independent workers

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independent workers
By Cathy-Dee

First grade is always hard to begin to build more independency even with those top students. While I have used peer groupings in the past, I have had these backfire as well. A lot depends on your kids and what they are
like. Grade 1 students are still very egocentric and do not always like to help others in their class. This can also lead to teasing, superior attitudes, etc., I had one group of girls one year decide that certain students in our class were failing grade one and told them so. They actually said I told them (turns out one of the boys was a cousin to one of the girls and this was extreme

teasing at it's best). It took me quite awhile to sort everything out, and now I'm much more cautious when having my top group work with those who are struggling. The other problem can be that those top students end up doing some of the work for their partners.

What I have done instead is set up working groups. I work with each group during the morning, but for about 20-30 minutes I only work with one group. Each group has work they can do independently without my assistance. Eg. journal writing, some workbooks, reading, printing. It usually takes me about a month to really get the system working so that the kids understand when I mean I will not assist them until it is their group's turn I really mean it. I don't start this until after Christmas once the kids are able to work more on their own. I do this 3 times a week and it seems to work well, at least for my kids.

And for those students who seem to think that because I'm not sitting with their group they do not have to get work done, they end up doing it during computer lab time, centers, gym, etc., They tend to only miss one or two activities before they realize that not doing their work isn't really the best thing to be doing.