Zombies and Teamwork

In addition to my year long English courses I teach two semester classes. As the new year starts, I begin a new class as well: speech!

I LOVED taking speech as a student, so it is really fun to teach it now.

As most of my readers know, many of my students do not speak English as their first language. Sometimes this isn't an issue, and they are motivated to speak, write, and read in English. In other cases however, there is a tendency to use as little English as possible. As a result, I use an adapted version of a team building activity I love. The point? To show them that they don't need to rely on language...period.

I love using this to start my speech class as it focuses on nonverbal skills (something many students lack). It also builds their teamwork (key since this class involves LOTS of  group projects). Finally, it involves some critical thinking which I feel is always a plus.

Without going into too much detail, students are divided into groups of three to four and the dire situation is explained. The tower that normally keeps the zombies away has fallen and it is up to this group of students to reassemble it without going into the zombie zone.

Of course, as zombies are VERY sensitive to noise, they must work in complete silence with absolutely NO talking.

Students are graded based on their teamwork, their ability to follow the rules, and whether or not they complete the mission.

To be honest, this is an old activity (though I used to teach it with nuclear issues instead of zombies). I wasn't sure how it would go with my students. I hit a few speed bumps early on. Normally, I use hula-hoops taped to the ground as the city barrier, but my trusty dollar store was out, so I taped off squares instead (amusing since all of my directions stated circles, but students got it).

You can download a free preview of the Zombie Teamwork activity at TeachersPayTeachers which basically explains the concept in more details, but here's a step by step guide of setting your classroom up.

Supplies 

You can use a lot of things to make this happen, but you NEED string, cups, and rubber bands (the rubber bands should be able to expand to go around the cups). You can give the students pre-cut string, or one loooooong piece and scissors.

Other things you'll need

• A way to make an enclosed section (hula hoop taped to the ground, chalk, tape, etc.). 
• Random school supplies (You don't NEED this, but I like to give the students random things and see what they can do. Today they had: Velcro strips, pennies, paper clips, a high lighter, pencil erasers, pencils, and binder clips

• I also like to put little Lego men inside the city. I would put zombies inside, but I don't have any zombie toys, so I tell my students the zombies are invisible.

Set Up

•  You'll need space. I don't like the groups to be much bigger than four students, and each group needs at least 3 square feet to work in. Spread them out so they aren't sitting on top of one another. Each group gets a "city" The cities should all be the same size and have three cups inside, Lego men inside, and a cup or box with all of their supplies nearby.
• I didn't get a chance to this time, but you can usually score some really cheap zombie decor after Halloween. Anything you can throw in the room gives it that extra appeal. My students likes my DANGER ZOMBIE INFESTATION signs I had on the door and around the classroom.
• I leave copies of the directions (one per group) by their city as well.

 Buy In

• I HAVE taught this class without speaking, but for my students this year we walked through the directions. They were intrigued from the start! I am glad I went with zombies this year...the topic definitely caught their attention.

Variations
Depending on the group of students you have, there are MANY different ways to have them build the tower. Have it be a three cup pyramid, or a six cup pyramid. Have one student be blind-folded etc. There are more variations discussed in detail in the pack, but get creative!

Results
Walking around I was really impressed with my students. They were working together, getting creative and learning from their mistakes.

What did students think? One of my favorite parts of this lesson is the debriefing where they can sit and reflect on what they did and why they did it. Here are some of the insights my students shared with me:

"I learned that communication is more than just the words that come out of our mouth. It is also what we do with our bodies"

"I learned that I can get things done if I just put my mind to work."

"I solved most of the problems we had not talking by paying more attention and not being lazy. Basically, I had to think harder" 

The best part? A student who stopped by after class, "I just wanted to tell you that your class was really fun today!" Well heck! That makes it a better day.

Takeaway
If you have a new batch of students in January and want a fun activity, or you think your students would do well with some practice in group work. This is a great zombie download for you. Until the 6th it is only $2.20 (that's 20% off the normal price of $2.75). Try it out and let me know what your students think.

If you don't have it in your budget right now, enter to win below! You get one free entry just for reading! You can earn more by tweeting or pinning. The contest opens the fifth and closes the tenth!

Peer Reviews with Technology

Picture By: Brett Gosselin

Peer reviewing is nothing new. I've been doing it since I was a child and using it with my students since my first year of teaching. However, I get asked a LOT from many teachers, "How do you do it?" I've done it many different ways over the years.

In the past students would have to come into the class with two copies of their paper. I would randomly pass out the papers to the students. If they didn't bring in copies, they didn't get to participate and instead would sit in an "essay writing corner" working on their essay. There would be a worksheet of questions passed out, or maybe the questions were displayed on the overhead. Students, armed with colored pens would then answer the questions as they reviewed the essay. Sometimes this would include specific directions (highlight the thesis, underline the opinion, etc.)

There's nothing wrong with doing it this way (and I could go into more details about it if anyone is interested) but now, like with a lot of things, technology has changed the way I do this.

Before we get into that, let's start at the beginning.

Editing is something that teachers often take for granted. Since we know how to spot mistakes, we assume students can do this as well. After all, if they have learned what we taught them, shouldn't they be able to catch mistakes other students make?

Well, maybe. But for the most part students require some coaching in this matter. Modeling is an easy way to do this, as is having students practice in small groups. Here are some technological tools I use to help my students refine their inner editor (at the end of each suggestion I also give a brief low-tech/no-tech option). I am assuming you are at least vaguely familiar with these sites. If you aren't or are interested on a post on the basics of one of the sites I mention, leave me a comment and I'll put something together for you.

I strongly encourage using "real" examples from students (past or present) as it has really made a difference with my students.
 Kahoot 

Take a screen shot of a sentence (or make a PowerPoint slide and upload it as a graphic) and use it in Kahoot as a picture. Have the question be identifying the error. The answers would be different possibilities. For example, my students are working on thesis statements, so some issues may be: Using personal language, Not being specific Not having an opinion, Not having an explanation.

Alternatively, label different sentences (1,2,3,4) and have students pick the best thesis statement. Be sure to have the, "automatically move through questions" turned OFF. You want to use the time immediately after questions to have students explain why they selected what they did and why.

No Tech? Years and years ago, we did the exact same thing with teachers who would have these paragraphs on overhead projects, now you can make a PowerPoint game, if you are low-tech, or a packet for no-tech.

Socrative
Most teachers I know use Socrative for quizzes or the Space Race. Those are both really awesome tools, but not my favorite part of Socrative is the "Quick Question"

Simply select, "Quick Question" and then "Short Answer." Write an essay prompt in the question blank. I want each student to write only one response and I want their names (so they are held accountable). You can also have them work in small groups and have each group submit one thesis statement. As the results start coming in, you, as the teacher, can monitor and remove any that may seem inappropriate.

Once the time is up (or all students have submitted their attempt) then click "Start Vote" At this point the students will be able to see all of the thesis statements and vote for the ones they like best. Once the vote has closed discuss why the class selected the winner as the winner. Find the one with the least votes, what was wrong with it? This requires very little prep and is anonymous (to the students) so you tend to get authentic responses.

No Tech: Have students write sentences on the board and then discuss them after.

Haiku Discussions

Different options for Haiku discussions

I use Haiku because my school provides it to me, but any discussion board would work find (BlackBoard, etc.) Haiku does offer a free solo teacher plan! You get five classes. More information here

These are great because you have options. You can put students in pre-assigned groups (this can be a great way to differentiate), as a whole class, or individually.


Depending on how you have it set up, you can post a sample paragraph and have students critique it. Then they can take it the next step and re-write it. This is nice because if you are putting them in small groups or as a whole class, the shyer students can "speak up" without actually needing to speak, and the students who don't quite get it can go at their own pace and see what everyone else wrote first (unless of course you want them to take a guess first, in which case click the "Require students to post first" button).

You're also taking it past just identifying issues and seeing if students can actually fix them. Often at this point it is helpful to have a checklist of sorts students can go through to find errors.  This list should probably change depending on what you are focusing on, but I know some teachers who keep the same list throughout (normally elementary when they are focusing on key skills). The list can be mechanics, grammar, or specific to whatever you are teaching. I tend to encourage a mix of question types: Yes/No, Scale, and Open Ended. You'll be surprised at the answers sometimes.

• Does every sentence start with a capital letter? (Mechanics)
• Does the first sentence grab your attention? (Essay Format)
• Does the essay make sense to you? Why or Why not? (Opinion)
• What suggestions could you give the writer? (Really Open Ended)

Sidenote: Haiku Discussion boards are also really easy to grade. After the discussion closes I just pull up the list and I can see (by student) who wrote what. Normally I give a flat participation grade (they did it: full points), but I do make sure to skim to point out particularly good comments.

No Tech? You can of course do this in small groups as well without the technology. Pass out copies of the paragraph have them set the tables together and answer a set of questions as a team. Share their answers with the class, and then write a fixed version of the paragraph individually

PeerMark / TurnItIn

Two years ago I posted about free plagiarism checkers. That's how most people know TurnItIn. However, as much as I do use TurnItIn now, I actually LOVE them for their PeerMark grading. Never used it? You should check it out!

This is the "bigger" assignment. The first time we do this I jump in with full essays, though you can always have students start by just reviewing paragraphs or even sentences if you want!

There may be free versions out there (if you know any leave a comment, and I'll add it here), but I've only ever used Peermark.

Students turn in their papers the night before or morning of. You CAN have them turn the papers in the first thing in class, and just select, "randomly assign." Peermark will randomly give your students different essays and you're set. However, I prefer having some time to look over them.

You also have the option of going through and assigning them. For example, I teach many ESL students. In most cases I want students looking at the paper of someone who doesn't speak their language. For example, Spanish speakers to look at Chinese speakers' essays. This helps them because speakers of the language tend to make the same mistakes. Sometimes they even use words that they think are OK, but really don't exist. Just the other day I had a student tell me, "I hope you understand my Chinglish." So when I get to pick the pairs I can make sure the student will get the most help possible.

Depending on the student I may also want them to grade the paper of someone who write really well. This way they get to see a good model, and it tends to be easier for them to mark (less errors). 

I can also exclude papers. For example, in the class I'm teaching right now one of my students has completely copy and pasted his entire essay from the website online. I don't want anyone else to peer review this.

Finally, my FAVORITE part of using PeerMark. When I did these on paper if you didn't come in with your essay, you didn't get points. You also didn't review another student's paper. I LOVE peer reviewing and think it is a GREAT learning experience. With PeerMark I just need to check the box, "Allow students without a paper to review" and I am set! They don't miss out!! Though they don't get the help of having their paper peer edited.

As for grading, you can make this as hands off as you want or fairly specific. I make a list of questions my students go through as they grade. As with the list mentioned in the discussion boards, it changes a bit with each essay. This is shown on the screen as the students mark. In this example to below, the questions are mainly scale based (5 being awesome, 1 being needs a lot of work). Students answer the question and then leave comments on the paper if needed. For example, in this one I asked a question about the "Author Work Tie" and "Does it mention the author, title of the work, type of work, and how it connects to the thesis statement?" This student-editor gave the student-writer a 2/5 and then left a comment about how the summary was too long. She also answered #5 "Overall how good is the introduction" by saying, "the introduction does tells [sic] me what the rest of the essay is going to be about but the Author, work, tie is very confusing"

I love peer editing. I really really do. Students learn to see what they're seeing in other papers on their own. Its really easy for me to say, "okay don't do that, this, or the other thing," but students don't usually learn that way. I can take it up the net step, "Let's all do this together. What did we do wrong?" But when students actually have the question in front of them and then can find the examples on their own it really takes them to the next level on Bloom's Taxonomy.

It makes them think! They also catch a lot of little things that I always find interesting. There is also an option I really like to use which is having students do self reviews. As a teacher, when you create the PeerMark assignment, you can decide how many papers you want a student to peer review (I suggest at least two) and if you want students to complete a self review as well.

If you choose this I strongly encourage you (and students) to do it AFTER they have done the peer reviews. This way they have seen how other students do it and have the chance to reflect on their own work. Basically they can say, "Okay well now that I've seen other peoples essays what do I think about mine?" This is a really awesome opportunity for them to point out anything they might have learned and it's especially interesting to compare it to the results they will get from students.

I try to give students two days to look over the suggestions made by their peers before having them turn in their paper to me. This means that the first time I grade it they've gone over it and two other students have gone over it. Not only does this mean they learned more it also typically means my grading is a little bit easier because some of the bigger mistakes have already been caught.

This post ended up a LOT longer than I anticipated, and I could go on, but I'll stop. If you use peer reviews in your class, share how you do in the comments, and if you have any questions just let me know!

Group Collaboration- Crossword Puzzles

This is nothing new, but my students had so much fun on Tuesday, that I wanted to share a more dynamic way to use crossword puzzles in class (rather than making them and passing them out yourself). 

This can be used for almost any grammar point, but we were reviewing relative clauses on Tuesday, so those are the examples you'll see. We use Passages Student's Book 1, which teaches defining and non-defining clauses by discussing different cities and overall travel.

After my students and I worked our way through some grammar activities, it was time for them to produce some sentences, in a collaborative and (I hope) fun way!

My board work

Setting it up (5 minutes): I wrote some sentences/ phrases using relative clauses on the board.

1 Down Something that you use to eat

1 Across _________, which is the capital of Japan, is the birthplace of Joan Fontaine.

2 Across When in Japan, you speak _________

I asked students for the answer to 1 down. One student shouted, "Spoon,! At this point I drew crossword boxes to the side. We quickly solved the puzzle (Chopsticks, Tokyo, Japanese).

Dividing the class (3 minutes)

I have a small multicultural class right now. I have five Japanese students, three Taiwanese students, and one Brazilian student. I don't really love having nine students, but at l east in this case it made the decision to divide the students into groups of three easy. I "randomly" assigned each student a group (A, B, C) to be sure that each group had as many different nationalities as possible.

The Assignment (3 minutes): You can do this many different ways, but this is how it went Tuesday in class.

Teacher: "With your group you need to come up with a theme. What was the theme of my puzzle on the board?"

Students: "Japan."
Teacher: "Yes! You're all so smart! We have been discussing traveling, so what other themes could be select?"

Here is a student making her clues

Students: "Asia" "China" "Barcelona"
Teacher: "Good, you can also do other themes like: 'Things you pack in a suitcase,' or 'Different ways to travel.' The FIRST thing you need to do as a group is  agree on a theme. The SECOND thing you will need to do is come up with some clues. How many clues will you need?"

Students: "Ten" "Five teacher" "Twenty"
Teacher: "There are three of you so 15 clues, but only 10 of them need to have relative clauses" (Note: I thought this would take 30 minutes, but students took about 50 to complete their puzzles. Looking back I would change it to 10 clues.)

Students: "How many clues?"
Teacher: *Writes on the board* "15 clues 10 relative clauses"

Students: "Does it matter how many across and how many up?"Teacher: "Nope. You may do this however you like. When you finish, you must give me TWO blank cross word puzzles. Each group will receive a crossword puzzle from every other group" (With larger classes you could have them photocopy for homework, or just make it so they trade with another group).

Students: "Can we use our phones?"
Teacher: "You can use the textbook, or your cell phones to get information. Please TALK to your partners, but don't talk too loudly, or the other teams will hear your answers."

The Work:

As students worked in groups I heard a lot of English! Some of it was the grammar point (What about, "The woman who is the queen of England?") and some of it was the task based English, "No it doesn't fit there." "That question is too different. Not our theme." etc. I originally was going to give 15  minutes to create the questions and then 5 minutes to make sure everything fit on a crossword puzzle. Maybe with an extra five minutes to actually write out the two final copies for the other groups.... the groups ended up needing about 30 minutes to make the clues and another 15 to assemble the puzzle. However, they were speaking English THE WHOLE TIME! Because they were on task, I told them they could take as much of the class as they needed.

In the end they needed all of my class-time, but I feel it was well worth it!

Complete the Puzzles

Give groups a crossword puzzle(s) from another team. Allow them five minutes to work on it as a team WITHOUT CELL PHONES. Just see how many they know. 

Then, because this isn't the main aim of the class, give them the option of using cell phones or textbooks to find answers. 

The first group to finish both crossword puzzles wins! Since my students are just visiting America for the Summer I give them American paraphernalia (there was an after Fourth of July sale where I got tons of bracelets, pencils, necklaces etc. for less than $1.00 each!), but anything works! If nothing else they win bragging rights!

 

Alternatives:

• Provide each student with a different text from which to find their answers and clues (a short article about safaris in Africa for examples)
• Use this as a literature assignment. Have students each create a crossword for a different character, or chapter.
• Make it about the school, or the teacher!
• I know there are many crossword puzzle generators on computers, but part of the reasons I like doing it by pen and paper is because students get to talk about where to put the boxes. While you could have them use an online tool, I would avoid it.
• The options are pretty close to limitless :)

There it is! A simple, and dynamic way to get students to work together, practice the target language, and create a little fun for all the students. How do you use crossword puzzles in the class?   

Cut a worksheet for a change of pace!

What is my student doing at the window? Admiring the view? Taking a break? Trying to get warm by leaning against the window heated by the sun? Actually he's working on a worksheet!

There are a lot of people who feel that worksheets for the most part are no longer needed in class. It is an interesting and environmental idea, but sometimes I just like having my students use worksheets.

However, I do think worksheets can become a crutch. Like PowerPoint, webquests or any classroom tool, if we use it the same way too much, it doesn't provide the variety our students need.

This blog is not about a brand new technique. I think teachers were doing this back when I was in elementary school! However, it is an easy technique to use a worksheet in class, but vary the format a little. Students tend to like the fact that get to move, and I like the fact that they are getting work done.

Step 1. Select the right type of worksheet. In this case I used a "correcting" worksheet. It had 25 different sentences that were not parallel. The students needed to re-write the sentence to make the sentence parallel. If also you teach parallelism in writing here are 15 sentences your students could fix.

Step 2. Cut the worksheet up into strips (with each question / sentence being a different strip).

Step 3.  Tape the strips everywhere around the classroom.... I mean everywhere! On desks, on windows, on walls. With little ones putting them under tables and chairs is fun, but my high schoolers care too much about their clothes to crawl under a chair. If you write in a really big font you can tape it to the ceiling and have them look up find that sentence.

Step 4. Give the students a set amount of time (I gave 20 minutes for 25 questions) to walk around the class and try to fix as many sentences as they can. Encourage them to work with a partner as long as they keep the communication in English.

Step 5. Give a final 5 minutes to compare their answers with another person / pair.

Step 6. As a class go through the answers. If they can't fix a sentence try to lead them towards the answer, but don't give it to them. If they still can't find it skip it and go to the next sentence. Sometimes they just need time away from the sentence to see the mistake. Normally they figure out all of the sentences, but when they don't I prefer to assign the ones they don't have as homework rather than to give them the answers.

Things to keep in mind
Control: You need to make sure the groups are controlled. If they start aren't actively working give them a warning and then have them sit down on their own with the worksheet.
Type of worksheet: Make the answers easy(ish) to write. You don't want to do this if each answer requires a two paragraph answer. On the other hand, just having them write down A or B doesn't get much writing practice in (nor does it help them study later)! Short answers are your best bet.
Time: Set a time limit and stick to it Some students are faster than others, that's fine. I like to give way too many problems. For example I may give 25, but I think getting 20 done is good. IN the last minute I encourage students to check with other groups and finally go over it as a class. This way even if they didn't get to all of them they have the answers in the end and there (usually) aren't fast finishers.

Like I said, nothing new, but always fun! Enjoy :)

Get Students Using Different Words

In fifth grade my teacher Ms. Sipe outlawed “four letter words.” She wasn’t referring to swearing; she didn’t want us to use words like: good, nice, or tall. She thought we could use better words:  noble, pleasant, or towering. Why? Because these specific words gave us a better idea of what we were describing.

This is also very useful when students start paraphrasing something that is useful for many reasons.

Many of our students need help to get out of a vocabulary rut. They tend to use the same words over and over again. In some cases this is fine, whereas in others a larger vocabulary may prove more beneficial.

Here’s an activity that will get your students using different words.  This CAN be adapted to all levels depending on your use of scaffolding and the words you select.

Step 1: Show a picture of something small (an ant for instance). Ask students how they would describe the animal. Once one of them says small, write it on the board and ask what other words they know for small. Here’s a list of the words the book uses: Small, Teeny-weeny, Mini, Tiny, Microscopic. Then show something bigger (an elephant). See what words they use to describe that. Again, the book uses: Big, Large, Huge, Gigantic. If they don’t use a word, you may like to introduce it.   

Step 2: Introduce a cline. The word cline probably looks familiar to you since it is related to incline or decline. A cline is essentially a visual ranking of words. See if your students can rank the words from smallest to biggest.

Step 3: Read, “Am I small?” in the target language. With younger students you may like to read it a few times. Get them to read it. Have them do different listening activities while you read it. Then, see if their cline matches what the author thinks about the words

Step 4a: In small groups give students two opposite adjectives. Depending on the level, these can be easy (tall-short) to more difficult (rich-poor). In groups see if they can create a cline of 5-10 words. NOTE: I would tell them to try this without dictionaries or cell phones, but you may prefer that they use them. *This is an easy task to differentiate. You can give weaker students easier words, require they come up with less words, or you can give the words to them.

Step 4b: Have them identify the differences in the words. For example, the connotations, registers or denotations. For example, childlike and juvenile both mean young. However, childlike is normally more positive whereas juvenile is more negative. Ginormous is normally only used in an informal register. Antique is normally used to describe things, not people.

Step 5: See if they can create a story similar to, "Am I small?" using their own words and a unique character. Depending on the technological capabilities of your class, this can be a book using paper, a video where they act (or use puppets), a book where they cut and paste pictures from magazines, a PowerPoint, or an animated short video. If they make a book see if they can put it in their library so other students may enjoy it as well.

Here are some examples in case you want to give your students words to start.

Rich-Poor: Prosperous, Affluent, Disadvantaged, Wealthy, Well Off, Meager, Flush, Humble, Loaded, Poor, Underprivileged, Comfortable, Needy, Well-to-do, Opulant, Penniless, Destitute

Old-Young: Old, Fledgling, Ancient, Young, Mature, Childlike, Juvenile, Antique, Infantile, Immature, Underdeveloped, Decrepit, Over the Hill

Happy- Sad: Ecstatic, Sullen, Happy, Morose, Cheerful, Content, Comfortable, Unhappy, Miserable, Glum, Jovial, Gloomy

Tall- Short: Tall, Short, Lanky, Elfin, Towering, Petite, Fun sized, Gangly, Diminutive, Small, Big, Puny 

To see another activity that helps students work with different adjectives (and make your classroom pretty), stay tuned for Wednesday's post!

Peer Learning- We're better together

One of the first things I learned when I started teaching English was the importance of pair work. This guest post makes some suggestion on when to embrace learners working together, and why it is best to not rely on it constantly.

Helping someone is a way to cement your own knowledge

Have you ever witnessed one student leaning over to lend some help another student better understand a problem or dilemma? 

If so, you have likely seen peer learning. When students get together to help one another learn a difficult subject or think critically about a problem, they take their education to a deeper level opening their minds to a new thought process. This new level of learning can help peers open up their minds and encourage them to work well with other students, regardless of which side of the learning curve they are on.

Yet there are some struggles that come along with peer to peer learning that can make this typically highly effective way of learning a challenge. The following are some of the do’s and don’ts for teachers to help encourage peer learning in the right way.

The Do’s of Peer Learning

Learning to work together is a lifelong skill!

• Do encourage teamwork –
  Teamwork is something that people experience throughout their lives. In some cases they will be the leader in the group, or in the case of peer learning the person doing the teaching. In other cases, they will be the person sitting back taking instruction, or the student. In either case, knowing how to work well with one another is a crucial. When you allow peer learning in the classroom you not only help students learn the material but you set them up for an important inherent life lesson that they will need in a variety of situations.
• Do allow students to work together on problems –
  Sometimes there will not be a clear leader in a peer learning. When students come together in peer groups to brainstorm solutions to problems, they can work together equally to come up with the best solution. This teamwork is another common occurrence in daily life even after students are finished with their schooling.
• Do let peers assess each other’s achievements –
  Another form of peer learning is to grade each other’s work. This is beneficial because it allows students to see and learn from the mistakes other students made as well as how they were able to solve certain problems. By doing this, they learn what their peers are doing and can find new ways to conquer challenges that they may not have learned about before. When they learn from like-minded individuals on how they solve problems, then they are able to use these skills in other situations to advance their education even further.

The Don’ts of Peer Learning

Working together is great, but the teacher should still be a part of the class

• Don’t allow bullying –
  In some cases peer learning can lead to one person bullying another. This typically happens when one student is struggling with a particular subject and is being tutored by a peer who is better able to grasp it. When one student becomes frustrated with the other, they can begin to bully the student which can have adverse effects. As a teacher, it is important to watch for these signs and stop the peer learning before it gets worse.
• Don’t rely solely on peer learning –
  Teachers sometimes rely too heavily on peer learning and step back from their role as administrator of the classroom. This can also have adverse effects because students will not receive knowledge from the teacher that they need to get the most out of their education. A good balance is imperative with peer learning and classroom learning with a teacher.

As a teacher, finding a way to incorporate peer learning into the classroom is a good way to mix up the curriculum and teaching methods so students can work together more and enjoy their classroom time. To do this most effectively it is important to balance between lectures and one-on-one lessons with a teacher and work in peer groups. 

This guest post was written by Aileen Pablo who actively blogs about education. She uses research from: davecormier.com

Grading Groupwork

Different ways animals work in groups

We all know the pedagogy.  Group work is great. Having students work in teams gets them to practice

Group work offers students the chance to teach one another (and we all know that teaching is one of the best ways to really learn, understand and remember something).

However, groupwork has its downsides too. Often one student will be dependent on others not really giving their full effort. Other times, group-work is not properly divided. I talked about a group once that got in trouble for plagiarism.  They had divided the group work as follows: Student1- Make the drinks they were going to pass out during class, Student2-Write the brochure, Student3- Format the brochure.

Do you see the problem with this? One person was doing all the research, citing, summarizing, etc. while the others did much less work. No wonder the student turned to plagiarism!

Funny pie chart discussing the faults of group projects

Now, part of this is just part of life. Just like in real life, sometimes you'll be doing group projects with people who try to take credit for your work, don't do as much, or are perfectionists who want you to re-do everything you do!

It is true that life isn't fair, but I feel that teachers should make grading as fair as possible.

HERE ARE A FEW WAYS I GRADE TEAMWORK  

• Have team members grade one another. This is a popular way of keeping students involved. I usually make a "teamwork" grade worth about 5% of the total.



Portion of a sample rubric

• Give a rubric!
• You can see a small portion of a rubric that I've used before. to the right.
• Give them a number of points they can divide among the group
•  For example in a group of three I may give 10 points.
• If the students feel that their two team members worked well together they'd give each member 5 points. 
• On the other hand, if they feel that one partner did a bit more than the other they would give one person 6 and one person 4
• Consequently, if one team member was amazing and one team member was pretty lousy the points could be divided as 9 points and 1 point.
• Pros: Students feel like they get a say. Cons: Some students will grade based on personal relationship, not actual effort (most of my students seem to be honest when filling these out). 
• Divide the work. I am not a huge fan of this with most projects, but with some projects it works well (and lends itself to differentiation).



A confession bear meme describing what many students feel

• For example, if the students are working on an essay together make one student in charge of the First Body Paragraph, another the Second Body Paragraph, and the third the Last Body paragraph.
• I am not a huge fan of this as I think that part of the joy (and horror) of working in a group is that you get to use the weaknesses and strengths of other members to work TOGETHER in a finished product. However, sometimes this works well.
• Assess what you see  
• Sometimes I have my groups work during class. At this point I literally assess what I see.
• One student is writing, another is researching and a third is working on math homework... the math homework one won't receive the same grade as the others.
•  Have students use something like primary pad and you can track who is typing what.
• Some students perceive this as unfair because group-work is more than what is done in class or on the computer (which is true).
• Just give one grade
• Don't grade based on the effort or work done by individuals students, just grade the finished product and let everyone have the same grade. 
• If a team builds something assess purely the end result and have all members get the same grade.
• Many students protest this because it doesn't reflect the effort and time they put into it. It is however very similar to many real life situations.  

I'd love to get input from other teachers (or students). How do you grade group work? Do you let students grade one another for teamwork?