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Dr.J
Joined: 09 May 2003
Posts: 304
Location: usually Japan
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 Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 3:04 am Post subject: group dynamics (related to seating poll a little) |
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I've been musing over how to divide up a class of 40 students: 14-15 year olds, at a public high school.
Basically I need a way to split up groups of trouble makers without a) it being really obvious and so drawing attention to the fact that I think they are trouble makers thus making more tension in the class and b) placing the really disruptive ones in a place where they won't ruin the activity for the rest.
Just curious about your experiences with group dynamics and any advice would also be appreciated.
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struelle
Joined: 16 May 2003
Posts: 2372
Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 3:21 am Post subject: Re: group dynamics (related to seating poll a little) |
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| Quote: |
| I've been musing over how to divide up a class of 40 students: 14-15 year olds, at a public high school. |
I have a similar situation, although my folks are a little older. Still, the trouble-maker problem persists.
If the troublemakers are disrupting the class, the rest of the class probably already knows this without you mentioning it. Not doing anything about the disrputive students can de-motivate those eager to learn. Those who are motivated also don't like troublemakers, but they don't have the power to rectify the situation. The teacher does, however!
An effective solution is to seperate the disruptive students and disperse them throughout the room. Usually it's a bunch of obnoxious boys sitting in the back. In my case I just tell them to all stand up, and put several here, several there, several in one place, etc. When they are not together, they lose their disruptive power as there's no peer group to please. Another tactic that saves more time is to tell the entire row of troublemakers to stand up and take the front row seat.
Another idea recommended by my local colleague is to sit the students boy-girl. But I found at the teenage age, this really kills class motivation and the effect is the opposite - dead silence. In China at least, there is still a lot of segretation by sexes in the classroom.
Steve |
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Roger
Joined: 19 Jan 2003
Posts: 9138
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| Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 3:45 am Post subject: |
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| Separation is the key to making things work. I too order them to sit at desks away from each other. IT's usually the boys, seldom the girls. |
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been_there
Joined: 28 Oct 2003
Posts: 284
Location: 127.0.0.1
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| Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 1:01 pm Post subject: Re: group dynamics (related to seating poll a little) |
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| Dr.J wrote: |
| Basically I need a way to split up groups of trouble makers without a) it being really obvious and so drawing attention to the fact that I think they are trouble makers thus making more tension in the class |
To divvy up the troublemakers without it being TOO obvious (I agree with the other posters that it MUST be done, obvious or not) several ideas come to mind:
1. Tell the students that you want to practice putting words in alphabetical order. To practice, THEY should sit in alphabetical order by name. Before hand, make a seating chart to determine what variation (first or last name, going up and down the colums or across the rows) will put them in non-proximal spots.
2. Ask them to sit in order of their birthday.
3. Do it by height.
4. All of the above and stop when the troublemakers are sufficiently spread out so they can't play silly-buggers with each other.
OR
Number them off into groups. If there are six troublemakers, make six groups, if there are five, do five groups and so on. This will seperate them.
Do some groupwork.
When you finish the groupwork, tell the class "Ok, just turn your desks to face front RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE. DON'T go back to your original seats. These are your new seats."
Make a seating chart. Stick to it. |
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