Oracy - talk is cheap but group work is costly

For years, I have struggled with ‘group work’ in lessons. And, I’d admit that that was born out of a sense of control and desire to manage the behaviour in the classroom effectively. You can monitor and control behaviour easily if only one person is speaking at any one time. You can address rule breakers and reinforce the rules quickly and simply. Tom, remember the rule: only one person speaks at a time. Controlling group work is like controlling a box of frogs. No sooner have you returned one frog back to the box then another three have jumped out and moved in three different directions. The energy involved and chaotic nature of group work has made group work the last thing teachers want to do. Added to all that, there is a cost to curriculum content coverage. If you are pressed for time in your curriculum, it is easier to tell students rather than have them explore it at a more leisurely pace. Instead of getting students to unpick sources behind population change in an area, we tell…