Jacob’s Journal: October 2

This week I had the opportunity to visit a few TOK presentations during D block.  It was great watching students demonstrate their understanding of the content and apply it in a variety of contexts.  Students were well prepared, poised and articulate.  This was the culminating activity of many hours of hard work by students.  Moreover, the conditions were established by the teachers to ensure their success.  These included extremely specific directions, expectations of learning outcomes, examples of finished products and an assessment rubric for students to review before they even began their work.

Group work/presentations can really be amazing examples of student learning.  When all of the conditions are in place the products of their knowledge are astounding.  On the other hand, when the conditions are not in place, it should not come as a shock when the product barely scratches the surface of learning, the work is not equitably shared amongst its members, and the culminating activity inconsistent.

Productive group work is a challenging prospect.  It is a high risk and high reward endeavour.  If the conditions are right this learning can be remarkable and if they are not instructional time can be wasted.  Next time you assign a task (small formative or grand summative) for a group of students think about the conditions you are putting in place for their success.

Have a great weekend,

Jacob