Make your Noon Appointment
Have you struggled making group work effective in class? I know I have. I have a group in one of my classes where one person participates and the rest may chat or pretend to be working. So, here is something I learned at the Dream Conference in Orlando this year that I am going to try…
You have a 2:00 appt.
The concept is an appointment schedule. As an instructor, you select pairs of students and rotate for however many appointments you would like your student to have. You hand each student their own appointment schedule for the class. When it comes time to break into pairs or small groups, you tell your students to meet with their 2:00 appointment or their 3:00 appointment. You can pick a different appointment time for each activity. The times do not have to coincide with times of your class, it is just a way to get them to realize who their partner will be. This gets students up and moving, meeting others in the class, and networking. This should also prevent the group that gets all too comfortable with each other. It also gets students to realize that when you are at work you often have a lot of meetings and you would like them to be productive.
Thanks to my friends at Patrick Henry for the great idea!
SPARK 
I too learned about this from a Patrick Henry instructor, in a slightly different format. I use it as an ice breaker on the first day of class. I give the students a blank clock and have the students get to know each other in pairs. I have them sign each other’s clocks for the same appointment hour.
yeah i will try it
good tips, i am going to try it