July 9, 2004, by Teaching at Nottingham

Monitoring small groups in large groups

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Group working session

There is the sound of many conversations in the room as students work in small groups.

Interview

Do Coyle: “There may well be instances where you want to monitor what the students are discussing, but the presence of the teacher or tutor in a group affects what people are going to be saying. So there’s a tension there between wanting to monitor, and be seen to monitor, because that’s an important teaching strategy – to monitor groupwork – but at the same time to stand back and let students have free rein on their own small group communication.

“So that’s another issue about managing group work and trying to ensure that at the end of it all the groups feel that they’re fairly represented and that what has happened within a group is going to be shared effectively with everybody else.”

Group working session

There is the sound of many conversations in the room as students work in small groups.

Do: “But what’s your preferred learning style?”
Inaudible discussion ensues.

Do Coyle
School of Education

Do is teaching PGCE students in the Dearing building on Jubilee campus. The students are learning to become qualified teachers. Produced July 2004.
This video was originally published as part of PESL’s Teaching at Nottingham collection.

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