Smart Kid Hates Group Work
FAKE EDUCATION NEWS
–Queens, NY
(The most ironic and perverse crime in education today)
History teacher Derrick Barnes’ 12th grade class had just assembled into their work groups at Flushing High School in Queens, New York. After 10 minutes of frustration and futility, Tyrell Haynes, a student in Mr. Barnes’ class, delivered the following outburst (recorded on a students’ phone and transcribed below):
“I know why I’m in this group. Because I’m the only one who does any work, right? I notice there’s one of us in each group. Tyrell, could you be the group facilitator? I’m sure Tyrell wouldn’t mind starting off our question map. Perhaps Tyrell could do all the work while you other four sit on your clueless asses.
Well, maybe Tyrell doesn’t want to do it today. Maybe Tyrell wants to hang back this time. Maybe Tyrell wants Tryee to summarize the main point and tell HIM what to do next. Maybe Dakotah can lead us in a discussion about questions we still have. Maybe Carlos would like to lead us in our exam study session or the next time we brainstorm about how to start something Tyrell has already finished.
“I’m sick of this.
“At least I brought an article in. Nobody else could even bring in an article, never mind read it or be prepared to talk about it. All we have is my article for the five of us, again. Mr. Barnes, they’re not even listening to my summary. They only pretend to listen when you’re standing here. Don’t tell me you don’t know that. I’m summarizing my article for them and none of them brought an article to summarize for me. Why should Tyrell do that again?
“This is a bigger waste of time than putting my drunk-ass mom to bed after she pisses herself and almost burns down the apartment with a cigarette. I got my work done and now I have to come here to babysit and wait around for you to catch these lazy morons up. It’s not going to happen. They’re not going to catch up because they don’t do any work. I know you know that, too.
“You’ll make it look like they caught up by making the class easier. We’ll have vocabulary building Tuesday’s because these sorry fools won’t go to dictionary.com. I’m 17 years old. I don’t need a damn word wall and I learned how to make an outline in fifth grade. They tell you that having smart kids and dumb kids together will make the dumb kids smarter, right? I don’t see it. No disrespect, but Chris was in my group all last year and he’s still the same dummy he was. What if he rubs off on me? Did you ever think about that?
“I notice Kristin isn’t here. What a surprise…Maybe I could write a summary for her tomorrow. Would you like that, Mr. Barnes?
“C’mon…I mean seriously…the center of gravity in my educational universe should not be the ten least productive people in this class. Yet here we are, slowing down our orbit and staying close to the ground, hoping they might accidentally absorb something.
“Y’all are seriously holding me back. Let my people go! The smart kids are tired of getting screwed by this romper room bullshit puppet show you have to do for people who are barely here and don’t care. Smart, motivated kids should be united into a single classroom where we can get some work done.”
Tyrell received a verbal admonition for using inappropriate language and failing to nurture the Community of Scholars.
This article is dedicated with fondness and apologies to:
Tyrell, Sandra, Massiel, Briana, Qi Ling, Adrian, Amber, Robert, Shelby, Karen, Engedesew, Maria, Daysi, Adriane, Anicel, DeAngelo, Henok, Nilaja, Vanessa, Doris, Yuri, Cuiyun, Jillian, Marvin, Erika, Tomalika, Walter, Carolina, Gavie, Alfonso, Yodit, Jose, Edilson, Monica, Danielle, Fergii, Yancy, Christian, Fermin, Ellen, Eduardo, Raquel, Andrea, Keysi, Kathya, Oscar, Veronica, Joel, Violeta, Nanci, Corey, Italo, Amonie, Deamonte, Latoya, Oscar, Ingrid, Sixin, Kenisha, Jamaria, Keilah, DeCheyla, Shari, Henrietta, Kevwe, Amie, Esmerelda, Elvi, Kenrry, Hadiza, Sinia, David, Bobbie, Victor, Merlyn, Yosef, Luis, Ruth, Shanell, Ishola, Joi, Joselin, Ellen, Yared, Xi Lin, Darnell, Kimberly, Alima, Reynero, Cazzandra, Diamond, Dayrin, Crystal, Fabiola, Ronchonae, Luis and Leroy.
You deserved better than I could give you.
Mr. Gwynn
That is hilarious and all teachers have probably experienced something similar. This is especially true when you teach in a school with low motivated students. Queens sound a lot like chicago.
Sorry, it’s not the least bit hilarious. This is the cry for help we hear some students making now, and it’s the same as the cries for help I made as a kid. –Let My People Go!– For heaven’s sake let me be “grouped” with students like me who give a rat’s behind. Or just turn me loose with the required skills for the next few years and I will get through most of them before the end of the semester!
It’s the saddest thing I have heard in years. No wonder I don’t want to journal any more!
I didn’t find it hilarious, either. I remember a lovely girl named Keonna, who told me how grateful she was to finally be in an Honors English class (back when students had to apply to get in, and not everyone did.)
She said she had always hated being asked over and over to help other students: “I don’t want to be a teacher. I am not getting paid to be a teacher. If I bother to get out of bed and come to school, someone should have to teach me something.”
She wasn’t being mean. She didn’t mind answering an occasional question for a confused classmate. But she hated that her entire school experience consisted of listening to stuff she already knew and being expected to teach it to others.
Her words have become my philosophy of teaching: if you bothered to get up and come to school, I ought to teach you something.
Poor Tyrell. He clearly has not done his best practices research or he might have read Doris Alvarez and Hugh Mehan’s article “Whole-School Detracking: A Strategy for Equity and Excellence.” Of course, I didn’t either, I just googled detracting in education and that’s what popped up. But, with a title like that, who needs to read it? The title both states and proves the thesis, right Mr. Teachbad?
On another note, Mr. Gwynn, they all deserve more than we can give them, just as you deserved better than you got. We also deserve teachers like you back in the classroom. There is still work to be done.
The ONE TIME I let one of my brainiacs work alone because she was upset about something and “in a mood”, I was observed and the girl was questioned endlessly by the principal about her lack of cooperation. She worked and completed the work, she just needed some breathing room. After the lesson I was admonished for letting the student dictate my lesson. I should have forced her to do the group assignment. It was fruitless to explain that she asked to work alone and I could see she needed some space. So much for “knowing my students” and meeting their individual needs. UGH!
I’m sorry….I thought your response was called “differentiated instruction.” Hum. Guess it only counts if we are creating elaborate lesson plans to prove we can “differentiate” or responding to student, parent, and guidance counselor complaints. Naturally it wouldn’t apply to our professional discretion.
Btw, love the screen name.
Truth is stranger than fiction, Teachbad!
Yes, truth is definitely stranger than fiction!
Read this and laugh!!!
http://gothamist.com/2012/07/19/queens_principal_busted_with_meth_b.php
I wonder what Cornelia Gutwein (the former principal of Flushing High School) thinks about the news regarding her successor!
Oh, yes, and…
*** GROUP WORK IS THE PITS!!! ***
love this
Perfect points, Teachbad! My 2 kids were high average kids, not the highest. But even they got so sick of the group assignments in high school. Now they both are in college, and STILL have group assignments. Even now, they find there is at least one person in the group who doesn’t pull their weight. And even though my kids aren’t the highest students, they inevitably carry the extra weight to get it done. Sometimes they’ve had the satisfaction of leaving the dead weight group member’s name off the completed assignment.
But how is this problem any different than the welfare system you & I work so hard to fund?!? So maybe this is a great preparation for the responsible students for the future of working, giving up nearly 50% of our earnings for government programs & welfare.
Probably best to stick to the common ill that unites us (a dysfunctional institution poorly led by high paid, self-serving administration) rather than dragging politics into it. The welfare analogy is ripe with assumptions that we certainly won’t all agree on.
To quote an earlier admonishment from Mr. Teachbad in regards to a heated debate between two fellow TB bloggers from “Fixing the Dropout Crisis, Part II” 02 july 2012: “I want Olli and GA to make up and try to think of something offensive that you both agree on.”
I agree. Giving all that money to agribusiness and tax breaks to the energy industry, and the give-aways to the ranchers and the timber and mining of our public lands, not to mention the vast amounts we spend on our parents’ health care is more than 50% of our taxes.
I was that kid. In freshman biology, I got into that group who not only refused to do any work, but incessantly teased me for actually doing the stupid project. (Naturally, I have blocked out it was.)
I complained to the teacher who did jack all. I complained to my parents who shrugged and gave me a copy of “The Fountainhead” to read.
[Here is a great place for all the bleeding-heart, mamby-pamby liberals who think all students who are equally great, special snowflakes should stop reading.]
BRING BACK ABILITY GROUPING!! BRING BACK TRACKING!! NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why? Because it makes the students happy. They can work in groups of similarly motivated people. Because it makes the parents happy. Their sons and daughters are happy by being able to work with similarly motivated people and getting the correct instruction. Because it makes the teachers happy. They can plan and teach the appropriate materials instead of trying to aim for a non-existent middle and boring 85% of their class.
If tracking makes everyone so happy why is it all-but illegal? Because the kum-ba-yah’s that I asked to stop reading are the ones running the education system. If we all just try harder we can turn around the juvenile delinquents and make them angelic Phi Beta Kappas. They keep believing this despite 50 years of evidence and the ruinment of American education system.
My father thinks it’s because these people love failure and cannot stand to see anyone succeed. I’m thinking he may be right.
Oh, Miss Friday. You KNOW I love you. Again, I point to the the title of the article I posted earlier (and, again, I didn’t read it): “Whole-School Detracking: A Strategy for Equity and Excellence.” The goal would be laughable if the strategy were not so draconian. WHOLE SCHOOL. As if a a small control group of one or two classes that didn’t work would only mean the instructions weren’t followed. We must buy into WHOLE SCHOOL or we won’t reap equity and excellence.
Substitute “not” for “and” and the truth comes out.
One more note. I am not getting this echo of liberal here. I mean politically speaking, the”conservative’ Bush policy of No Child Left Behind ” (I never tire of that title) also reeks of “equity” being the key to excellence. I would consider myself more liberal politically but am a staunch supporter of tracking.
Here’s an idea. Nearly all of the edu-educators/ reformers/ administrators who are vomiting directives, embracing the reform du jour, and thrusting the new edu-dos on those of us IN the classroom are NOT in the classroom and didn’t last long there. They couldn’t hold the attention a pre-teen or teen for a New York minute. But, these savvy snakes have found a captive (as in held captive) audience in those of us in the classroom who are required to attend monthly/weekly “teach me how to teach” meetings/workshops and have the freedom (as in not spending time grading and creating lesson plans) to preach their intrinsic value to the school system. My mid-size suburban district pays a sick amount of money to our admin who come and go with new ideas every year. Yet, those of us actually in the classrrom work without contracts.
Maybe they’re just your garden variety opportunists who saw a weakness in the system and have built careers on creating faux solutions to fix it. And people want solutions, faux or no.
It’s a thought. Run it by your father.
Thank you! I found part of that paper in an anthology on Google Books. Couldn’t read all the pages, but the authors’ premise is so full of logical holes, it should be grated and put in a grilled-cheese sandwich.
I used the word liberal in its traditional, ideological sense rather than a political one. Those holding liberal views are of all political stripes. Believe it or not, E.D. Hirsch – of Core Knowledge fame – holds liberal positions, yet his concept for school curriculum is one of the most conservative out there. Making Hirsch one of the most misunderstood leaders in education today.
“Maybe they’re just your garden variety opportunists who saw a weakness in the system and have built careers on creating faux solutions to fix it. And people want solutions, faux or no.”
YES!! A thousand times yes!! And not just in education. The environmental and military industries are rife with these people too. Its hucksterism plain and simple. A hundred years ago these people were selling patten medicines and fake Florida resorts.
Thanks for clarifying. Wanted to read it that way, but given the sometimes wayward political comments, wasn’t sure. I am not as well versed in education theory/philosophy as you are, but I know what I hate.
I despise Ayn Rand but I love this:
“If we all just try harder we can turn around the juvenile delinquents and make them angelic Phi Beta Kappas.”
You’ve captured, in a sarcastic nutshell, the essence of the groupthink that frustrated me throughout my 18 months getting my M.Ed. in a highly regarded school of education that did a good job of eradicating any dissent or independent thinking.
I came to teaching as a laid-off journalist and don’t think my intellect could have survived four years of teacher education, which is really just mental programming. The sad thing is, teaching attracts many unselfish do-gooder types, who then are brainwashed to blame themselves for everything, ignore their own needs and quench any spark of true critical thinking that they may possess.
You’ll be happy to know I grew out of Ayn Rand. Life is way more nuanced than her philosophy will admit.
Feel free to steal my sentence. For some reason, Mr. Teachbad always inspires my best sarcastic writing.
You are spot on about the lack of debate in ed schools. It really is indoctrination. I am taking an online course to add an endorsement to my license. The only thing that is keeping me sane are the writings of Dan Willingham and E.D. Hirsch and team at Core Knowledge
Hirsch wrote about the ed school indoctrination process in “The Making of Americans.” While other departments at university invite scholars with opposing views to campus to speak and debate, education schools refuse to even listen to other ideas. From anyone. I think it’s insane, given that the world’s most famous philosophers and debaters were also teachers.
Miss Friday I love your comments, but what jumps to mind today is this:
Ability does not necessarily equal motivation.
I don’t think tracking fixes anything today. What everyone seems to really be complaining about are kids not even making a minimal effort to learn. What’s the ‘Track’ for that? That goes more to the issue of forcing kids to be accountable. (Didn’t do your homework – detention or SOMETHING). Letting teachers fail ALL of those who actually fail. Not forcing teachers to dumb down lessons; if a student cannot work at grade level he/she needs tutoring or to move down a grade for that class.
It’s one thing for an advanced student to have to work with others who refuse to do any work (been there). It’s another to say that the star math student shouldn’t have to tolerate his average (but still hard working) classmates. Most professions/jobs require some amount of team work. As important as the curriculum they learn are skills like leadership, communication and conflict resolution.
I think it’s great to allow students to elect to test into harder courses. But there’s no need for tracking or the ‘ability based groups’ as you describe. I think if a student is that far ahead or behind, he/she should be moved a grade for that class.
And tracking isn’t illegal because of ‘liberals’, whichever definition. It’s illegal because literally a generation ago,
regardless of a child’s work ethic or interests, it was ‘Black? Hey you’ll like cutting wood. White? Let’s get those pre-college Litereature courses done.’ Teachbad calls it a red herring, but it happened all the time.
And I’d like to call out all this handwringing about ‘Some kids don’t need or want to got to college’ which is the new justification for tracking. While true, there are also some kids that graduate from high school functionally illiterate. Again, what do you call that Track?
“…if a student cannot work at grade level he/she needs tutoring or to move down a grade for that class.”
What you describe is tracking. It’s not about sorting by IQ or talent, but sorting by the quality of the student has completed.
“I think it’s great to allow students to elect to test into harder courses. But there’s no need for tracking or the ‘ability based groups’ as you describe. I think if a student is that far ahead or behind, he/she should be moved a grade for that class.”
Again, what you describe is classic tracking. Now if class enrollment was determined in the manner you suggest, then ability grouping really is not necessary.
You might be surprised to learn that I’m a music teacher, specializing in band and orchestra. Outside of beginning level, I have ALWAYS had 1 int/adv ensemble. That means accommodating player with 2-5 years of experience (+/- private lessons) in the same room at the same time. Tracking is impossible.
So I have to spend A LOT of time working with the student on etiquette, and the roles of differently experienced players within the ensemble. It is the hardest part of the job, hands down. That said, I do ability group on certain aspects of the course (like chamber music) so students have the opportunity to work with those on their own level. These like-ability assignments are always popular, and they always result in a better performing large ensemble.
I’m surprised that you think of my description as ‘classic tracking’. The tracking I’ve seen/read about always seemed to separate students within the same grade into different levels of classes based on IQ, usually perceived or assumed IQ. For example, at the start of the school year for an eighth grade class, one group would be in ‘dumbed down’ English class and one in Advanced Lit.
My point is that select students that literally test above grade level should have the option of taking 9th grade English. Everyone else should be in 8th grade English. And students who refuse to do the work should be disciplined, not sent into a dumbed down English class. And if a student cannot read at an eighth grade level (first question, how’d he/she pass to eighth grade? that’s rhetorical, I know how) that student should get extra tutoring to catch up or retake 7th grade English (but still have to then take 8th grade English or test into 9th grade English). I think of it as the way some colleges offer Remedial (might have a new PC name now) Math and English; just because you have to take Remedial Math does not get you out of fulfilling your Math requirement for taking college level Algebra, Calculus, etc.
I see Tracking to mean, in my example above, that a student can pass the 8th grade having taken only 7th grade English. And that is not okay.
As you said– “Now if class enrollment was determined in the manner you suggest, then ability grouping really is not necessary.”
From the point of view of a music teacher, I see where you are coming from with ability grouping in that context. I don’t think it’s the same. I don’t know of any (non specialized) schools that require students to attain a certain level of music expertise by X grade level.
Yes indeed! I quit a job because they used CPM (College Prep Mathematic) and claimed that “group work” would drive the class, and it would make the smart, hard working kids smarter and work harder, while getting the lazy kids who faked their way through their last math class to get motivated. No, fools, because you forgot to realize that the ones who work have NO SOCIAL POWER while the ones that sit there and don’t work, HAVE SOCIAL POWER. At that school I got the hell out of, it was a group of one person who did their work and two people who copied off of him/her and one who tried to get the others to do nothing! I was told to go watch “these other teachers that are more focused on group work” and when I did watch those teachers, they were on their computer or cell phone, while one kid worked and the others copied. Go by that room on test day the teacher is buried in his/her grading, while the students are copying and checking their cell phones. My favorite time of the year was at the end when I did group them based on how much work they did. The smart kids loved it and the dumb asses would try to protest. “Hey, how come no one in our group knows how to do any of this?” And my response would be, “That is a very good question.”
Look, if I don’t group them then I have to grade 200 stupid assignments. This way I only have to grade 50. Oh, wait! If I let the students choose to be in groups of 1,2,3 or 4, then I only have to grade the 8 individual assignments that the actual workers do by themselves, as nobody else has anything to turn in. Problem solved! We have “groups”, we have “choices” and we can even get a couple of people to pass the 11th grade test. The only down side is the “achievement gap” is growing enormously.
I have even had them do group essays! Much less grading. LOL
Why bother with essays when presentation are even better?
no, no. PEER EDIT, then just look at the name on the top of the paper and you can probably put a fairly accurate grade (+/- 2 points) within the first two weeks of school. If the kid has a parent that questions every grade just make sure they get the grade that will leave you alone!
As an auditory/kinetic learner as well as a college English instructor, I do occasionally use group work. It is very helpful for auditory learners, but not for visual learners. If I am doing something in the classroom, I will sometimes allow students to work alone or in groups, their choice. I do know the frustration of the student above, because my overachieving visual learner daughter underwent the same thing. I never give one group grade because that is completely unfair to both the high achievers who do all the work and to the slackers who do nothing. HOWEVER, in the workplace, people often work on teams or committees where cooperation is necessary. Group work in school can help a student prepare for workplace groups. Teachers cannot rely only on group work just as they cannot rely solely on lecture.
Please, pretty please, go read this! And follow up with the links on that page.
With sugar on top too?!
Some of my students like group work, others hate it. I do group by ability, and everyone seems happier, and the grades are more consistent with the students’ track records. Although I have seen some turtles do more than expected when no one else in the turtle group stepped up to the plate. Hmmmm…..loved this post, Mr. T!
I would also love to see some kind of whole-class ability/effort grouping. I’m not talking about white-kids-take-physics-and-black-kids-take-shop. That’s a red herring. I’m talking about having a REAL AP English class, an Honors English and Regular English. Call them whatever you want. In the name of equity, inclusion and raising the bar, may school has AP for All in English. It is a farce and a tragedy. It wasn’t racist; it screwed everybody.
The self-esteem movement has gone too far. If you’re smart enough to know you’re in the dumb group, we’re on the right track. If not…
As a teacher, I can’t be bothered too much about your self-esteem and making sure you always FEEL successful…not at the expense of people who actually ARE successful. Try working hard and getting moved from the middle of the bottom group to the top of the bottom group and then getting put in the middle group next year. Wouldn’t that make you feel good and successful? That’s the kind of self-esteem we offer here AT SCHOOL. You’ll have to see your mom about the rest.
Our AP class was a joke too. It became a regular class because the kids would not purchase some of the texts to read on their own and they would not pay the fee for the exam. We tried to explain that the credits they COULD earn would cost a lot more in college than the application fee. We tried calling home, but 75% of the numbers are non working, etc. {sigh}
Oy. I couldn’t understand why my Honors English class was doing so badly this year. When I checked their records, I found out that half the class had earned Cs or Ds in regular English class the year before. They got into Honors based on teacher recommendation!!
Did the cream float to the top? Kids rise to the challenge? Not at all.
Instead they refused to read the “boring” novel (Brave New World) did not turn in essays, do any homework or pay attention in class.
The kids who did really great were recent immigrants: not only could they run circles around the “average” kids, they did it in a language foreign to them.
They were my saving grace all year. I gave about 30% of the class failing grades for the year, but the reality was closer to 50%.
Another perspective…
I often wonder why some general education teachers insist on plastering their students together in groups all day long when it is clearly counter productive for many kids. I actually written having a separate seating into IEPs as an accommodation for my students who need it. For example, I’ve had several students who need their personal space in order to concentrate and keep hands and rude remarks to self. That means single a desk or spot away from table/desk groups. It also means thoughtful choices of which students to work with during group work, and the option to work individually. What is frustrating is that I frequently find that these kids are moved back into groups time and time again, which is a total (albeit, inadvertent) set up for them to get into trouble.
Well, folks, as a matter of fact about 110% of what students learn in high school will be forgotten before they walk across the stage to get the diploma cover (diploma comes later so that it can be used as a threat to discourage one final act of desperation against the four year inanities to which they had been subjected).
Basically, I don’t give a shit whether a student “learns” anything in my class. It may appear otherwise, teacher’s being the great actors (too bad we don’t get paid as well) that they are, that they really care. It’s all incumbent on the student to learn. If they want to they will if not they won’t and quite frankly at times I have to ignore the ones that won’t until they take other students’ time with their stupidities.
I can see it now…
The Educational Emmys!
With categories like:
*Best Performance in Caring What Your Administrator Said
*Best Avoidance of Laughter While Listening to Student Whining
*Best Supporting Role in Subverting a Faculty Meeting
*Best Faking Concern at Parents
I think this could be a “very special” presentation of Mr. Teachbad and the FEN Network.
You mean we’re supposed to AVOID laughing at student whining???
Uh-oh.
Students hate to work in groups for different reasons. The main reason is not that they feel they will do most of the work while the other students just sit there and do nothing. No, not at all! (but that’s a good excuse if you’re an introvert)
I was always the lone wolf throughout my HS career. Primarily because I was shy, not very patient, but most importantly, I was a very quiet guy and hated unnecessary noise.
The very first day of school/class, I would go to the teacher and let her/him know that I was not comfortable working in groups/partners, so that they would let me work by myself when the time for working in groups arrived. Everything worked out just fine. My favorite subject was Math, complete silence.
I have never been a team player and because I rarely ever speak (i can go a day without saying a single word) I looked for a career where speaking or interacting with other people wasn’t required.
I am now a software engineer working in company of my best friend, Silence.
Teachers need to realize that working in groups isn’t for everyone and unneeded to succeed.
I try so hard to accommodate students like you, but TPTB just won’t allow it. I had a very shy girl this year and my writing class ended up being part of the Shakespeare Festival and at one point they broke into groups to perform ideas for their scenes. I was shocked when she pulled her hoodie over her head and skulked across “stage” as a gang member. It was the funniest thing coming from her. BUT, she had no speaking parts, so she was fine. This was a big victory for both of us, as I had her in class the year before and she never participated at all. The class was supportive and she was known as the class “thug” for the rest if the year.