Chapter 4: Ensuring
Individual and Group Accountability
Chapter 4 takes us on a journey of what is required from
each member of the group when doing PGW.
The word accountability is equal with responsibility, and is important
that we create opportunities for all students to be responsible in PGW. There are two levels to PGW: individual accountability and group accountability. “Regardless of the rigor or duration of the
collaborative learning task, each student needs to clearly understand his or
her individual role as well as what the group is expected to produce or
accomplish” (52).
The authors provide 6 ways for building accountability into
each task:
1.
Tasks
should be designed to focus on larger learning goals.
2.
Students should have time to practice with small
tasks before expecting them to complete longer projects.
3.
Timelines should be created for individual work
and group work due dates.
4.
Conferences should be scheduled DURING the
projects to give feedback to individual and group progress.
5.
Students should evaluate themselves and the
efforts of their group work.
6.
When grading, make sure to factor in individual
work and the overall group project.
One way that teachers can ensure work distribution is to
create roles for students when working in productive groups. The most important thing to remember when
doing this though is that students should have practice with these roles before
being thrown into them. Table tents are
an easy way to keep students focused on the learning task, instead of worrying
about what they are supposed to contribute.
I know that during data teams, it is nice to have my responsibilities in
front of me so I can be reminded of what I need to complete. Expectations and setting up routines ahead of
time can help maximize the learning.
Checklists, timelines, and rubrics are good ideas for teachers to have
in place when planning PGW. They can
help guide students in participation, interaction, and providing specific
feedback to each other.
Two specific ways that teachers can give feedback to
students is through observations and conferencing. There are two forms on pages 56 and 57 that
could be useful for teachers but I personally do not think it needs to always
be that detailed. I like the quote on
page 55, “Recording kidwatching observations can be as simple as using a
clipboard with sticky notes in order to jot quick comments about a student’s
participation in group work” (55).
Conferencing can and should be done with individual students and also in
groups. The most important thing I took
from this is that it should be done during the projects, not afterwards.
To end the chapter, the authors give us four different
routines that can help ensure individual and group accountability:
1.
Numbered Heads:
This strategy is already on our blue cards, but are teachers using it?
2.
Collaboratively Constructed Products: Becky and I tried this last year, and I am
skeptical because students can technically do their own part with their marker,
but the conversation piece can be forgotten.
Ideas on how we can include the rich conversations?
3.
Progressive Writing: This is an interesting idea, and was
wondering if anyone has tried it in their classroom?
4.
Writing Frames:
The READ 180 curriculum uses writing frames (sentence starters). Do other subjects/teachers use writing frame
in their classes?
Sorry. I don't know why it posted like this. It didn't look like this when I previewed it. :(
ReplyDeleteI think accountability is the part of PGW that students dread the most. It seems that almost all students have had some bad experience with PGW and accountability. I think the suggestions of setting expectations, giving feedback, observation and conferencing can help us to guide students toward working productively. I think for our staff to truly do this – they need to be coached. I think mostly PGW become controlling behaviors. I think if teachers focus on academics during this time, the students will too!
ReplyDeleteI thought the progressive writing strategy was interesting. Could this be something to try at a staff meeting? But I was a little confused – what do the students who are NOT writing do? Can anyone clarify? As Amanda mentioned, Numbered Heads is a READ 180 strategy. (Also – isn’t it on our blue cards?) I really like this strategy because every student needs to be ready to present to the large group. The only problem I’ve had with it is students switching numbers. So I would suggest assigning numbers instead of letting them number off.
I am glad that Amanda mentioned that, 'The word accountability is equal with responsibility.' I have always associated responsibility with discipline, which I think is, unfortunately, a word that is associated with negative connotations. Accountability, discipline, and responsibility are all three synonymous with one another. When I think of these words, I think of one of my favorite John Wooden quotes, “Discipline yourself so that no one else has to.” I always translated this as saying, do what it is that you are supposed to be doing and you will not have to worry about anyone punishing you.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to the six ways to build accountability into PGW that Amanda mentioned, I think that number two directly relates to what we hope our teachers are doing with the ‘I do’ and ‘We do’ portions of our lesson plan. Number five is very similar to self-reporting of grades, which I believe is the number one things that Hattie mentions to increase student achievement. I think that this would be a good area to attempt to strengthen what we are doing.
Throughout the reading of this book, I think the idea of running PGW kind of like a data team is very appealing. I think that establishing roles for PGW that are across the board throughout the school would really help increase students’ familiarity with these roles. Furthermore, I think that reviewing (student created) norms at the beginning and assessing themselves and the group at the end of PGW would also be very beneficial.
I REALLY like the progressive writing activity. I believe that if, for example, you have a group of four students they all start by creating a piece of (assigned) writing for five minutes. Then after the initial five minutes, every student passes their paper to the person to their right (or in whatever pattern works with how you have the students arranged). This process repeats until all four students have written a portion of all four papers. Does this make sense? Maybe someone else can help me better clarify.
Good comments so far… :)
ReplyDeleteOne thing that came to mind in response to page 52 and each student understanding their role and the group role is that I think we move too quickly from this. As we mentioned in DRT, we tend to tell and not show, and then we even expect retention of this the next day, week, or after a break! This is not fair to kids. I think we need to remind ourselves that kids have much more going on in their lives than just the 60 minutes they are in our classroom. We need to provide the scaffolding, even for everyday procedures and routines as necessary. This will ensure a supportive learning environment where students are willing to share and take risks.
Building accountability into tasks - in particular #1 on page 52 - I have seen a huge change in the teaching and learning that occurs in classrooms that are using a few Essential Questions to match teaching and learning units. Students and teachers are given a direction, and they really do provide accountability as the students know that everything they do ties to one of the questions that they will be responsible for upon completion of the unit.
Feedback and observation are so important DURING PGW! I still think our teachers are struggling with this - aka formative assessment. We should probably remember to tie this into everything we do as a DRT. I would also like to ask - does PGW have to be this structured each time? Or is there group work and PGW - meaning that PGW is this structured always. If so, when/how often? Just wondering…
Yep, numbered heads and writing prompts/sentence starters are on the blue cards. We suggested them and used them at a staff meeting, but I personally do not see teachers using them. It might be good to remind. We should add more of these, like the progressive writing, to the ring. Also, I think Eric clarified the procedure for it. Each student writes on each other’s papers.
I've always struggled with "what do the other kids do" during a group project. I've gotten better at this, but this book is helping a lot. I like the strategies that are presented. They can be easily incoporated into classrooms and I think a lot of teachers would feel successful doing these. Once they see that group work doesn't always have to be chaotic I think teachers would be willing to try some of the bigger projects that would include conferencing during the project, check lists, etc.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of having table tents for the roles. I also think having table tents with sentence frames on it would be very beneficial. I've been using these on the board when we work in groups and reminding kids how to use them, but it would be even better for them to have them right in front of them.
From the book, it seems the PGW can be both a bigger project or a quicker partner activity. I like how the book supports both of these and gives idea on how to make it work.
One thing I feel should be shared with the students are the questions on p. 51: "Did I do what I was supposed to do, as well as I was supposed to do it, and when I was supposed to do it? Did we do what we were supposed to do, as well as we were supposed to do it and when we were supposed to do it?" This allows for self reflection. One point important mentioning is including students in establishing criteria for the rubric.
ReplyDeleteWhen giving students feedback, it's not meant to be a "gotcha". The feedback may be between teacher and student and teacher and group. Also, the group members can give feedback to each other.
I, too, like the idea of role cards.
I like the idea of using post it notes to keep notes on how students are doing. Like Amanda, I liked the quote about kidwatching.
This chapter had a lot of good points and may be a chapter we want the staff to read.
I think accountability is the part of PGW that teachers struggle with the most. I know that I always wonder if everyone within the group is being responsible for their learning. How can I ensure this is happening? I think that the tents are a great way to divide responsibility between group members. We have seen this work first hand within or data teams. This is again a format that would need to be model several times.
ReplyDeleteIn the past I have tried having students rate their group on the work that they accomplished, only to receive back information that is not useful. It kind of reminds me of how we rate our data teams! The group usually fills it our as fast as possible, they do not want be honest and/or they blame a group member(s) for the reason for problems occurring. As I read this book, I realize that I am to blame for this being unsuccessful. I did not model and practice accountability, instead merely told the groups that the form must be filled out at the completion of the group work.
Again, the authors make great suggestions of activities that can be placed on our blue cards. I really am interested in the progressive writing activity. I think the students would be engaged in this type of activity.
I also had my share of struggles with productive group work as a teacher. From my perspective now I see that many teachers had similar experiences and have found many well intentioned and effective ways to address accountability and responsibility. I really liked the idea of colored markers to ensure accountability and I also like the idea of role cards. This step is similar in my mind to the roles being shared at data teams. I am not sure why it has the effect it does, but it is undeniably my experience that meetings are more focused and task oriented when we take the short time to read our roles. I think role cards would have a similar impact on PGW.
ReplyDeleteI also liked the explanation of the PGW being used for larger more formal projects and for lesser more day to day tasks. I would like to see us share these ideas with the staff some of whom are struggling with PGW.
I like numerous others like the idea of progressive writing activity but wonder how smoothly we can implement this with our continued focus on nonfiction writing particularly the main idea sentences.
Joe Flaherty