Third Week

This class benefits from group work because the groups are led by a teacher who maintains the direction of the conversation. There is no worry that the content of the group work will be dominated by what you did over the weekend? As one teacher, however, it is difficult to maintain that same focus when assigning group work in a class of 27 students . Even if the teacher monitors the activity, there are always intervals when she is not and when the students can shift away from the activity given.

Now if the students are not familiar with each other, I think it is easier for them to keep on track, but when they know each other and it is a small group, then it is easier to get sidetracked. In a big class, if group work is introduced at the beginning of the semester, there will probably be in every group people who you are not familiar with and so though having a friend might distract you if you were working with just him, being part of this bigger group will keep the conversation on the assignment. As the semester continues, the students become more familiar with each other, but by that time they should have established the group activity as one focused on the assignment and not an opportunity to converse about things outside of class.

I still prefer having teachers leading the groups. It ensures that the activity will be followed through. But if you do not have the luxury of added teachers in the classroom, group work can be done if a group culture is established that is concerned with completing the work. And that can be done by making students understand that the groups will be asked to present to the class after they have finished.