In Ch. 3 of Cohen (pg. 37) and under the section titled “Educational Disadvantages of Dominance and Inequality,” I found the following quote to be very interesting: “Group interaction offers a chance to attack these prejudices, but the teacher must do more than simply assign group work tasks.”
According to Cohen, group work allows students to get to know one another and interact more closely. This gives them an opportunity to challenge and question cultural prejudices that may exist. I believe that it is the job of the teacher to give students opportunities to work together to change some of the prejudices students may have entered school with. For example, “if the leadership position in groups always falls to boys, it will reinforce the cultural belief that “girls can’t be leaders.” Group work and group tasks give all students an equal goal to work towards. If structured properly, each student will have an opportunity to contribute and be a part of the final product. I think an excellent way to use groups is to give each student a different role for the various tasks; that way, each student will get the opportunity to try a new and different role. Hopefully, each student within the group will have tried one or two roles where they felt comfortable, confident, and competent; thus, affecting the overall quality of the final group product. This also gives students time to get to know their peers as well as each of their strengths rather than simply weaknesses. Sometimes it is difficult to change what the prejudices of students, when what they think they believe is something heard from a parent at home. It is important to establish and create (with students) a community of learners in the classroom. This will work to ensure safety and comfort among students.
Kendall-
ReplyDeleteI really like the quote that you picked out because it highlights how important it is to really structure group work. Although assigning group work takes the focus off the teacher, the teacher has to do a whole lot to facilitate it. I think it’s a great opportunity to interact with other classmates that they may not usually interact with. I agree that a lot of prejudices could be resolved. I like the idea of assigning roles and switching them so that each student gets to take a turn with each role. This shows that each student is just as important as the other and that the work won’t get done unless everybody participates. A big part of that is establishing a community of learners where all students feel comfortable enough to participate and share their ideas.
Amy
Hi Kendall
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your quote and explanation. I agree with you and Amy - group work is an essential part to a classroom's curriculum! And I also agree with assigning roles to each member of the group to provide importance to each member and rotating with each role. The readings we did for this week really stressed the importance of classroom discussion, not just between the teacher and students, but the importance behind student-to-student discussions. Group work is a great way to start up these discussions. They can share their reasoning and justifications within their group, see the different group member's ideas and opinions, and then compare their group's ideas with the rest of the class. With this practice, they will start to feel comfortable enough to share their ideas and support their answers with justified reasoning as a class-wide discussion.
-Emily
After thinking about it for a bit, I agree with your quote and stance, Kendall. But I did have to think about it for a bit because something about the quote just felt fishy to me...and I wasn't sure what it was. But I think I've got it now, it's this: When I think about group work, I am not thinking about breaking cultural prejudices...I am thinking about finding a different avenue to teach my kids the objective of my lesson (lol). Perhaps I am missing a valuable opportunity here, but realistically I think I'll look to morning meetings and normal classroom interactions for breaking stereotypes. I'm not saying that groupwork isn't a fine way to accomplish this...I think indeed it is, but is our primary purpose in putting that group together going to be to achieve this?
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