Cooperative Learning???

I decided to put the classes in groups this semester. For the most part, it is having very positive results. However, there are a few instances where the students are not utilizing each other to help complete the assignments. If there is a group with 3 girls and 1 boy, the boy says absolutely nothing. This is the case in my 6th grade class. I'm working on ways to get around that and solve this issue.

But I have seen certain student's grades jump since the beginning of the young semester. Hopefully this trend will continue.

I am currently evaluating the pacing of my Algebra class. The 8th graders as a whole are very weak and I believe that most of them should not be in Algebra. What is the most frustrating is the fact that many of them give up when they see a word problem. They don't even write down the information that is given to them. So, I am going to break the sections down into more detailed sections. Explain part of the lesson and have the students practice that concept on a few problems, then present another aspect and have them practice that.

Finally, I am going to spend a day on the word problems in the lesson. But this time, rather than have me work the problems I am going to call the students up to the board one at a time and have them write down the information that they get from the problem. That way, they are force to at least write down what the problem gives them.

Too often, I have asked students questions and all they say is, "I don't understand." Then I start asking leading questions and they give me the same response. I think that class is very dependent and needs to be forced to figure things out for themselves.

Aaron