Using Student Teams

Using Student Teams

I'm amazed by your adaptability and the learning opportunities that have been created for our students. It's no surprise that our parents and students are using phrases like, "much better than I thought it was going to be," "been a good experience," and "I've been impressed watching over my kids' shoulders." 

One of the questions I've posed in conversations with many of you is, "What has been most helpful?" and "How are you helping your creating opportunities for student connection?" Many mentioned learning teams and cohorts. 

Why teams? 
  • They allow students to build connections and relationships.
  • Students support each other's academic growth by asking questions and offering help.
  • It frees me up to be more strategic with how I use my time. 
  • They can be used flexibly and organically. One week it may simply be contact groups where they ask each other for help when needed, but for some classes they may be project teams working collaboratively on a task. 
How can they and have they been used? 
  1. Use flexible grouping and assigning students to groups based on readiness, talents, personal traits, etc. It may be helpful to survey students about their talents and also ask if there's someone in the class with whom they cannot work. 
  2. Start off with an activity that allows students to get to know the other members of their team and repeat this with shorter activities. 
  3. Keep students in teams for a pre-determined amount of time to foster meaningful relationships and to ensure personal growth.
  4. Encourage students to share contact information, even if it's just their school emails. Side note: Are we all noticing students are checking school emails much more frequently than in the past? 
When having students working in groups, it's helpful to be upfront with the students. This is something I often skipped skipped or glanced over, which resulted in student confusion and less learning. Be explicit and start off with the importance of interpersonal skills and even creating a behavioral goal associated with what you want students to work on. A quick Google search for something like "skills employers want" returns desirable career skills. By highlighting the skills students will be exhibiting and working on during the upcoming project, we can create meaningful learning experiences. 

Design tasks that require students to work in teams. Ideal tasks will require students to work independently but towards a common goal, creating interdependence. Good collaborative assignments often require students to reach a consensus on a complex task (a good starting practice would be to have them reach a consensus on a topic such as "How long should the live learning be for each period?"). Aim for an assignment that cannot be done individually. 

Tasks/Important Information 


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