Groupwork in Diverse Classrooms

by Shulman, Judith H.; Lotan, Rachel A.; Whitcomb, Jennifer A.; Darling-Hammond, Linda

• ISBN13: 9780807737019
• ISBN10: 0807737011
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-01-01
• Publisher: Teachers College Pr

Summary

This dynamic text addresses such crucial issues as: Using groupwork effectively; Designing groupwork tasks; Assessing group activities; Deciding when and how to intervene; Crafting groups that support learning for all students; Dealing with uncooperative students and status problems; Communicating with parents.

Table of Contents

FOREWORD	vii	(2)
Linda Darling-Hammond
PREFACE	ix	(3)
Table 1: Overview of Issues Across Cases	xii	(1)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	xiii
INTRODUCTION: GROUPWORK IN DIVERSE CLASSROOMS	1	(10)
CHAPTER 1: CONCEPTIONS OF TEACHING AND LEARNING	11	(26)
Case 1: When Do You Intervene? A fifth grade teacher finds it difficult to intervene constructively during jigsaw presentations by students	13	(4)
Case 2: Groupwork? Rats! While trying to expand her students' concept of learning, an elementary school teacher is surprised to discover that her students think they learn more from traditional reading and question-and-answer tasks than from hands-on activities	17	(4)
Case 3: Poor Period 3! An eighth grade social studies teacher explores whether groupwork is appropriate for a class that both is difficult to manage and has a disproportionate number of emotionally needy students	21	(4)
Case 4: Do You Let Kids Fail? A high school chemistry teacher encounters problems when one group refuses to work productively and fails to develop its final presentation	25	(6)
Case 5: Exploring Alternative Assessment After discovering that her students did no better on the traditional test than previous classes had, this teacher explores alternative modes of assessment that more closely link the assessment to her nontraditional instruction	31	(6)
CHAPTER 2: FACILITATING GROUPWORK INTERACTIONS	37	(44)
A. Individuals and Groups	39	(22)
Case 6: Struggles With the Dynamics of Grouping A second grade teacher shares her dilemmas and celebrations as she tries to create supportive groups for a student learning English	39	(6)
Case 7: Puzzles of a Well-Crafted Group Despite careful efforts to craft a supportive group for an unusual student, a high school English teacher encounters several surprises	45	(4)
Case 8: My Struggle With Sharon An eighth grade language arts teacher questions how she handled a difficult student who tried to sabotage her small group's activities	49	(4)
Case 9: To Be, or "Not" Two students who do not get along well find themselves in the same group and cause problems for other group members and this eighth grade science teacher	53	(4)
Case 10: Confronting One Group's Inertia A high school English teacher is confronted with a dysfunctional group that fails to make a final presentation; she wonders how this experience might affect the boys involved and what the class could learn from it	57	(4)
B. Low-Status Students	61	(12)
Case 11: Silences: The Case of the Invisible Boy A middle school teacher uses new groupwork techniques to help a low-achieving boy, but finds it much more complicated than she had anticipated	61	(4)
Case 12: Learning to Listen to Robert A fifth grade teacher explores her belief that low-status children can drive classroom conversations in new and exciting ways	65	(4)
Case 13: The Chance I Had Been Waiting For Surprised when cooperative learning does not help one newly arrived immigrant student, this bilingual teacher struggles to find an opportunity to identify his strengths and show his peers that he is competent
C. Interactions With Parents and Colleagues	73	(8)
Case 14: An Extra Audience of Critics: Handling a Parent's Response An intern high school teacher is intimidated when a parent disapproves of a cooperative learning assignment that encourages the development of multiple intellectual abilities	73	(4)
Case 15: Walking the Talk: Cooperative Learning for Teachers An intern teacher, knowledgeable about effective groupwork strategies, is frustrated at an in-service seminar when members of his group have difficulty working together	77	(4)
CHAPTER 3: ONE TEACHER'S ODYSSEY	81	(10)
Case 16: We're All in This Together A middle school core (language arts and social studies) teacher portrays her year-long struggle to incorporate the groupwork strategies she learned the previous summer	83	(8)
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY ON GROUPWORK	91	(10)
APPENDIX: GUIDELINES FOR WRITING CASES	101	(4)
ABOUT THE EDITORS	105