical lenses and create their own judgements about the world they inhabit. This starts with us; we as teachers ought to be doing the same. However, in the time I have been teaching, I have noticed that it is all too easy to pick the research that is palatable, the research that fits in all too nicely with the ideas or initiatives we are planning to implement. Then we are left tunnel-visioned, missing the chance to view a broader and more enriching landscape.

So to avoid such tunnel vision, I will list below some criticisms of group work within the classroom.

• Some members may rely too heavily on others to do the work.
• One individual may dominate the discussion.
• Being a good team player is not something that group work necessarily teaches you.
• Lack of direct instruction which pupils need to thrive
• Stifles intellectual thought - majority opinions are adhered to whereas outlying ideas, which may be more conceptual, are disregarded.

This then caused me to reflect on how I could create a group work model that would be free (in as much as possible) from the criticisms aforementioned and help my learners make desired progress. Given that this was especially for Focused Improvement Time (FIT - lessons at Heartlands High School in which pupils have the opportunity to celebrate strengths in their writing and acutely target their areas of development) with my Year 11 class, I realised that I had to first consider the ‘why’ and decide upon key principles for group work. They were as follows:

Plan - What will each individual be expected to do? How will you hold them to account and ensure they opt in?

Assign - Who will be completing which task? Why? How might you differentiate tasks to ensure that they are accessible to all?

Assess - How well have pupils been able to fulfil their roles? How are you will you be able to measure this? What are the areas for development moving forward?

Once decided upon these principles, I was then able to create roles (I make no apologies for the forced alliteration) for my Year 11s when it came to improving their essay writing for their English Literature GCSE:

Person A - Successful Scribe

Responsible for writing the new group answer.

Person B - Sophistication Specialist

Deciding on the new vocabulary and analytical phrases that will be included in the essay.

Person C - Careful Corrector

Responsible for compiling the previous EBIs of individuals within the group and ensuring that these are targeted and not repeated.

Person D - Progress Presenter

Responsible for writing up a brief Progress Report, which documents how the essay post-FIT differs to the essay pre-FIT.

Additionally, to ensure that my pupils were accountable for the work produced, I provided them with job descriptions so they were without excuse as to how to best execute their role.

What I was able to gain from implementing this model was that I could have meaningful conversations with each member of the group. The Careful Corrector was not expected to be the spokesperson for the Sophistication Specialist and vice versa. Nonetheless, pupils were able to recognise their significance to a greater whole, ensuring that they despite their individual titles. Moving forward, there is still certainly work to do in terms of differentiation and ensuring that the person who fulfils the role of Progress Presenter has a helpful proforma to aid them in doing such. Thankfully, a colleague of mine was able to build on this area of development by providing guiding questions:

Individual Progress Report

1. How is the work that you produced different today?
2. What steps did you take to make those changes?
3. What could you continue to do next time?
4. What could you change next time in order to continue improving?

I hope you are able to apply this in your own subject areas and that rather than your classroom portraying the vignette at the beginning of this post, it will be the opposite!