Next Monday I am leading a whole staff INSET on collaborative learning. This blog is really about me getting my ideas together for the introductory session which will set out the case for collaborative learning.
I may as well set my cards out on the table right at the start. I am a fan of collaborative learning. I use it virtually every lesson with every year group and have done for as long as I can remember. To me it is one of the basic ingredients of every lesson plan and is my default setting for all student activities. Organising an INSET day on collaborative learning has been really useful to me because it has made me stop and think about what it is and why I use it - and to question whether just because I do it does that mean it was the right strategy?
Let's get the definition bit out of the way first. I prefer the title "collaborative learning" over "group work" simply because group work to me implies at least 3 students working together. Collaborative learning, I believe, is when students work with at least 1 other person to develop their own learning - it is pairs, threes, fours, fives sixes, tens, half a class or even a whole class. What is a whole class if it isn't just a big group?
I believe the benefits of collaborative learning are huge. I want the students in my classroom to do far more work than me. Me leading from the front of the classroom can be a very passive process - any form of collaborative learning puts the emphasis on them doing something. I have always felt that students are far more likely to remember a lesson in which they were positively engaged and active; in which they said and did something. Collaborative learning increases the chances of them doing something and therefore remembering it - the point of the lesson. (I speak from personal experience - I can remember most of the meetings in which I have said something: there are hundreds in which I was passive, they washed over me whilst I waited for them to end). Often I will follow up any short input from me with a collaborative task which is aimed at allowing students to process what I have just said and check that they actually understood it.
Despite learning styles going out of fashion with some people, I still like it and believe in it. Auditory learners benefit enormously from collaborative learning as it gives them an opportunity to think out loud and hear their own ideas - an important step in their process of understanding and learning. Almost every teacher I have ever met has known that teaching something is the best way of learning it - collaborative learning gives our students a way to experience that.
Some people have said that they haven't got time to do collaborative learning because there is too much content to get through. Personally I have always found that I can get through more content this way - particularly some of the dull stuff (I know that may come as a bit of a shock to find out that even history has some dull bits in it - League of Nations still makes my heart sink every year). Collaborative activities like Home and Away groups, Market Place and World Cafe (my 3 go-to collaborative activities) allow you to get through far more content because groups of students research different aspects and feedback to other students. They sort out the key bits of information for you.
In my new role as an Assistant Headteacher for Teaching and Learning I find that I now do a lot more lesson observations. Collaborative learning is great from an observer's point of view because it gives me an opportunity to actually talk to kids. I can talk to small groups without interrupting or distracting the teacher, ask about targets and previous lessons and have a quick look through books. Any teacher who is looking to get outstanding on a lesson observation will want the observer to talk to the kids - collaborative learning lets this happen. It also makes it much easier for the teacher to show differentiation and how much progress students have made - again key criteria for getting that "Outstanding" tick.
Fear about behaviour management often comes up as one of the main reasons some teachers have for not using collaborative learning. Again I have always used it as a behaviour management tool. Splitting students up into small groups makes it easier to identify who is actually misbehaving. Often I will move students into groups simply to break up 1 group of students without a confrontation. It also makes it a lot easier to have a quiet word of warning with some and encouragement with others.
I believe that as teachers we have a duty to develop our students' skills in collaborative learning - they will need to be able to do this in the future. Even with new technology most careers require us to be able to collaborate with other people and know how to share ideas and improve them. Personally I think that many of us secondary school teachers are the weak link in this process. As an AST I had the pleasure of going into a lot of primary school classrooms and in almost all of them collaborative learning was the norm. It was deeply entrenched in the day-to-day routine of the students and they are highly skilled at it - a huge compliment to their teachers who have put in hours of groundwork to develop this. For many students arriving in Year 7 we send some strange messages about how we expect 'older, more mature' students to work and behave. We put them in rows (do any primary school classrooms work in rows?) and have them facing us - are we not sending a huge message that they have grown out of group work? That's what they did when they were little. I know I am generalising here but I wonder if there is some truth to this. Year 7 students are very keen to fit in with their new school, new environments and new friends - many of them seem to forget how they worked so successfully in Year 6. But I suspect many secondary school teachers encourage them, perhaps unconsciously, to forget. I have heard some teachers at my school say that some of our students lack the social skills to do group work. I don't believe that is true. I have used collaborative learning since my 1st day at the school in September and haven't had to do anything special with the students. They have worked in groups as well as any students I have worked with - even ones I have 'trained'. And if it is true that some of our students lack the social skills - they are never going to develop those skills by not working on groups.
The key to successful collaborative learning for me is to be clear and specific about what is happening. I always select the groups - sometimes by random numbering, sometimes by subtle ability groups. I always make it extremely clear what the task is that the group has to do and what role(s) each member of the group has. I make sure that there is something for everyone in the group to do. I make it clear how long they have to complete the task. I move around every group quickly in the first few minutes to check everyone knows what they are doing. I stop them all to check progress or give new instructions. I randomise feedback so everyone in the group has the responsibility of representing the group. Collaborative learning might mean they are doing the work - but it is also the time when I am busiest.
There are of course times when collaborative learning is not appropriate. I am equally in favour of students becoming independent learners - in fact I believe the two states are fundamentally linked. A good independent learner knows the value of collaboration. Almost all collaborative tasks begin with a minute or 2 of independent work so that every students has at least 1 thing to contribute - otherwise the loudest student tends to dominate. I often end collaborative learning tasks with individual time so that students have the opportunity to make their own sense of what they have just done. To me collaborative learning and independent learning are part of the same process.
So those are my thoughts on collaborative learning. I have to say I am looking forward to Monday's INSET because I am hoping to pick up some new ideas from other staff for group work. Although I use collaborative learning a lot I do have a stock 3-4 strategies that I probably over-use. I am also nervous about it - I know there will be some resistance and not every one will like how I have set out the day. I do aim to make the sessions as active as possible and to smuggle as many collaborative activities in as I can - and I have ordered some nice pastries for break time. Now it's time to finish off the resources and PowerPoints - I think I have at least worked out my own thinking on collaborative learning. I will let you know how it goes.
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