Groupies

So I did some group work the other day in my class, and I
think the kids kind of realized that it was one of those
things that was thrown together at the last minute. I
hadn't remembered that I was supposed to incorporate it into
my lesson and so basically took an idea that was supposed to
be individual work and added a few students together. They
were a lot more excited about the fact that they could get
up and converse with one another than the assignment I gave
them. And although all of them did actually complete it, I
found the biggest problem was finding a way to keep everyone
accountable for his/her own work. I had everyone in groups
of four, and made sure there was an official recorder and an
official reader, but that left two other students more or
less free to not participate (which they fully took
advantage of). Even when I went over and tried to encourage
discussion or participation, a received a lot of blank
stares. I thought about doing some sort of group member
evaluation, but it seemed too complicated and there was no
assurance that the kids would grade honestly. I think from
now on I'm only going to be able to do group work if I can
make sure everyone knows they're responsible and held
accountable for their participation in the group.