IF YOU WANT TO:
Making special efforts to integrate the weaker students into the class through small group work.
One foreign language teacher divides students into small groups. "I pose a question to each group," he explains. "One student in each group gives the answer orally; a second student corrects the first student, if necessary; and the third student writes the answer on the board. Each student has a role, and these roles are rotated throughout the quarter.
"Initially I assign the weaker students to do the boardwork," he says, "although I am careful not to do this in an obvious way." This allows the weaker students to participate, but in a way which will reinforce their own learning without holding back the others. "Also, I often ask a better student to help out if a weaker student is having difficulty responding. Then I have the second student repeat the question to the first student to give him another shot at it. Peer teaching can be extremely effective," he says, "especially when the class takes responsibility for its weaker members. I find this approach superior to one-on-one tutoring during office hours."
Several other excellent teachers also form small peer teaching groups in discussion sections or labs, carefully integrating the weaker students into groups of average and above average ability. Some explicitly suggest ways which the better students might help the others or ways in which the students who are having difficulty might learn from the others.
Limitations on Use of Suggestion
Copyright 1983 by the Regents of the University of California