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Education Week has published a pretty popular story titled High School Students Say Student-Led Discussions and Group Work Often Go Awry.

It recounts a recent column in The Atlanta Constitution sharing a writer’s discussion with local students – notably, she doesn’t give a number – who complained about class discussions and group work.

The Ed Week piece has resulted in commentators at the article and in social media using it as an opportunity to bash anything like “student-led learning.”

People should just calm down….

Plenty of research demonstrates that – done well – both group work and class discussions can be great learning opportunities. I know my students rate them both very high in end-of-year class evaluations. And they can take all sorts of different forms (I especially like having full-class discussions as only the last part of a series of reflections and small group talks).

You can find the research, and practical suggestions, on and for both at:

The Best Sites For Cooperative Learning Ideas

The Best Resources Sharing The Best Practices For Fruitful Classroom Discussions

My Best Posts On The Basics Of Small Groups In The Classroom