Small Group Teaching

1. Small Group Teaching

2. The Importance of Seminars • Develops students' understanding • Encourages students to take responsibility for their own learning • Develops analytical, organisational, communication and collaborative skills

3. What Sort of Skills does Small Group Teaching Develop? • Analytical Skills • Through exposure to a variety of views, ideas and problems • Organisational Skills • Preparing evidence or a case for discussion • Leading a group of students in discussion • Communication Skills • Participation in discussion, preparation of debates, role play etc. • Presenting a case to other students and listening, questioning and responding • Collaborative Skills • Working together and negotiating with others

4. When things go wrong… • Lack of preparation • Goal of the discussion unclear to students • Transforms into a lecture • Tutor asks questions and then answers them • Tutors always asks the same type of question • Domination by 1 or 2 students • Focus is on recall knowledge rather than analysis • Tutor is too critical of student responses • Students are unsure what the tutor is asking • Students expect / want a lecture / to take notes

5. Student types… • Silent • Know-it all • No preparation • Tends to go off topic • Shy • Talkative • Model student • Belligerent • Distracting • Prejudiced

6. No One-Size-Fits-All Format • Whole class discussion • Workshop – Students divide into small groups and given tasks to complete • Debate – Students divide into two groups and take opposing positions • Student-led – Students decide focus of discussion, and tutor is an observer • Brain-storming – Students suggest questions to follow up with discussion • Presentations – Can be used to ensure that everyone contributes • Problem-based Learning – Students are given a historical problem • Snowball – Individuals, then pairs, then fours discuss together • Role-play – Students are given a particular point of view, and argue from it

7. Seminar Role-Play Tutor: Look at your scenario and choose a topic for your seminar. Explain to your student what they will be doing today and how you want them to go about it. Reset the chairs if needed. Students: Look at your personality card. Take part in the seminar while exhibit symptoms of your personality. Don’t over do it! Base your actions on what you remember from your own seminars.

8. Seminar Role-Play Discuss in your group: • What went well? • What went poorly? • Did the teaching style work well with quiet students? • Did the teaching style work well with domineering students? • What could make this style work better?

9. Seminar Role-Play Discuss together: • What were the advantages of the different styles? • What were the disadvantages? • What would you do differently in a real seminar? • What other styles of seminar teaching have you encountered that worked well?

10. Strategies that may help • Changing seating arrangements • Setting expectations and ground rules • Safety: rewarding students and reducing their feeling of risk • Making group smaller via buzz groups, pyramids, debates etc • Use of extra prompts: images, primary sources, websites, artefacts • Using different formats within seminar

11. Top Tips to Running a (Mostly) Smooth Seminar • Check out the room and facilities beforehand • Chairs • Computer • Overhead • Whiteboard / Chalkboard • Make a rough ‘lesson plan’ • Allocate time for housekeeping issues • Ice-breaker • Topic discussion • General summary and questions at the end • Decide what outcomes you want to achieve

12. Small Group Teaching