Learning to Learn (Week 10 Throwback)

I'm a huge fan of group work. Of in-class group work, I should say. I prefer to do presentations alone because...actually, it's almost entirely because I'm a champion procrastinator, and group projects have to be done well ahead of the day of presentation so everyone knows what everyone's responsibility is. And, in these situations, I end up doing less work because we spread it around, so it actually ends up as less work. A fair trade of for not procrastinating.

ANYWAY, I like in class work, workshopping and whatnot like we did with the literacy autobiographies, that was a good time. I understand that, as Shari and Sara mentioned, that a lot of students don't like group work for a variety of reasons: some don't feel comfortable, some are worried about doing all the work, some aren't temperamentally suited for such a situation, etc., but I think that it's a net positive for all involved.

As "Accommodating Student Learning Styles" mentions, some students prefer one-on-ones with the teacher, or at the very least being lectured to on high by the wise man who, admittedly, is paid to impart said knowledge. Some students prefer the Socratic method and figuring it out for themselves. Both good, but I would weight it in favor of Socratic method and peer to peer workshopping-type work in-class. Certainly the teacher can help you to acquire the tools to use to begin your journey to effective writing kingdom [what the hell kind of sentence is that?], but in having to read writing of your peers and explain why it's effective or not, and trying to figure out ways to make it more effective, you develop these skills more intuitively. Of course, it's not a simple wild west type situation; the teacher obviously gives directed guidance and flits between groups to keep people on task, and of course the teacher has the final say, but not before the students themselves do the real work. The teacher is more of a facilitator. Learning effective group work strategies is important, because as it says at the end of the article:

 "[F]reshmen need to learn how to learn. Introverts and concrete sequentials should learn how to adapt their personality and learning style so they can participate productively in group work--they will have to do so often as undergraduates and, eventually, as professionals."