The Importance of an Efficient Group Work Activity

When I become a teacher I plan to have my students work in cooperative groups because this allows them a chance to share their knowledge and ideas with their peers. Due to the fact that most students are on different developmental levels, those students who are of higher developmental levels can provide the other students with their ideas and perception of their knowledge. I feel that teachers should not be scared to let their students participate in group work because I think it is a great method of learning.

Thus the role of group work can be seen as one which places emphasis on sharing of thoughts, ideas, problems and activities.

In my opinion, group work is a type of cooperative learning that helps people to accomplish a certain task in a faster and more effective manner. Team working also helps to achieve the tasks that are impossible to finish by one individual. However, if people in a group have a lot of conflicts, group work will not be able to achieve as much as we expected. There are many reasons which lead to dissatisfaction in group work such as individualism as well as conflicts in opinion and time.

Something that we learned as a group was that cooperation helps a lot. Certain tasks were accomplished faster and this showed us that one person does not have to do the entire project on their own. Procrastination is also detrimental, causing cramming on days before deadlines. This can be stressful and force meetings to be postponed. Our group has also learned to follow a set schedule. Following a schedule allows us to complete all of our work on time.

The teacher prepares the students to operate in a small group together. This practice can enhance the student’s cooperative learning skills.

Small groups require active teaching with much teacher guidance or involvement. Small groups can teach the context better than a larger group, allowing for no child to be struggling and left behind. Reading, math and science can benefit from small group interaction. Each student has a chance to be heard, voice his opinion or conclusion, get a response from the teacher and the other group participants, and close the gap for error. The key for successful learning is when the teacher involves himself and gets excited about what the children are to be taught. This is also true in group study as

Since much of our time is spend in groups, it is helpful to work in groups because it will give an opportunity to improve their human functioning. Group work helps to develop individual skills in communication, relationship building and asserting oneself

In Case Study 5.1, Mrs. James not only effectively started her class with sharing her own experiences and building relationship with her students but also emphasized the importance of group work, which is in helping and learning from each other. She illustrated the following strategies and routines that supported cooperative learning: room arrangement, talk and movement procedures and individual accountability by building students’ social, explanation and sharing skills.

Throughout life there are many instances in which an individual has to work in a group to complete a task/project. The importance of group work is to have teamwork with each member of the group. Humans are driven to connect with each other and by working as a group ideas become much more enriched and the ideas or thoughts that each person ‘brings to the table’ each individual is able to add onto that idea or it can trigger one to think of something completely different.

I always thought that working in groups meant one or two people doing all the work and the rest just goofing off. But in our group each individual had a specific task that they had to perform to make sure the group assignment got done. The group consisted of 9 people who are as followed; Christian Clark, Reilyenne Nahulu, Michel Rivera, Hunter Salavea-Timoteo, Kashalynn Vergara, Paola Guadalupe Gonzalez, Kobee Ledward, Bryje Ahia, and Jeremie Saludares. The analysis covers the importance of an interesting topic, preparation needed, roles I played, things that went well in our group, could've done better, and the two important things about group communication.

With the heterogeneous groups the level of discussion and cooperative work is increased, providing benefits for every student partaking. According to Paul Burden and David Byrd (2012), “Having students work in groups generally has a positive effect on their achievement when compared to their work as individuals.” Small-group work and discussions allows for students to improve their communication skill, cooperation skills, and gain new insight and understanding from their peers in a way that could not be achieved working alone.

Group work has been a cornerstone of the social work profession and requires a variety of facilitator skills and awareness of group processes. The SSLDTM Group Program for People with Difficulties in Social Situations (Socialwork1914, 2017) provides an excellent example of a psycho-educational group co-facilitated by two female social workers, Jane and Karen. After viewing the 6th session of this 8-week program, I began to understand how the concepts of group formation/development, interpersonal dynamics, and leadership styles contribute to successful group work outcomes.

The second “best practice” for group work is to look for the best in people. Refrain from going into the project with negative expectations of the assignment or members of the group. In addition, bar yourself from masking your own insecurities by pointing out faults in others. Look for and expect the best from every member of the group, including yourself. Ask yourself how what each person’s strengths are and what makes them a valuable contribution to the group (Hunter,

Working in a group can be very difficult at times. Different people with different views may not always agree which one another. Throughout the various task I played the communicator. I made sure everyone was on track on what we wanted to do. I also made sure people was okay and happy in the role they was playing in the group. My group worked together in collecting ideas from one another and making it into one.

I am Zeeshan Ali; I am working as a Computer teacher for Classes VI-X-M in Canal Side Boys Campus. I have done Masters in Computer Science (MCS) from Punjab University College of Information and Technology (PUCIT) Lahore. The students are the main focus of every teacher and our entire teaching efforts circle round our students to achieve the set targets. Effective Teaching includes many useful teaching strategies that a teacher chooses according to the requirement of his/her respective subject and topic as well. In result of my years of experience and as a Computer teacher I find Group Work as the most effective and fruitful technique at every level.