Designing Groupwork Chapters 1-3

Chapter 1:
If we delegate authority to students while having them do group work and we make sure to design a thought-provoking task that students cannot accomplish alone, group work can be very valuable. Students are also more engaged in the work and develop communication skills. Although group work can have many benefits, it is important to supervise groups since many problems can arise.

Last semester, I taught at a school that encouraged group work so I incorporated it into my class. If you don't choose groups well, group members may not want to work with each other or may simply talk the whole time about an unrelated subject.

Chapter 2:
Learning by discovery is a great group activity to give a class. Another benefit is that students are prepared for the adult world, learning how to make their own decisions about planning and executing a task as well as the ability to work well with others. Group work is also a great tool for differentiation.

Last semester, I grouped students in heterogeneous groups, where they were able to teach each other a bit of what each had learned in their homogeneous groups.

Chapter 3:
Just as there are many benefits of group work, there are also many problems with it such as unequal participation and unwanted domination. A few things that influence these problems are status, who starts participating first, and the task itself. Thus, it is very important to have a plan in mind when implementing group work.

When I had my students do group work and I did not assign the groups, it often did not go as well as if I had. I would strategically select people who worked well together without distracting each other.

Ethnography

Three things I learned or connected with:

1. The principal is obliged to protect the teacher from outside interference and the teachers have the right to be protected by him/her. I strongly agree that in order to be an effective teacher and an effective school, the principals must support the teachers.
2. I agree that ethnographies should answer the questions mentioned in paragraph 38 and they should back up their analysis with data. Too often, newspapers provide stories that have skewed statistics and it is important for readers to understand the truth.
   
3. In order to explain something well, we need to almost pretend as if we have never witnessed it before. This makes so much sense because if you've never seen something similar before, you'll explain in very thoroughly, but if it is very familiar, you won't.
   

Two things I disagree with or questions I have:

1. I don't agree with the statement: if you don't keep the kids quiet, the principal will give you a bad evaluation and you won't get tenure. How can teachers think this?
   
2. Paragraph 31 talks about intelligent students as well as athletes. Where do other students fit in? What about students who are academically and athletically gifted?
   

One thing I want to learn more about:

1. What questions can we ask students to get answers to the inquiry posed in paragraph 63?
   

Disrupting Class: Chapter 1

Three things I learned or connected with:

1. I knew about Gardner's Multiple Intelligence Theory, but I didn't know about his view of intelligence: the ability to solve real world problems, the ability to think of new problems to solve, and the ability to make something or offer a service that is valued in one's culture.
2. I completely agree with the statement that teachers will teach to students who are already good at the subject. I know that this is true because I have been at the receiving end with good and bad experiences.
   
3. I believe that computer programs like ALEKS do a great job differentiating. Last semester, I implemented this internet-based program with my students at High Tech High.
   

Two things I disagree with or questions I have:

1. What is an effective way to teach the same thing 6 different ways, especially if students don't have time to come for help outside of school hours?
2. Although I did use ALEKS last semester, there is a part of me that is still resistant to use completely online classes. I believe that online classes are good for some, but not the majority. They can be so unmotivating.
   

One thing I would like to learn more about:

1. I want to learn from Gardner about how to cater to different types of learners in my classroom.
   

Rethinking Schools: Chapter 1

One of the reform practices I disagree with is that all classrooms should be student centered. I can see where students should be more of a part in the classroom than simply having teacher centered classrooms, but the classrooms should be split-teacher centered and student centered. The danger with having classes completely student centered is that students would learn only what they wished to explore. While the student engagement would probably be great, the teacher is the "expert" on the material and knows how to make the content continuous. He/she knows great ways to teach the class and students, though they may think they do, don't.

There were a lot of connections between this chapter and the Second to None video. This book promises to discuss most of the topics that were discussed in the video. The curriculum chapter in the book would go with the "Creating curricular paths to success" in the video, the chapter on professional development would go with "Creating new professional roles", chapter 5 goes with "Developing powerful teaching and learning", and chapter 3 goes with providing integrated student support.

An idea from the book that I would like to investigate further is the idea of democracy in the classroom. I don't know if it would work or not and am curious on how this would be implemented into the classroom. I can see allowing students to pick projects they may want to do from a list the teacher has provided. I can also understand if a teacher gives an outline for a project, the student designs it completely, and then the teacher gives final approval. I, however, cannot envision what a traditional exam would look like in such a class. Would students write the questions for the test? Would they decide when the tests would be? How much freedom does the teacher allow the students?