Intent

This activity is an opportunity for students to thoughtfully consider how they participate in groups.

Mathematics

In an open-ended exploration such as Consecutive Sums, productive group work is quite helpful. In this activity, students reflect on their experiences as members of a collaborative problem-solving group.

Progression

Students reflect on their participation in the open-ended activity Consecutive Sums to identify norms for productive interaction, to assess their level of participation, and to consider ways that they can draw others into the group.

Approximate Time

10 minutes for introduction

20 minutes for activity (at home or in class)

15 minutes for discussion

Classroom Organization

Whole class, then individuals, followed by whole-class discussion

Doing the Activity

Once students have completed Consecutive Sums, you might introduce this activity by asking them to think about this question: What makes a group work well?

Have students do focused free-writing on this topic. (See “Focused Free-Writing” in the Overview to the Interactive Mathematics Program.) Briefly explain the expectations of focused free-writing, if you haven’t already. There are several key points to make.

Explain that it is better to write things like “I can’t think of what to say” than to stop writing completely.

After a few minutes, have volunteers share their ideas, either reading what they wrote or just talking about their thoughts. If students are reluctant to share their ideas, you might prompt some conversation by asking questions such as the following.

Describe a time when you thought your group was working especially well together, when you were all achieving more than you could alone.

Describe a time when your group might have been able to be more productive. What was going on?

What strategies have you noticed you or other group members using that brought the group back together and that helped you be more successful?

Tell students that group work often does not come naturally and may not be a great experience if group members aren’t thoughtful about how they are working and interacting. Learning to work well in groups is not necessarily an easy thing. However, as long as students get involved in their groups and respect the other members, they should see improvement.

Tell students that in this activity, they will think more specifically about the actions people take in groups.

Discussing and Debriefing the Activity

Let students share what they want about this activity. Such open discussion is important for developing a classroom climate in which students are willing to share their ideas and opinions.

To break the ice, you may want to talk about your own experiences working in groups. This is also an appropriate time to return to (and possibly edit) the posted classroom norms, group roles, or the “Characteristics of a Well-Functioning Group” poster from Lonesome Llama.

You may wish to collect and read these assignments, not for grading, but to gain insight into the dynamics of your classroom and the attitudes of your students.

Key Questions

Describe a time when you thought your group was working especially well together, when you were all achieving more than you could alone.

Describe a time when your group might have been able to be more productive. What was going on?

What strategies have you noticed you or other group members using that brought the group back together and that helped you be more successful?

Supplemental Activity

Getting Involved (reinforcement) asks students to reflect on a situation in which one person in a group is not contributing.