Productive Work Group

by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, Sandi Everlove

The benefits of collaborative learning are well documented—and yet, almost every teacher knows how group work can go restless students, unequal workloads, lack of accountability, and too little learning for all the effort involved. In this book, educators Nancy Frey, Douglas Fisher, and Sandi Everlove show you how to make all group work productive group with all students engaged in the academic content and with each other, building valuable social skills, consolidating and extending their knowledge, and increasing their readiness for independent learning.

The key to getting the most out of group work is to match research-based principles of group work with practical action. Classroom examples across grade levels and disciplines illustrate how to

* Create interdependence and positive interaction* Model and guide group work* Design challenging and engaging group tasks* Ensure group and individual accountability * Assess and monitor students’ developing understanding (and show them how to do the same) * Foster essential interpersonal skills, such as thinking with clarity, listening, giving useful feedback, and considering different points of view.

The authors also address the most frequently asked questions about group work, including the best ways to form groups, accommodate mixed readiness levels, and introduce collaborative learning routines into the classroom. Throughout, they build a case that productive group work is both an essential part of a gradual release of responsibility instructional model and a necessary part of good teaching practice.

192 pages

First published November 23, 2009

About the author

Douglas Fisher, Ph.D., is an educator and Professor of Educational Leadership at San Diego State University and a teacher leader at Health Sciences High & Middle College.

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Reviews

[Sunday · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this just after Fisher and Frey's Better Learning through Structured Teaching. I understand the power of group conversations from my own experience working with children and with adults. Making this happen for groups is tricky, though, and I agree with the authors that many times collaborative learning experiences are abandoned for easier structures - turn and talk or teacher-student discussions.Frey, Fisher, and Everlove's book is very clear about the value of collaborative learning - including shorts sections on connections to "neural" research. They provide LOTS of ideas for how to group students - some familiar (jigsawing and reciprocal teaching) and some less familiar (whip-around and progressive writing). Lots of discussion in the book about how teachers can create structures that ensure/nurture - positive interdependence, face-to-face interactions, individual and group accountability, interpersonal & small group skills, and group processing. Includes helpful tools - like a chart with "peer response techniques" and lots of examples of language the teacher should observe for and use in positioning students as collaborative learners.

[JJ Epperson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read on group work. easy to follow and apply strategies,

This book was a very easy read. Concepts were broken down in a very frank and easy to follow manner. The strategies described are immediately applicable to the classroom.