General Principles of Group Tasks:

• Group work should always have a purpose linked to the work to be done.
  • For example, if interpretation of a text is one aspect of the work, sharing the different perspectives of group members and explaining one’s position is valuable work that is furthered by group talk.
• If the goal is draft preparation, asking students to read one another’s work will be more successful if the actual audience of the draft is to be fellow class members.
• The teacher should write specific instructions for group work and create focused, clear tasks, asking group members to do work they’re prepared to do.
  • Modeling the work of the group can help members to understand the task and perform it better.
• Groups work better when credit for the work is clear; students can turn in a summary of their work or report to the whole class or other groups.
  • Varying the nature of reporting and credit helps keep group work from becoming routine.
• Group work is generally LOW-STAKES, but it should be clearly linked to a project and move along the business of the class. Its value should be clear.
• Some scholars, such as Roskelly, suggest that groups should remain stable and have specific roles for each member, though these roles can rotate. Informal models can also be effective.
• Since group work is generally low stakes, credit for each member is generally the same. If the work is HIGH-STAKES, there should be a plan for giving credit that differs for amount of work and/or quality of product. Work contracts for each student can indicate the extent of that student’s work.
  • If possible, credit for work quality should be individual. If students present a group presentation, each student can write a reflective piece about the nature of his or her work, what he or she learned, and some critique of the product for an individual grade.