Student walked out
I have been trying different methods to see what works best for my students. I have a lesson plan suggesting that I have students complete an activity in small groups. Today, I presented the activity and suggested they work in small groups. Since the students seemed to sit there passively, I decided to assign groups. After I did this, one student logged off the computer, gathered her things, and simply walked out of class. I have not heard from her since.
Apparently this student is uncomfortable or disinterested in working in groups. I guess I won't know until she contacts me or I see her in class again so I can ask her. I briefly considered contacting her by text message; but I decided not to, thinking that her walking out without even telling me why was unprofessional/rude behavior which I shouldn't encourage by chasing after her.
Anyway, after she left, the whole activity broke down. A couple of students did the activity on their own, and others seemed lost.
Any advice regarding (a) dealing with the student who left, and (b) how to handle an activity like this in the future?
Thanks.
Hello, Gary. RE: "Student walked out" posting. Now that it has happened,let's see what to do: (1) I would definitely contact the student to make sure she is OK and to ask if she has any concerns. That would put your question is a non-defensive tone. I would NOT say "Why did you walk out?" because it can lead to either a confrontation or a closing of communication.
I KNOW what you are saying; her actions (walking out without a word of explanation) were not professional. But the point of going to ECPI is to learn the skills, knowledge and professionalism that she needs for a productive career. So first, we find the student and find out what is troubling her. THEN, we work on professionalism for future situations. (Can you imagine her walking out of a group meeting at her job?)
(2) Although "group work" sounds great, it DOES have a recurring problem: one person does most of the good work, and everyone else does littler or nothing (or they do it poorly). Perhaps she did have a bad experience with this. So, work slowly into "group work". One method is to have them work on an involved assignment that will be graded individually, BUT, encourage them to share what they figure out and to get the whole project done faster. I will show one student how to do something (such as set up a formula in Excel, or change the status of a Windows user to administrator), then instruct the student to show TWO others, who must also show TWO others. Thus the "group work" becomes "collaborative" work.
(3) for future events: Losing a class is so frustrating, and when it happens it can affect the whole term. Having said that, to fix THIS class,avoid group work until you have "buy in". "Buy in" is the feeling of team spirit that you establish in a class, usually in the first week. It is hard to say how I get the buy in going, but I focus on learning everyone's name the first day, using their name when ever I speak to them (even if it means making mistakes), giving them a tour of the gradebook so they know how to earn the best grade they can, and doling out manageable assignments that teach them something and are easy to grade, so they can see the building of knowledge and grades quickly. There's a lot of collaborative interaction, too, that I encourage (see above).
(4) For group work: Try group work again (later in the term) but use a "lottery" system: simple way is a set of playing cards with equal numbers of spade, club, heart, diamond. The students pick a card and find the diamond group. When I teach computer hardware class, I often make these random groups with scraps of paper that say gold, silver, aluminum, copper, iron, etc. Easy to do and make groups of any number.
Note: People do not want to "choose sides", because it quickly becomes a race to get the smartest (or most popular) person on their team. You can do this method only after they have worked in random or assigned groups several times.
Hope these comments are helpful to you and to others.
Erla (soon to be at the Westin for the conference!)
Suggesting work be completed via group activity sounds too open ended. Definitely take charge in creating the groups, and have them solve or complete a simple/short activity to break the ice.
I agree with Alexander. Sometimes students are not overly excited about working in groups especially until they get to know one another better. Try beginning the process with an explanation of what will be expected in the activity and why working in groups is preferred to working alone. Relate this to how many times we work together in the workplace.
I would contact the student just for personal knowledge. There may be more going on than you know.l
You do need to know why, so I think that some kind of contact is necessary, not to beg, but to gather info and show concern:
1) does she consider group work to be wasted time and therefore a waste of tution expense?
2) does she have a behavior disorder (anxiety/panic) that is exacerbated by group interaction?
3) is there someone in her group that makes her uncomfortable?
4) did she receive a text message about a family member who died?
The list could go on, but until you have the right info, it is hard to make a judgement or to determine a 'next step'.
Erla's comment about getting some buy-in is spot on. If the group work is just a 5 minute exercise to brainstorm that is one thing. If the group work is a major project making up a significant portion of the grade, this could be a powder keg unless all the players understand how to stay away from the fuses that cause interpersonal explosions. If they have already had some success in doing some case study style brainstorming, it will not be as hard to get them to take it to the next level, and they will have some experience in dealing with each other.
Good advice from everyone!
Here's my 2-cents (apologies if I'm restating things others have said or already know):
- You are a manager. Choose teams purposefully, and manage them for success. It takes more effort than handing out individual assignments, not less, so the team effort must also be chosen intentionally for the benefits it will provide to your goals.
- You are also a teacher. Unlike a workforce manager, you don't get to interview and screen applicants for your teams. You must work with everyone you have, which means that on top of being an excellent and very organized manager, you must also be a compassionate leader. It takes more time to be compassionate, not less, so your communication must be efficient. By this I mean you must be a very good listener (both to what is being said, and also to what is being felt). I would advise one-on-one conversations with every student, and with teamwork, I would advise team-meetings with you and each team.
- Like I said - teams are more work, not less! Pick their usage very intentionally. EX: Will they need to work in teams on this sort of thing after this course is over? Are there teamwork related learning objectives in the course? Will diversity benefit the final outcome? Are there diversity and conflict management learning objectives in the course? Etc...
All of the previous comments have some merit, and it's good to get different viewpoints. One factor to consider is that all students have different learning styles.
Just as the traditional "sage on the stage" method doesn't work well for some students who learn more effectively through application, interaction,etc, there are also students who don't perform well in groups [ for a number of reasons ].
There is one in every class. I don't feel that I should build the entire class around 1 student. Shame on the student
I think I would contact the student and ask if everything is okay. The first thing I would want to do is clarify her actions so that I can make a informed decision of how to handle her actions or any similar actions in the future. You might want to create some dialect with the students in how they feel about groups. My daughter is constantly complaining about the people and how they work within the group and how the teachers are unwilling to listen to concerns or complaints. I would set some rules after having the conversation with the group and have scheduled appointment to see how the participation is panning out.
