"If you assign a group a task from regular academic work, the student who is seen as getting the best grades in that subject is likely to dominate the group. Even if you think you have picked group members of similar ability, the students are likely to make very fine distinctions about who is the best student in the small group." p. 29 Cohen, Chapter 3
What made this quote pop for me was my questioning of it. Like many things in these Cohen chapters, I read this and kind of agreed based on my past experience, but then mostly disagreed based on what I am seeing in my classroom. I am wondering what you guys are seeing in your classrooms and whether or not you think this quote pertains to it. It is true that in my classroom I do see some of the same people continually leading small groups, but at this grade level I’m not convinced that its do to their “expert status”. I’ve got a lot of big personalities in my room and I feel that dominance in small groups is more often a product of personality groups than achievement. In fact I regularly have an outgoing girl leading her small groups even though her achievement is lower than other members within the groups. Are you guys seeing similar things in your placements (or is my classroom just an anomaly)?
I get the feeling there may be something more going on here…and I think I know what it is: multiage classrooms (I am in a 3/4 at Deerfield). One of the ideas of the multiage curriculum is that students who don’t normally get to be leaders amongst those of their grade will automatically shoot to the leadership position in a group with mostly younger students. I think this may be what is happening in my classroom to make it seem as though my kids are not choosing experts based on how good a student is, there is something more to consider, seniority. I mention this because again, although I kind of agree with a lot of Cohen’s points…I also disagree with them too and I’m wondering if this is the result of the multiage factor.
Dan-
ReplyDeleteI’m right there with you on the personality v. achievement debate. When doing partner or group work, my CT’s do their best to create groups that are going to work well together, however it usually does seem like one person ends up being the leader, and I would agree that it’s usually more about personality than achievement at this level. Most of my students get along and actually work really well with just about anyone. However, we do have a handful of students that are extremely quiet, sensitive, lazy or just plain off-task, and often hand the responsibility off to someone else, even though they are more than capable. I have a lot more boys in my class than girls and it seems to me that the girls tend to be the academic leaders. When boys group up with other boys it becomes a social hour and not much work gets done. I also think there is something to be said about the multiage classrooms; our 4th graders seem to really grab the responsibility of showing the 3rd graders how it’s done. I think that at the 3rd and 4th grade level there is so much social development going on that it’s hard to pinpoint one factor that influences the entire group dynamic.
Amy
Dan,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree and have seen the things you are talking about in my own classroom. We have a few big personalities, who tend to dominate classroom, as well as small group discussions. I also agree with you that although these students have knowledge on the topics, it is not due to their “expertise.” I think it is a matter of personalities in a lot of cases, as well as students’ prior experiences and knowledge. The students who have knowledge on certain topics and/or have experienced things relative to the topic at hand are more willing to vocalize those things. Depending on the topic of discussion or the tasks at hand, different students will step up to the plate. In my classroom, I have seen student domination in group discussion/tasks stem from their knowledge, experiences, as well as personalities. I can definitely see and understand how the multiage set-up could affect student participation and leadership. I was in a 2/3 multiage classroom growing up, and the third graders always seemed to take the leadership role. They were paired up with us a lot and showed us how things worked. I can see how the age and grade level difference could affect leadership and domination in class discussion. The bottom line, in my opinion, is that there are a bunch of aspects, some of which we don’t understand, that will always affect domination and leadership in discussions.
Kendall