Partner up! Request for the teachers out there

[lilmrsellis]

I HATED group work as a student! I like things done correctly and it seemed like I was the only one. Either that or you get a group with someone who doesn't work at all and leaved you with double. Ugh.

 

[smkohn]

ICT Magic is one of my favorite websites.

Here is a link listed through ICT Magic:
http://ictmagic.sharedby.co/share/bQKtJy

You do not need an interactive whiteboard to use these tools. I do not have a board, but simply hook up my laptop to a projector.

Have fun!

OOO, thank you! I'm going to have fun playing around with this!

 

[dsneprincess]

I hated group projects as a student & surprise, surprise I hate them as a parent, too! At least I am consistent. DS12 has had 3 group projects so far this year. All have provided his lowest grade in that class. His last one: the girl that wrote up the final tally, put her name for his participation & his name for her part. She made an error in her part, so he got her lower grade & she & her friend got the higher grades. He is quite reserved & will not say anything to the teacher. His reasoning is why would the teacher believe me; obviously everyone would want the higher grade.
I don't care how you pick'em; how about you just don't assign them? Save us all the headaches........

 

[lkueffer]

It is even worse when the teacher claims to put random partners together and your child notices that the teacher's favorites get to be partners with their Bff's. A good lesson in life isn't fair I guess.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

I get tired of the teacher picking and putting my kid with kids who dont get as high of grades. Don't put my A student with an F student to boost that kids grade. That kid doesn't all of a sudden do better work, my kid does most of it.

I can't even count the number of times I had to go to the school and have my children either removed from a group and or sign off the work they did on a project. Both of my children got to the point where they asked teachers to please let them do the whole project alone and let a trio work together that needed more help.

Don't get me wrong, there were many things my children would get picked last for, but when it came to their grades they were not allowing someone who didn't feel the same dictate a lower grade.

 

[Jen414]

I teach fifth grade and I almost never let kids pick their own groups or their own seats. We switch tables once a month and that determines who you work with, at least in science. I do something different every month...line up numerically by house #, by birthday, alphabetically by the last letter of your first name, alphabetically by your mom's name, etc. The kids like it because they never know what the "rule" will be and they can tell that I'm not fixing the groups. Sometimes it works perfectly. Sometimes......not so much, but I tell kids that sometimes they need to figure out how to work with someone that you might not like so much. They can usually figure it out enough to make it work for a month.

 

[atp]

OMG, I HATED that when I was in school. Sometimes I would be the new kid in class that didn't have friends yet, but even when I did have friends, sometimes it wasn't an even number!

So when asked to "partner up" I would always be anxious wondering who was going to be left out. Mostly I was always thinking it was going to be me, since the other kids knew each other for a longer time than I knew them. Sometimes that happened, sometimes it didn't.

Also gym class. Picking teams. I hated playing anything that involved a ball, so yeah. Always one of the last ones to be picked, which was fine, I understand, I wouldn't pick myself either, but why put me through that?? Ugh.

Sometimes teachers would make groups/partners random...they would go from desk to desk going, 1, 3, 3, 4, 5 etc and then start over, and all the 1s, 2s, etc had to find each other and be a group or partners, depending on what the teacher wanted. That was slightly less stressful because you knew you wouldn't be left out but also stressful because you could end up with someone who disliked you or who you weren't comfortable at all with.

So yeah, I agree 100%. Do not make kids partner up, work in groups etc unless they are random. And even then I would avoid that as much as possible, it's really stressful to some kids.

Giving kids a choice to work alone or in groups isn't all that better either, IMO, since most of the kids will opt to do that and the ones who don't have friends will still be and feel left out IMO. Yeah, they'll have an excuse and can say they chose to be alone, but it doesn't mean that they really feel that way.

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

I get tired of the teacher picking and putting my kid with kids who dont get as high of grades. Don't put my A student with an F student to boost that kids grade. That kid doesn't all of a sudden do better work, my kid does most of it.

Exactly! 3x's this year my A+ child has been stuck with the D slacker & done all the work so her grade doesn't suffer. I hate group projects. It seems we're the only parents that can fork out the $$'s for the needed supplies too! The median income is well over $115k so I find it hard to believe that they can't spring $5 for a poster board or have color ink.

 

[Disneybuckeye]

I get tired of the teacher picking and putting my kid with kids who dont get as high of grades. Don't put my A student with an F student to boost that kids grade. That kid doesn't all of a sudden do better work, my kid does most of it.

This too! My DD, junior in college, ended up with an A- in a class because the two males they were assigned with did not do their portion of a project. My DDand the other female in the group did the best they could once they found out. Unfortunately they were on a bus at the time coming back from a lacrosse game and did not have a lot of the needed materials with them and had to throw some stuff together to get it in by the midnight deadline. Had they not been out of town for the school college lacrosse team all weekend they would have been more on top ot it. DD said next time she is just going to do it all herself so she knows it is done and done right.

This problem is this A- ruined her 4.0. She was devastated.

 

[Hyonlyf]

Exactly! 3x's this year my A+ child has been stuck with the D slacker & done all the work so her grade doesn't suffer. I hate group projects. It seems we're the only parents that can fork out the $$'s for the needed supplies too! The median income is well over $115k so I find it hard to believe that they can't spring $5 for a poster board or have color ink.

Yep. My kids grades are dependent on a D-student who will buy NOTHING needed for the project and do none of the work, at least none that would get a good grade. And forget telling the teacher, what kid wants to be "that" kid?

 

[Julylady]

Interesting thread. I work in a project based organization where I simultaneously work on several projects with different team configurations. In my experience, some people are just not skilled in working on teams. I wonder if these are the same people who didn't learn to work together on teams in schools. Learning to become a good team player is not an easy skill and applaud those teachers why assign team based work!

 

[atp]

Interesting thread. I work in a project based organization where I simultaneously work on several projects with different team configurations. In my experience, some people are just not skilled in working on teams. I wonder if these are the same people who didn't learn to work together on teams in schools. Learning to become a good team player is not an easy skill and applaud those teachers why assign team based work!

Maybe, but that hasn't been my experience. In my experience, the people I know who don't seem to be skilled at all in working in groups, seem to be pretty outgoing and social so it's unlikely that were the type to dislike team work when they were in school.

I hated (and still dislike) working in teams but doing that on a regular basis did nothing for me other than to make me anxious about going to school. I never really had a problem working with others other than the fact that in school I really disliked it and because people usually did not work as hard as I did, so either I had to do more work to compensate for the people who did nothing, or I had to delegate tasks to people and hope they did it as they were supposed to so they wouldn't bring my grades down.

Most people I know have no issue with working in teams and have done that plenty since most schools do that often. Very common in college too. But most of them suck at it because they assume someone else will do all the work for them or they just do a mediocre job because they don't have high standards. It's really annoying to either have to baby someone and constantly ask them if they are doing their job or let them be and then find out at the last minute that they did not do what they promised and now you are stuck with it.

So I don't think this type of thing does much to people. Either you are responsible or a good leader (or at least a good follower) or you aren't.

Ironically, the people I know who are most uncomfortable with working in groups or partners due to being extremely shy and not very social (like I used to be and still am to some degree) are the ones who are the most capable to work in groups either as wonderful followers or wonderful leaders (when they are comfortable to speak up and lead).

 

[Luv Bunnies]

Yep. My kids grades are dependent on a D-student who will buy NOTHING needed for the project and do none of the work, at least none that would get a good grade. And forget telling the teacher, what kid wants to be "that" kid?

Agreed! I don't mind when the teacher grades each child separately for group projects, based on what they did. But when it's a group grade and some kids did nothing, it's just not fair. It wasn't such a problem in elementary school when most group work was done in class, but it's become a problem for my DS in middle school.

Last year (7th grade), they were assigned to be in groups of 4 to work on a project based on The Outsiders. My DS had one other good worker in his group. They ended up meeting after school, deciding on what they were going to do, and assigning the other 2 small things to work on. They knew they couldn't rely on them to do anything major. It's a shame that those kids got 90-some percent on the project, based on the work of my DS and his friend. But when the other two said they couldn't come to after school meetings, couldn't go out to buy any supplies, and barely squeaked out what they were asked to do, DS and his friend felt no other choice but to do most of the work themselves. They are both A students and refused to sacrifice their grades and rely on slackers!

 

[cabanafrau]

My very type A older DD hated working in groups for school projects, most especially when the responsibilities were required to be divided amongst the group & the teachers required that only the student assigned that set of responsibilities complete them, yet the project graded as a whole, same grade for all. Inevitably you get one, sometimes more, who refuse to do any homework & the group's grade suffers for it.

When she hit HS she attended 1/2 day at a magnet program for math & sciences, strongly reliant on collaborative projects. We held our breath. She wound up loving it, swimming in a sea of kids like herself who were academically responsible, enthusiastic & dedicated. There were a couple bumps along the way when working with a particular control freak partner who wanted to be the only one with the data collected & the work product on her thumb drive only. Drove DD crazy for about a week, then she became very aggressive about insisting everyone should download the information daily.

My much more laid back DD has suffered a few anxious moments w/ some enforced group projects similar to her sister's, however luckily it seems the teachers have backed off requiring who does what, and even sometimes assign different grades within the group based on what gets presented. More often than not DD or DD and a friend or another decent student in the group wind up doing the projects alone or in a pair. DD is a very go with the flow type of gal & leaves it up to other people what they do or don't do, but just makes sure things get covered if no one else gets the job done. She's just resigned that that's the way it is. Call it training for the way the world works all you want, if employers put up with that type of blatant negligence & still pay a salary for it, they're fools.

 

[Southernmiss]

Did anyone see The Middle this week about this very topic? Hilarious! Although, my kids are A students and they hate to be stuck with slackers. A teacher friend of mine says the Common core curriculum is going to require more group work, especially kids teaching kids.

 

[Bluestars]

My son ends up doing most of the work when he has to work with a group. It's bound to happen if you put a student who doesn't care with one who has high standards. They both get the same grade, yet the high performers pull all of the weight. I don't think working with groups benefits my son at all. It certainly benefits some of the kids he's had to work with though.

 

[gina2000]

Different perspective.....when my son was in 8th grade he had a project to do. He chose one of the kids whose grades weren't great...and who really didn't care.

When I asked him why he chose a student who didn't care, he replied, "I have total control over the project and can basically do what I want. So and so adds the small touches so that he can say he worked on the project. This way I don't have to answer to anyone, argue with anyone, or fight to do things my way."

This may not say much about his willingness to work with others, but it says a mouthful about his commitment to achieve a great grade.

 

[shortbun]

I agree with you 100%.

I'm the teacher. If I want kids to work in groups, I should be the one assigning those groups. If I choose to do it randomly, fine, but it's up to me to set up the structure.

Why would you want students to work in groups? The industrious kids(always the same ones) end up doing all the work, get shafted, and the others just ride on their coat tails. I hated groups, my husband hated them both in college and public school. my son hates groups-just does the work and allows the others to get the/his A. Group assignments are the worst!!! They are dangerous to any student working on a cumulative grade point who wants a 4point or better. Teachers who assign groups are mean because no one oversees the group work well enough to see that everyone does the work-no one.

 

[shortbun]

Interesting thread. I work in a project based organization where I simultaneously work on several projects with different team configurations. In my experience, some people are just not skilled in working on teams. I wonder if these are the same people who didn't learn to work together on teams in schools. Learning to become a good team player is not an easy skill and applaud those teachers why assign team based work!

It only teaches team work if the teacher really does their work and oversees everything closely to see that ALL the students are working. I'm guessing your office doesn't have any of those students who couldn't read or had been up all night and gone hungry working there. It's a lot easier to work on a project with people of like mind. Public school does not provide that environment.

 

[Aliceacc]

The two times a year I do it, here's my reasoning:

I give one huge problem that has 20something parts. (I teach Geometry. Once it's a huge circle, the other time it's a huge triangle containing parallel lines, altitudes, angle bisectors, and anything else I can think of inside it.)

I tell the kids that tomorrow I'm going to ask for a consensus on the answers. Then I shut the doors to keep the noise from bothering other classes, and let them work. Some kids form groups, others are comfortable working on their own. I walk around the room from one group to another, dropping hints if needed to jumpstart anyone who needs it.

But when someone gets stuck, he or she can simply ask someone for help. Some kids are very hesitant to ask too many questions; they're afraid of looking stupid. Yet they're less hesitant to ask their good friends the same question. I've also found that even the strong kids learn a lot by explaining their work to their friends. They say the very best way to learn something is to teach it, and I see that when I do this particular assignment. I always catch a lot of "aha!" moments.

Inevitably, they get at least a 9/10 on the quiz; the vast majority of the time they get all the answers correct. And it helps break up the rythym of class. After the first time, they always ask whether I have any more "mega-problems" and are happy to learn that there's another on the horizon.

Oh, and for the record, I would like to offer a bit of support for all those kids who don't earn the A's. Sure, some of the kids are the top of my classes are the ones with the strong work effort... some of them. Contrary to popular belief, not all the "industrious" kids are the ones with the highest grades. Some of my most industrious kids work their tails off for a B, or even a C. I've taught some incredibly gifted, incredibly lazy kids as well. For some,math is easy.... they see the logic and just don't have to work as hard to attain those high grades. Not every kid with high grades is a good student. And some of those A students are in it only for the grades; maintaining that precious "4.0 average" is all they care about. Some will happily cheat to get those 4.0's if they think they can get away with it. Sometimes Honors classes can be tough to teach. Not because of the material, but because of the overwhelming concern about grades, on the part of the kids and their parents. Sometimes the Honors kids put those high grades above all else, while their "average" classmates exhibit a real love of learning.

Some of the most industrious, hard working kids I've ever met have been C students. Ask any teacher who has been in the profession for a while; the correllation between work ethic, or decency as a human being, and grades isn't always as high as some might think. Good kids, good work ethics, good study habits come with a pretty wide variety of GPA's. Please don't deny your "A student" sons and daughters the opportunity to learn from some of those hard working C students; you might be surprised at the lessons some of those kids can teach. Some of them put in many, many times the number of hours per night their brighter classmates put in. And they persevere, even when the results of those hours of studying don't land them on the honor roll.

I'm kind of stunned at some of the comments I've seen on this thread about kids who don't achieve those top grades, and the names they've been called. If only you could spend some time in my classes, you would come to know some incredibly wonderful kids who don't happen to be at the top of their classes. But I would be thrilled if my own kids brought these kids home as friends

While I'm not a fan of group work the way some here have described it, I'm not sure I would label my colleagues as "mean" simply because they don't share my point of view.