How to Make Group Work Work

We all have cringeworthy memories of group work assignments. From our earliest school days through the end of our college years, group projects were more anxiety-inducing and frustrating than productive.

There were those moments when we were partnered with a classmate who we knew would not contribute. Or the one who would monopolize the group and implement only their own ideas. Or the friend who lived too far away to help finish the hands-on project before the looming due date, leaving the group unable to drive the project over the finish line. There was the credit stealer, the piggy-backer, the no-show, or, worse yet, the antagonist who took away our confidence in our own participation. We have all carried the dead weight of the partner who could not have cared less about the group’s grade, and we have mitigated the anxieties of the partner whose future depended on it. Chances are, through the years, we’ve likely played a number of these roles ourselves.

Despite these universal experiences, teachers unknowingly perpetuate the negative impact of group work. Research consistently shows that the advantages of group work include long-term knowledge retention, metacognitive and language development, and soft skill acquisition, including negotiation, conflict resolution, active listening, and public speaking. But what the research does not tell us is what happens when group work goes awry.

This leaves teachers justifying the impact that reverberates from negative group interactions, as we tell ourselves it is important for our students to learn how to be a productive member of a team and that they will need this critical skill for the workplace. While we’re not wrong about this sentiment, there are a myriad of simple ways for us as teachers to strengthen our approach to group work in order to help our students reap the benefits.

The crucial step we are often missing is teaching our students how to set themselves up for successful collaboration and teamwork. To that end, I offer the key to designing and facilitating effective group work: the individual. If each member of a group is held accountable for being a contributing member, then and only then can the group succeed. With that goal in mind, follow these core recommendations.

Focus on individual preparation

Effective group work begins before students ever meet as a group. This means that all students should show up to their first group meeting prepared with written ideas to share. Reading, note-taking, and idea generating should be completed thoroughly by each member of the class, and approved by the teacher, as an entry ticket to group work.

This important step allows group members to feel confident in their contributions to the group effort, thereby making conversations more focused and productive. The quality of the group’s work improves when every person enters with something to contribute. Individual preparation builds confidence, equity of voice, higher-level thinking, and accountability.

Have a pre-collaboration checklist

Individual preparation strategies can be extensive or quick and practical. Examples include annotating a text before the group’s discussion or doing a quick-write to brainstorm independently. Individual planning sheets or graphic organizers also offer a platform for individual preparation, as do silent think-time and independent research before group talk.

A pre-collaboration checklist is key and should vary based on the type of assignment. It should identify specific written information needed before joining the group, focusing on the steps a student should take to be prepared with ideas to contribute. It should also identify the steps needed to be ready to ask thoughtful questions in order to gain additional insights from other group members.

The takeaway

Once they prepare, students are able to experience the full benefits of collaboration. They can bounce ideas off of each other. Listening carefully to their classmates’ ideas, they can extend their thinking beyond the walls of their own minds, incorporating new perspectives and theories into their own conceptual understandings, taking their work to the next level. The takeaway is not a final group product, but rather an enriched process that will lead to a more polished and well-developed learning outcome.

Additional tips for successful group work

Avoid laptops at all costs during group work sessions. Laptops lead students to be off-task, distracting them from listening carefully to others’ contributions and preventing full and equal participation.

Location, location, location! Be sure group members are sitting in close proximity, facing each other, in a space where each member can hear the others speak. This suggestion may seem obvious, but unproductive environments and arrangements are often the norm. If possible, take advantage of extra spaces in your school, such as the library, a student lounge, or a small reading nook.

Join the groups. Teachers should move around the classroom from group to group. Many students need guidance on the components of successful interactions, such as making eye contact with the speaker and not speaking over each other.

Establish routines for group work. Time is saved by minimizing the need for directions each time groups meet. Yearlong routines help students predict and plan their participation in the group.

Consider maintaining the same groups for longer periods of time. It can take time for students to figure out the best way to communicate with each other.

Accountability matters. Just as preparation for group work should be done individually, the final product should also be completed individually, with each member responsible for contributing their component. This seemingly simple suggestion keeps all participants focused, active, and invested in the group’s idea exchanges, and avoids putting students in situations where they need to compromise unnecessarily.

Our goal as educators is to create well-rounded individuals with the skills they need to be successful. Giving our students the building blocks to be contributing group members is crucial, but this skill is not intrinsic. It needs to be directly taught, modeled, and practiced. By setting the standard early for all students to be contributing members of a group, teachers can enhance group interactions and productivity. This can change the way students view group projects and help them achieve the lifelong benefits of collaboration.