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Group Work In Middle School

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Effective Group Work in the Mathematics Classroom Traditionally, secondary mathematics classrooms consist of the teacher communicating content to students through lecture. In this setting, the teacher contributes the most to the discussion, while students listen and attempt to learn by taking notes and following along with the teacher. During middle school and high school, I experienced the traditional style of teaching and learning mathematics. At the time, I did not think anything was wrong with it. However, lecture and individual work was all I ever knew, and the possibility of group work never crossed my mind. In college, I have observed and read about several ways to make the classroom environment more conducive to learning. Group work …show more content…
Most of the time, group work is a preliminary activity to whole class discussions. Therefore, in order to have success in whole class discussions, success must first occur in group work. The structure of group work needs to be carefully considered because it organizes the conversations that occur in groups, as well as class discussions. Allen (2012) states that “assigning roles fosters full participation in the group” (p. 310). There are several benefits to structuring group work in this way. For instance, it encourages all group members to participate in some way, which further increases student involvement and understanding. The roles also help manage the group by maintaining focus and organization. Moreover, when it is time to share with the whole class, the groups will have more detailed and organized ideas to share due to increased engagement and focus. Another strategy for structuring group work is to encourage students to question each other (DeJarnette, Dao, & Gonzalez, 2014, p. 415). This also leads to more engagement, as well as better understanding through the exploration of different ways of thinking. When teachers walk around monitoring students’ progress, they should ask questions in order to model how they want students to interact with each …show more content…
Students are required to develop their own knowledge without relying solely on the teacher, which leads to many positive outcomes. Lampert and Blunk argue that “the product of discourse is the development of shared understandings, new insights, and a deeper analysis of mathematics” (as cited in Manouchehri & St. John, 2006, p. 546). There is a lot more to discover and explore when multiple minds are working together to make sense of the mathematics. Group work also satisfies many of NCTM’s Standards for Teaching Mathematics, especially those regarding students’ role in discourse. For instance, students make connections, question one another, and determine the validity of solutions (NCTM 2014). This occurs when students engage in conversation about the mathematical concepts and discuss different solutions that they may not have considered if working alone. When the students have to explore the concepts and worked together to make sense of them, they develop a better understanding of the material. Most importantly, group work allows students to be the ones doing the mathematics and generating ideas and strategies, instead of the teacher presenting the mathematics in a lecture

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