6. Group Activity 1 [30 min] This activity enables you to explore the ways in which as a teacher-facilitator, you can assist students as they progress through Tuckman’s stages of group development. Form groups of 5 members. Read through the scenario that you have been provided. Discuss with your group members how best to manage the situation presented. Write down your views on the flip-chart. Present your ideas to the class
12. Members’ individual characteristics Vernelle (1994) suggests that individual group members will take on roles that affect the way they behave and respond in the group. Factors influencing the roles are: Personal characteristics (e.g. age, gender, race) Social factors (e.g. culture, status) Self-esteem and confidence Past experiences Learning needs
13. Negative Group Roles Adapted from Redl (1972) and Vernelle (1994) Tyrant – dominant & at times, bullying Monopolizer – attention seeking Trivializer – cynical about what the group does and tends to downplay things Silent critic – shows disagreement through non-participation Fixer – attempts to make everything ‘right’ Distracter – disrupts and destabilizes Scapegoat – target of all bullying and blaming
14. Positive Group roles Leader – sets direction and coordinates group Listener – pays a listening ear and shows empathy Peace-maker – exerts a calming influence Motivator - inspires others and spurs the group forward
15. Group Activity 2 [30 min]Relating group roles to the factors influencing their development In your groups, discuss how the various factors may have affected the emergence of the different group roles proposed by Redl and Vernelle. [15 min.] Write down your findings on the chart provided. Share with the rest of the class. [15 min.]
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17. Group activity 3 [30 min] Each group is provided with a classroom scenario. With the help of the group members, identify the various group roles adopted by the protagonists. [15 min.] Discuss how, as a teacher-facilitator, you could promote the positive roles, while deterring the negative ones. [15 min.]
20. 9 Traits of effective leaders (Adapted from Kong et al., 2007)
21. Activity 4 [10 min.]: Identifying potential group leaders At the start of PW, you can identify potential group leaders using the ‘Assessing potential leaders’ instrument. Note that the tool only assesses potential leaders, not actual leadership qualities. Work through the instrument to assess your own leadership potential.
29. Coaching Coaching is giving feedback to group members to motivate, maintain and improve performance. Success in PW is to a large extent dependent on the kind of feedback given by teacher facilitators and group leaders.
30. Guidelines for coaching Cultivate a supportive relationship between group members Praise and give due recognition Avoid blaming, criticism and embarrassment Focus on the behaviour, not the person, e.g. instead of ‘don’t talk all the time’, say ‘can we hear what others have to say?’ Give coaching feedback, i.e. focus on how to improve rather than on the mistakes. (Adapted from Kong et al., 2007)
34. The BCF model The BCF model describes a conflict in terms of Behaviour (B), Consequences (C) and Feelings (F). Example: when you do B, C happens and I feel F.
71. Team grouping Homogeneous grouping is the placement of students of similar characteristics (abilities, gender, race) into one group. Heterogeneous grouping is when groups are made up of members of diverse characteristics, i.e. they differ in terms of academic ability, gender, character, race etc. Heterogeneous grouping is required for JC project work.
72. Heterogeneous Grouping for mixed-ability classes Know your students’ profile –ability, gender Group size: 4 – 6 Separate the girls and boys into 2 groups For each gender, rank your students from highest to lowest in terms of academic ability. To form five groups ( 1 to 5), assign the first five girls to each of these groups, i.e. first girl to group 1, second to group 2 etc.. Repeat the process for the next five girls, until all the girls have been distributed. Repeat the whole procedure with the boys, but in the reverse order, i.e. assign the last five boys to the five groups first.
73. Heterogeneous Grouping for homogeneous classes Four six groups of five students each, prepare the number (6) types of tokens as of number of groups. For each type of token, prepare the require number (5) as of students in each group. Mix up the tokens and ask the students to randomly pick one each. All students with the same type of tokens are to be in the same group.
74. Team buildingGroup Activity 4 With the help of your group members, organize an ‘ice-breaking’ activity that you could use to build rapport between PW team members. [15 min.] Share or implement your activity with the rest of the class. [20 min.]
75. References Kong, Y. P., Lussier, R. N., & Achua, C. F. (2007). Leadership and teambuilding. Singapore: Thomson Learning. Mintzberg, H. (1973). The nature of managerial work. New York: Longman. Tuckman, B. W. (1965). Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological Bulletin, 63: 384-399. Vernelle, B. (1994).Understanding and using groups. London: Whiting & Birch. Redl, F. (1972). When we deal with children: selected writings. New York: The Free Press.
Hinweis der Redaktion
Form 5 groups of 5 Prepare 6 flip-charts, each with a scenario of one of the 5 stages of development Allow group members 10 min to go through the scenario and write down how they would manage the situation presented. Each group is to present their findings to the rest of the class.
To provide each group with a scenario with at least five of the group roles demonstrated.
Establish ownership of the problem – e.g. if person A does not turn up for meetings, the other group members have the problem, not A.
