As we implement the common core standards, attempting to use them to promote equity in classrooms, well designed group work is imperative.  One of the major pitfalls of group work is putting kids in groups just for the sake of putting kids in groups. The first thing to consider is whether a task is even group-worthy at all.  I first heard this term used by Rachel Lotan of Stanford University to develop an idea called complex instruction.  Jo Boaler discusses the details of complex instruction in this video.  Not all tasks make good tasks for group work.  A group-worthy task will require students to work together and discuss the material in order to complete the product that has been assigned.

Examples and non-examples

Imagine that your class has just completed a study of the constitution.  If you gave students a set of factual questions to answer about the Constitution, this task would more easily be completed individually.  There is no need for students to work together or discuss; however, if the task was to develop a class or school Constitution in order to demonstrate understanding of the concept, this would lend itself to discussion and interaction. It would also allow students with a variety of abilities to participate.  If a student wasn’t a good reader or writer, there would still be plenty of opportunity for contribution and success.

Think about a unit on apostrophes.  Students inserting apostrophes appropriately through the use of a worksheet, not group-worthy.  Considering the state of Arkansas, students develop an argument for or against the use of an apostrophe to show possession; group-worthy.  Students can demonstrate competence through research, discussion, verbal argument and multiple parts of the writing process.  It is open ended, having more than one right answer.

Conclusion

It is possible to make a simple task like completing a worksheet, a group task. And, if structured well, it can even be very productive.  But the goal has to be that all group members learn a certain skill rather than that each member complete the worksheet.  Tasks like this don’t generally create equity among members because there is usually only one way to succeed.  For example, if the worksheet or skill is to solve one step equations then if a student has difficulty remembering processes in math, there is no other way for them to experience success or demonstrate competence.   I am not arguing that this is not a necessary skill, just that it may not make a group-worthy task and that it won’t develop equity among group members.  Rachel Lotan has worked long and hard on this topic and outlines and describes 5 elements of design needed to create group-worthy tasks in her article Group-worthy Tasks .  Lotan and her colleague Elizabeth Cohen, who wrote an excellent book called Designing Groupwork: strategies for the heterogeneous classroom, have done extensive research, mostly in math classrooms, about this topic.

Focusing on the value of the task provided to students can increase the level of equity among group members and also increase what Cohen refers to as “status” in students in a variety of ways.  Academic status, social status, and societal status are all areas that can be either high or low for students and are all areas that can be equalized through group-worthy tasks. Are you using group-worthy tasks or are you just putting kids in groups?