Developing a Collaborative Community
Within an 11th Grade Classroom
As I was handing back papers on the first week of my placement, I asked a student “who is this?” the student pointed in one direction and as I handed the paper to him, he said, “Mr. Liew, this isn’t me.” Surprised I took the paper back and handed it to the correct student, on the other side of the room. This happened one semester into the school year and showed that many of the students did not know each other’s names. I found this quite surprising and it started to make me think whether or not it was a unique instance. Throughout the rest of the week I listened in on conversations between students and found that students only talked to students that they knew. During pair discussions, I found that if students did not know each other well, they would not spend much time discussing even when instructed to do so by the teacher.
A few days later the students were placed in new groups for a project, and several times I overheard students asking each other what their names were. It made me wonder, “how many of their classmates do they actually know?” During my initial findings, I asked on a student feedback form "What percentage of names in this class do you know?" and the responses showed that about a third of the class did not know more than 50% of their class (figure 1). As the groups worked on projects together I noticed that few student practiced collaboration in their group work. Most of the groups simply split the workload into three portions and worked individually. This made me question if the effectiveness of their group collaboration had anything to do with how well they knew each other.
A few days later the students were placed in new groups for a project, and several times I overheard students asking each other what their names were. It made me wonder, “how many of their classmates do they actually know?” During my initial findings, I asked on a student feedback form "What percentage of names in this class do you know?" and the responses showed that about a third of the class did not know more than 50% of their class (figure 1). As the groups worked on projects together I noticed that few student practiced collaboration in their group work. Most of the groups simply split the workload into three portions and worked individually. This made me question if the effectiveness of their group collaboration had anything to do with how well they knew each other.
Figure 1 - How well do these students know each other?
After the first month of observing, the classroom I started to see that students needed to learn how to work together. This was not an issue of whether or not collaborative opportunities were available in the classroom, because there were group projects, pair discussions, and group discussions in place. I also had the opportunity to ask students whether or not they enjoyed doing group work in the classroom, and an overwhelming amount of students seemed to like it (figure 2). From this information, I saw that the issue was not that students did not like group work, but rather students having difficulty communicating with each other during projects. There was a common occurrence of assigning responsibilities to different people "I didn't know I was supposed to do that." The level of effort that people put in also arose towards the end of each of the projects, some people were in on the free ride. I began to see a need for creating a community safe space for students to express their ideas. Being placed in a high school setting this could be very difficult for students to put aside the fear of saying the wrong things or making a fool of themselves in front of their peers. As I unpack this need for community, I found three layers in which I could begin the process of shaping the classroom atmosphere: (1) building the sense of community through collaboration groups, (2) using technology and social media to facilitate community, (3) creating projects that directly and indirectly promote working together.
From my past experiences in schools, I believe that building a sense of community is very important in the classroom because the students need to know that the classroom is a safe place for them to learn. Classroom community and learning environments are also important settings to develop certain skills such as: relational skills, respect, and collaborative working. While observing the class during “pair share,” I noticed that a third of the students were willing to share with their partners about their thoughts on the topic, another third of the students turned to talk about other non-class related things, and another third continued to do their own work individually.
From my past experiences in schools, I believe that building a sense of community is very important in the classroom because the students need to know that the classroom is a safe place for them to learn. Classroom community and learning environments are also important settings to develop certain skills such as: relational skills, respect, and collaborative working. While observing the class during “pair share,” I noticed that a third of the students were willing to share with their partners about their thoughts on the topic, another third of the students turned to talk about other non-class related things, and another third continued to do their own work individually.
Figure 2 - Gauging how students felt about group work
The classroom is a paperless classroom, 95% of the work that is done is through the iPads. As I observed their interaction with technology in the classroom, I also observed students who would be on their phones and on their iPads at the same time. I saw most of them browsing through their social media accounts, and being completely connected in two spheres at once, the classroom environment and their online environment. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and various other forms of social media have become a large factor in the way that people find and build community. Whether these applications connect us to friends that we already have, or allow us to join a larger community, the large social media culture makes it difficult for people to be disconnected from a community. Often we become part of groups that have shared interests while other times we are placed in communities that are set for us. While we do get to choose whether or not to participate in these interest groups, most of us do not get to choose who we work with, we do not get to choose our family members, and in the education system, we do not get to choose who our classmates are. Yet despite the fact we do not get to choose to be in these communities, these are the very communities that tend to be the most important for us, in regards to development. Using the student feedback form, I asked if they were interested in using social media for the class, expecting support from the students, but I found that more than half of each class did not want to (figure 3). I hope to utilize this need for social interaction in a way that will encourage participation without the fear of “saying the wrong thing.”
"I don't like raising my hand because I'm usually not sure of the answer and I don't want to sound dumb."
-Student
-Student
Figure 3 - Interest in using social media for class
A few weeks after that initial incident, I started to take a larger role in planning instruction as well as teaching the class. Shortly after telling the students to break off into their groups, a student raised her hand. Unsure of what she was going to ask, I hesitatingly called on her. She asked, “Mr. Liew, are we going to keep doing group work?” I couldn’t tell if she enjoyed doing group work or if she did not like it. I responded with, “yes we probably will be, why?” She answered with a short, “I don’t like it, I don’t like having to rely on somebody who can’t get their #@$* done.”
Her thoughts did not surprise me because many of my classmates in high school shared the same sentiment. Growing up in a heavily individualized society (as opposed to collectivist), we tend to disregard collaboration, and even when we do have group work, it is more about making us do less work rather than making the work better. This ideology was the same for me as I grew up; it was a “every man for himself” type of mentality. Even though I did several group projects, there was little to no learning involved. The best part of group projects was that we were able to do less work for the same grade, especially if the group members were smart and creative. As I entered UCSD for my undergraduate career, I found that collaboration was far more than just putting the puzzle together, but that it was working together to do something that we could not do by ourselves. Having a community to support my learning and growth challenged me to think about how I approach education and the learning environment I hope to build in the classroom.
Her thoughts did not surprise me because many of my classmates in high school shared the same sentiment. Growing up in a heavily individualized society (as opposed to collectivist), we tend to disregard collaboration, and even when we do have group work, it is more about making us do less work rather than making the work better. This ideology was the same for me as I grew up; it was a “every man for himself” type of mentality. Even though I did several group projects, there was little to no learning involved. The best part of group projects was that we were able to do less work for the same grade, especially if the group members were smart and creative. As I entered UCSD for my undergraduate career, I found that collaboration was far more than just putting the puzzle together, but that it was working together to do something that we could not do by ourselves. Having a community to support my learning and growth challenged me to think about how I approach education and the learning environment I hope to build in the classroom.
This leads to my questions:
How can I create a collaborative learning environment that builds a sense of community?
How do I create engaging projects that promote collaboration?
How do I form collaborative learning groups that can support each other academically?
How can I use technology and social media to build community within the classroom?
How can I create a collaborative learning environment that builds a sense of community?
How do I create engaging projects that promote collaboration?
How do I form collaborative learning groups that can support each other academically?
How can I use technology and social media to build community within the classroom?