As we progress through the school year, we’re often looking for ways to increase the amount of collaboration in our classrooms, to boost student learning and relationships. As friendship groups among students become more established, it can be a challenge to maintain a positive classroom culture where everyone works harmoniously with one another.
It is well documented however that collaborative learning is beneficial, as students are able to interact with and learn from one another. One of the main challenges is that it relies on students actively participating in negotiating roles, responsibilities and outcomes.
When setting up student groups it’s worth considering:
Collaboration is a skill, and sometimes students might not actually know what good collaborations looks like or how to do it.
Unpack this with your class to ensure there is a shared understanding of what collaboration is. Often, showing a little clip like this one can be a great talking point for the class. I would ask my class to watch once, then tell me if they thought it was good or bad collaboration. Then we would watch it again, and they would write down their observations/evidence of how they could tell.
You might also get groups to set their own expectations like a contract, and assign group roles that can be rotated throughout a lesson or project. Group roles may include:
Collaboration works best when used regularly. This gives your students a chance to acclimatise to your teaching and learning expectations, and also helps them become more comfortable with working with others in the class.
My most collaborative class ever was a Year 7 class who I had hammered with collaboration from Day 1. We’re talking seating plans (changing every 2 weeks), group projects, practical work groups. By half way through the year I realised that every single student in that class would be happy to work with any other student. Now I definitely had the upper hand considering they had just started high school and had not solidified their friendship circles yet BUT, it’s possible.
Use data to pair students with a critical friend for peer feedback. As a general rule, critical friends should not be too far apart in their learning. You can also make critical friend triads.
Use the TAG Protocol to structure the way students interact: T- Tell something you like, A- Ask a question, G- Give a Suggestion.
Kagan Seating is a strategic seating arrangement in which students are grouped based on their current understanding and skills. Students should be at least one step apart in their learning so that they are able to learn from one another. The data dash can help to inform these groupings.
With their face partner or shoulder partner:
NOTE: Students diagonal from one another are not paired as they may be too far apart in their learning which will not result in robust discussion.
Circle of Viewpoints is a visible thinking routine that helps students explore multiple perspectives. For a more in depth outline see here. I’ve enjoyed doing this activity with my classes collaboratively as it can be difficult for students to step into someone else’s shoes and consider the views, values and opinions of different stakeholders.
Instead, get groups to complete this task together or compare notes.
