Group work pt II

So how does a Math Rules! volunteer manage a small group effectively? I found an article online that is pretty dense in content, and doesn't even address group work in schools. I still thought that many of the main ideas apply to working with a small group of elementary school students. The Personal Functions section is especially nice to note. The Managing conflict, Stopping conflict escalation, and Disruptive Behaviors sections are important for volunteers who have been having a grand ol' time trying to manage their small groups.


This article called Promoting Problem-Solving Skills in Elementary Mathematics is also quite useful for managing and provides best approaches to math group work. I have seen the teachers I work with use the Problem of the Day and Whole Group Learning techniques as the group lesson for the students and also for me to guide the group work afterwards. My teacher would write a problem on a flip chart, ask the students to copy down the problem in their notebooks and then to solve it. Afterwards, she asks for volunteers to explain what they got and how they got there. Directly from the article, the big group lesson for the day allows students to:

o identify the parts in the question
o find the best problem-solving strategy and explain why it is the best
o describe two different ways a problem could have been solved
o share student-generated questions
o ask other students to solve the problem and justify their answers

These skills and approaches to teaching are also useful in small groups. The article outlines that students benefit from being in mixed-ability groups (to encourage less motivated/focused/confident students to work with and learn from the more motivated/focused/confident students) as well as similar ability groups. Hopefully, Math Rules! groups are more similar ability small groups. I've also mentioned before on this blog that even in "similar ability" groups there is a lot of variation in specific abilities.


.

Group work pt I

Before coming to Boston Partners in Education and becoming a Math Rules! volunteer, I had never worked with and helped tutor a small group of students on math before. My personal experience with math in elementary school and higher was doing individual math homework and discussing problems in class. I rarely worked with another student on class problems except in fifth grade. I was given an "advanced" math book and told to work with my good friend on the advanced math. I somehow got ahead of her on the homework, and ended up working mostly by myself with the occasional group work when helping my friend.

That ends my experiences with math group work. In other subjects, I dreaded group work. Group projects usually meant I would end up doing a significant portion of the work while other groups members slack off and still get credit for the work I did. I would later learn that this is called social loafing and happens in all kinds of group work activities. I think the main problem with group work is that teachers don't manage the small groups well enough. It's one thing to put students in a small group, but another to make sure all groups and individuals are contributing equally.


Math Rules! provides more structure to small groups, with an academic mentor, the group isn't supposed to exhibit social loafing. The way that Math Rules! is set up builds off the Investigations curriculum that Boston Public Schools uses for elementary schools. I honestly didn't know what Investigations was until I went to Math Rules! training. Even then, it wasn't until I started volunteering in an actual classroom to understand how the curriculum works. Investigations is a different approach to math education with more focus on the multiple approaches and perspectives to a math problem. Showing and explaining your process is more important than the final answer itself. The Investigations curriculum also encourages and works best in small group situations, where students work together to come up with possible solutions for a problem.

Many studies have shown that small group work is ideal for students. Although I couldn't get the full article, this study summarizes that "pupils in the fifth grade produced superior answers on questions requiring original contributions" and that group work creates "classroom conditions that foster positive social interaction and productive intellectual activity." The article also notes that small groups allow students to develop "investigation and problem-solving [skills], with pupils cooperating in seeking and interpreting knowledge from a variety of sources." On top of it all, this study was done over 30 years ago. Other studies and many years of research have shown that group work is most beneficial for students in a variety of subjects and across age groups. "Group work also helps students practice essential social, problem solving and communication skills needed for success in the workplace." Students who never get a chance to work with other students face difficulties in the future jobs that more often than not require working in groups and teams.

.

Catching up

Hi there, I've been working on the logistics of the blog. I'm trying to get it cleaned up and ready to be put up for people to actually comment and give input.

Last Wednesday I went to two of my schools and worked with small groups again. I got a first hand experience of frustration and another experience of groups not working well together.

At my first school, small groups were reviewing for a quiz by doing Jeopardy-style team work problems on regular polygons. At first it was hard to insert myself into a group and assume that the kids knew what they were doing, but I found myself giving small hints that would prompt them along. Some of the groups responded well to my hints and I even challenged a group's answer. Asking them to clarify the question helped them see if their answer was right or wrong. The question was similar to: "Draw a quadrilateral that has four right angles." Asking the group "What's a right angle?" and "What has to happen with the lines for an angle to be a right angle?" are leading questions I asked them.

One group didn't work as well together as a group because none of the students were listening to each other. I tried to get them to listen to each other, but as the game progressed this group got more and more frustrated they weren't getting the right answers. It was certainly tough to convince them they just needed to keep trying and to work more as a team to get points. I tried positive reinforcement "You guys got this, you were close last time, just keep trying" but when it was time for me to leave, the group was still struggling.

Like I've said before, some competition is healthy for students to have something to work towards, but often, I wonder if competition is detrimental to learning.


At my second school, I was working with my small group of kids. We started off well, I asked them how things were going or if they had a good story to share. We jumped into unit reviews of multiplication and division. Some of the questions asked to show work for two approaches to the same problem. For example: "Solve two ways: 35 x 27"

Not being raised on different approaches to multiplication or division (long form was all I was taught) I had to rely on the students to help each other. Some of the students started with a box method that I suggested to the others, and I walked through long form multiplication and division for the kids. I would also like to argue that estimation is a valid solution for division.

One of my kids got really frustrated with a second solution for a division problem and shut down. I felt really bad that I couldn't get him to refocus on his work. I suggested he skip the problem and continue on to the next problem, but it took a quick word from his teacher to snap him out of it.

If anyone's reading this later on: suggestions?

1st week

After emailing the Math Rules! volunteers, I've gotten a few responses on how the first few sessions/first week went. Most of the responses I've gotten were positive, things going as smoothly as first days go. Many of our volunteers will be starting this current week so I can put up more responses of 1st sessions next week.

One of our volunteers did have a question about keeping students focused in their session. Here are excerpts from my reply. Please keep in mind I'm not a professional tutor/educator and only offered advice based on my previous tutoring experiences.
--------------
"Keeping kids focused is definitely a big part of the volunteer experience. I have found that a little bit of competition is healthy to keep them focused. And if competition is not quite what you're looking for, you can ask them to help each other out. For example, "Mary could you help Joe put his shapes together?" You could also try refocusing the entire group together, "Let's all look at Annie's tetromino."

The great thing about the math curriculum now is that it focuses on group work and building off other students' ideas to help them with their work. Make sure you ask open ended questions that build off of the previous one. I've learned that these questions are called spiraling questions that start off with very basic questions that make sure everyone is on the same page. Sometimes these basic questions may frustrate more advanced students, but math terminology is important to understanding math concepts.

I think that it takes some time for [the tutor] to understand how best to motivate your kids. It also depends on their personalities quite a bit. It's hard to prepare everyone for real-world volunteering during [Math Rules!] training. If focusing becomes a bigger problem throughout the year, I would ask your teachers for ideas and suggestions."