10.1 Productive Group Work

Where and when did I find it: During this week’s reading, I found productive group work in Word Wise and Content Rich (2008).

What it means: On its own, productive means “achieving or producing a significant amount or result” (dictionary.com) Fisher & Frey (2008) discuss the importance of fostering vocabulary development, particularly as it relates to “effective peer learning” (p. 63). The authors make an important observation about not assuming middle and high school students truly know how to work effectively in groups to complete a task.  Part of providing a content rich environment would include Fisher & Frey’s (2008) five characteristics of productive group work:

Positive Independence

Face-to-Face Interaction

Individual Interaction 

Individual and Group Accountability 

Interpersonal and Small-Group Skills

Group Processing

Full citation: Fisher, D. & Frey, N. (2008). Word Wise and Content Rich: Five essential steps to teaching academic vocabulary. Portsmouth, NH: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 

Level of familiarity: I am familiar with the term productive and the concept behind establishing effective characteristics of group work and task completion. 

Do I need to know this word well and why? Absolutely. Fisher & Frey (2008) discuss the dominance of teacher-led discussions in secondary classrooms, despite all the research pointing more effective methods of integrating student-led classroom discussions. Fisher & Frey’s (2008) five characteristics weave productivity, effective group work, oral language and vocabulary learning together, and serve as a “touch-point” or as a reminder to help guide instruction and lesson planning. These concepts and strategies can be applied in reading and writing as well, and throughout the content areas. 

Who should know this word and why? I believe all learners and educators should know this term very well. As mentioned above, teachers dominating classroom instruction, at times is necessary, but it should be limited.  Spoken language in the classroom should include a more participatory process. This allows students to become more accountable for their own learning, and provides educators an informal tool for assessing students’ strengths and weaknesses.