Getting students in the
classroom work on extended tasks in groups require varies approach from other
ways of working in classroom like, whole class teaching. In classroom
instruction a teacher plays a key role.
Managing a classroom during a lesson is his main role. The teacher prepares
effective activities considering their level of learning, interest, and making
pre-instructional decisions in group size during the group members doing their activities. He
should monitor, supervise and making sure that all the students are actively
involved in the tasks. When the teacher making pre-instructional decision he
has to consider group size, limiting time for group tasks based on the
students’ experience and ability, age, and the availability of materials that
appropriate for the tasks (Johnson Johnson, & Holubac,1998:285).
In addition, a teacher
has a role in assigning students to group work. For this purpose he needs to
use a random or stratified random procedure to make groups in mixed way (Woolfolk
2001:343). A students’ personal
selection is considerable and it can be from heterogeneous groups. Woolfolk
(Ibid.) added that the size of the group depends on the goals of the
instruction. If the purpose is to motivate each student to participate in
discussions, problem resolution, or computer assisted learning 2 to 4 members
in group is better. In other way, if the goal is for the group members to
review, rehearse information, or practice, 4 to 6 students are the exact size.
Giving students roles
in each group is also the role of the teacher. The students must share the
responsibilities to do the tasks.
The room arrangement is
other very important role of the teacher. A suitable environment may attract
students to do activities in pleasure. Putting furniture, the form of arrows,
or lines which suit the type of activities and creating instructional materials
used for the activities, and displaying group work is also his duty (Johnson,
Johnson, Holubec, 1998:258).
