Writing in Peer Groups

Groupwork.  When I did this teaching my first class, it went over like a lead balloon.  The article we read talked about the "leaderless" group and that group was the one with one student who took over and controlled everything an acted as the Napoleon, if you will, while all the other students didn't participate.

When I taught in groups the first time, after reading this, I discovered why it wasn't successful: I was the Napoleon!

Groupwork works, it just needs to be lead well, and I didn't do a good job of that.  Why?  Because I micromanaged.  I got caught up in wanting it to go perfectly that I began to control each group, not allowing them to develop their own style.  This stifled the entire room.

In wanting to be laid-back at first, I allowed students to choose their own groups - after this class hearing from peers, I understand this now as a mistake.  Then, after being so-called laid-back, once the groups started working, I managed instead of encouraged or lead.

So, what will I do in the future?  Choose the groups, sometimes assign just two to a group, allow for anyone in the group to speak on behalf of the group and have everyone and every group discuss all the questions; not just assign one question to a group.

And allow for creativity and individuality.

Multimodal

Positive Reinforcement

Multi-Cultural Student Perspectives

Video Blog on articles presented in class.

One of the most remarkable things happened in class today.  I made an assumption about a student and it led to ridiculousness on my part.

We were to grade a paper.  As a class, we gave our grades and I learned I have a pretty good assessment of grading papers, as I gave the grade a 'C+' which is what the majority of the class did, too.  However, because of the way it was written and because of my own experience, I assumed the age and class of the student, thinking only of my own personal experience and jumped to all kinds of conclusions.

Granted, if I saw the student, I could better assess their age.  However, just them speaking in class and handing in work does not make me the expert on their story and current situation.  I learned a great deal from this exercise, as I believe compassion is the utmost important thing in a teacher/student relationship.  If there is not compassion, there is no transmission of truth.  Trust will be broken and I believe most students will shutdown to an instructor without compassion and just work to please; not to learn, as they walk on eggshells.

It's important for me to know my students and not make assumptions based on their work.  Although I made a mistake in class, I learned a powerful lesson and I know in my mistakes is where I gain the most.

In class after our classroom observation reports were due, we had an interesting conversation and it was great to hear everyone's input from their experiences.  Not only did I come away with more confidence in my assessment of the instructor I observed, as other classmates had similar observations, but also I gained a feeling of camaraderie with others, as we were learning together and sharing insights, asking each other questions about those insights.  Even the most learned and experienced student in class was awed by an instructor and learned, thus reinforcing Professor Gleason's comment about learning in any observation from any instructor no matter how many years of experience one has - this was truly eye-opening.