group dynamics & single-sex ed.

allan birimac

Thsi was my sixth teaching block at BHIEC. Three of my regurlar students - Luma, Kohinor & Marjia - were all absent today, the last two presumably because they had to look after their baby brother. As a result, Rosa gave me three boys to work with, along with one girl who was a regular student in my previous groups although absent for my previous visit. I did a repeat lesson of the one I did on Wednesday - namely, using dictogloss for integrated skills practice (see entry titled "integrated skills work - dictogloss" 3 April). The outcomes today were quite different, however, and are worth mentioning. First of all, the group dynamics were affected by the boy:girl ratio. Shazida, who in the all-girl group is usually the most effusive and communicative learner, today was almost completely withdrawn as the boys - particularly Muhamed and Fatih - dominated conversation. Much of this conversation was off-task, and I struggled to keep these two focused and working. I attempted to absorb their energy by using them as scribes at the blackboard, but even here they were sidetracked by discussions not relevant to the task. It seemed to me that Shazida felt overwhelmed by the inattention and chatter of the boys, to the extent that she couldn't concentrate and eventually just gave up. I tried to reassure her, and was not unduly bothered by her decision to give up, as I felt her self-esteem needed some support through my recognition of the dilemma she obviously found herself in. As for Andy, he completed the task individually, and although he did so rather well and provided suggestions to the scribes regarding corrections to language structure and form, it seemed clear to me that he had chosen not to cooperate with either the two boys or Shazida. Two main issues concerned me as a result of this lesson, apart from the challenges presented by the relations between group members. One was the inappropriate regard expressed by the two boys, Muhamed and Fatih, for other in the group, with the result that the girl experienced a severe learning block in the lesson. Although no immediate solutions came to mind during the lesson, I believed that were I to continue working with this group then I would need to formulate some strategies to: · Utilise in a positive and constructive manner the energy and "chatty" behaviour of the boys, and this in a way that did not so clearly offend other members of the group. I feel I would need to make them aware of what it takes to work cooperatively in a group, according to rules or guidelines that they themselves agree upon. I suspect that some of the influence on the boys - particularly in regard to their treatment of girls - may be cultural in origin, although certainly fuelled by their current maturational stage (puberty). · Consider the arguments for single-sex education. I have no doubt that in the short to mid-term at least that girls such as Shazida, as well as her shyer classmates Marjia, Kohinor, and Luma, would benefit more from single-sex education. The reason the teacher selected them for small group tutoring in the first place was their shyness and lack of class participation, yet after a few lessons I feel that they have started to open up and talk more about not only their classroom learning but events in their own lives. They want to be heard but are cautious about the context. In principle one might argue that the girls in time could develop effective strategies to deal with larger groups comprising members of the opposite sex, and that this reflects what adult life is like anyway, but I feel that time it would take to overcome affective barriers to learning in such a context that it would be more beneficial to have these girls educated in a single-sex environment. Any response?

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