Before you are seated, please look inside the back of your nametag for a slip of colored paper. Please seat yourself at the table bearing a sheet of paper of the same color. Thank you!
Facilitator: Dr. Claire Lamonica,
Associate Director, CTLT

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What problems have you encountered with group work in the past? What questions/concerns have these problems left you with? Or, if you have not used group work in your teaching, what questions/concerns have prevented you from doing so? Make a list!

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 How to deal with
“slackers”
 How to form groups
 How to deal with overly dominant group members
 How to prevent cheating/plagiarism/ double-dipping
 How to use group work in large classes
 How to engage students in effective peer evaluation
 How to ensure student buy-in
 How to encourage students to speak up when there’s a problem in the group
• How to get them to change/alternate roles (dev.
Leadership skills)
• How to accurately track individual contributions to group
• How to encourage out-of-class interaction w/out assigning “extra” work
• How to help students assess/understand their OWN growth/development as team leaders/members

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 participated in a variety of group undertakings suitable for use in their own classrooms
 identified ways to address some of the challenges associated with cooperative and collaborative learning
 prepared to share with colleagues some common cooperative/collaborative learning activities
 feel prepared to continue designing a cooperative or collaborative project suitable for use in courses you’ll be teaching in the spring

Group Task 1:
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Goal
To identify at least three possible strategies for addressing common questions/concerns about group work.
Procedure
1.
Each group will receive a list of 3-4 common questions/concerns
2.
3.
In your groups, identify at least three strategies for dealing with each question/concern
In your group, use the template provided to create a poster* for each question/concern.
4.
5.
You will be sharing your posters with the rest of today’s participants, so each member of your group should be prepared to share with the rest of the group the strategies you’ve developed for addressing these questions/concerns.
In addition, your posters may be used for our
(tentative) November 11 CAST Showcase.
*How to Create Your Posters
1. Move to the designated computer.
2. Open the “Addressing Common
Questions/Concerns” PowerPoint
Presentation in the “CAST Small Group
Workshop” on your desktop. (NOTE:
Please use the desktop that is already open on the computer. If you log out and then log back in under your own name, this folder will no longer be available to you. I apologize if this is inconvenient!)
3. Create a poster that includes the question/concern and at least three potential strategies for addressing it.
4. Repeat for each question/concern assigned to your group.
5. Save frequently to the folder on the desktop! Be sure to save each poster as a separate document!

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The PURPOSE of this activity is to identify and disseminate knowledge and/or expertise.
POSSIBLE USES of this activity include the identification (and possible correction) of students’ prior knowledge; the dissemination of foundational knowledge; the development of impromptu speaking skills; the development of note-taking skills, the development of critical questioning skills; and more.
 The teacher polls the class to see which students have a special knowledge to share.
 Those students (the sages) stand and spread out in the room.
 The teacher then has the rest of the classmates each surround a sage, with no two members of the same team going to the same sage.
 The sage explains what they know while the classmates listen, ask questions, and take notes.
 All students then return to their teams. Each in turn, explains what hey learned. Because each one has gone to a different sage, they compare notes.
 If there is disagreement, they stand up as a team.
 The disagreements are discussed as a class and resolved.

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What effect did the completion of these activities (one collaborative and one cooperative) have on your attitude toward assigning students to work in groups?
Would either or both of these activities be worth adapting for use with your students? If so, how might you adapt it or them? If not, why not?

Goals
Group Task 2:
Procedure
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 To contribute to the collaborative production of a PowerPoint presentation that provides information about a variety of common cooperative/ collaborative learning activities.
 To give a short (5 minutes, max) presentation that quickly introduces the strategies to the rest of the participants in this workshop.
1. Move to the designated computer.
2. Open the document, “ASSIGNMENT: Exploring
Cooperative and Collaborative Learning Strategies.” Read the directions together.
3. Open the PowerPoint Presentation, “Exploring
Cooperative and Collaborative Learning Strategies” in the
“CAST Small Group Workshop” on your desktop. (NOTE:
Please use the desktop that is already open on the computer. If you log out and then log back in under your own name, this folder will no longer be available to you. I apologize if this is inconvenient!)
4. Create a Power Point slide for each activity.
5. Make sure every member of your group is prepared to explain all the learning strategies to his/her colleagues, using the slides as visual aids.
6. Save frequently to the folder on the desktop!
7. Be prepared to present your slides to the larger group in the form of a small group presentation. (That is, each member of your group should contribute to the presentation.)

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Could you use any of the cooperative/collaborative learning activities you explored in your classroom?
Why or why not?

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BEFORE NOON on November 10:
 Complete the “Small Group Assignment Design Template” you have been given and use it as the basis for a handout (1 page, front/back, max.) describing a small group assignment that you plan to use in a course you’re teaching this spring.
 NOTE: Your audience is your colleagues in CAST who are interested in incorporating cooperative/collaborative learning into their teaching, but were not able to attend these workshops.
 Send your handout as an email attachment to me
( cclamon@ilstu.edu
) before noon on November 10. I will make copies and bring them to our (tentative) Showcase on November
11.

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 Please complete an evaluation form before you leave.
 The intended outcomes for today’s workshop were that, by the end of the session you would have
 participated in a variety of group undertakings suitable for use in their own classrooms
 identified ways to address some of the challenges associated with cooperative and collaborative learning
 prepared to share with colleagues some common cooperative/collaborative learning activities
 feel prepared to continue designing a cooperative or collaborative project suitable for use in courses you’ll be teaching in the spring
 If you have questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to email or call.
I’ll be happy to talk to you: cclamon@ilstu.edu
; 438-7695