Starting off

1 Getting to know you

2 Learning names

3 A group agreement

4 Ground rules

5 Objectives

6 Orientation

7 Starting again

1 Getting to know you

The sooner members of your tutorial group get to know each other, the sooner they will feel easy about working together and participating in discussion. If you spend some time on introductory exercises at the beginning of a course, students will feel that they have made a start in getting to know each other.

There are three sorts of exercise you can do: individual, in pairs, or in small groups. (Whichever you do, don't forget to join in yourself.)

a Individual

Each person introduces herself and says something about herself. It's helpful if you make explicit what this should be and write it on the board.

It could be:
– my name
– where I'm from, and
– why I'm here

or,
– my name
– which options I'm doing, and
– who else I know in this room.

b Pairs

Group members get into pairs and spend three minutes each finding out about their partner. At the end of the six minutes, each person introduces her partner to the rest of the group and tells them something about her.

c Small groups

Students form groups of three or four and spend five minutes finding out what they've got in common with the others in their group: taste in music, 'A' levels, Auntie Annies, and so on. At the end of five minutes they report to the other groups what they have in common.

One advantage of this type of exercise is that it ensures that everybody has the experience of speaking early on. If you want your students to get used to speaking in tutorials, the sooner they start the better.

If individuals join your tutorial group late, don't forget to organise introductions for them. You could say, for example, 'This is Chris, who's transferred from another course. I'd like to welcome you to this group. Who do you know here? ... Perhaps the rest of you would like to tell Chris who you are and say something about yourselves. (I'll draw a plan of the room with the names on, Chris, to help you remember who everyone is.) And then we'll ask you to say something about yourself. OK, who'd like to start?'

2 Learning names

Members of a group cannot work together successfully if they don't know each others' names. When you meet a new group, find out if they know each other, and if they don't, spend some time working on names.

If you have started with some kind of introductory exercise, they will already have heard each others' names. You can build on this in the following ways:

a Get students in turn to say the names of everyone in the group and join in yourself. Then change places and do it again until all the names are familiar.

b On the board draw a plan of the furniture in the room and as students speak, write in each name at the appropriate point on the plan.

c Ask students to say their own name first when they speak in the group for the first few times and when they form pairs ask them to remind their partner of their name.

d Encourage them to ask when they forget someone's name.

e Use students' names yourself when you speak to them.

Students find these activities potentially embarrassing but often remark later how quickly the group gelled as a result.

3 A group agreement

In educational institutions the expectations of students are usually meticulously specified while the teachers have more flexibility and choice. For example, in most institutions deadlines are set for the submission of students' course work but not for its return by the teachers.

If you want to make the situation more equitable you can negotiate a group agreement with your students. The first time you meet your tutorial groups you can say, 'There are all kinds of regulations governing your behaviour on this course and these are all spelt out in the course handbook. (For instance ...) There aren't any regulations for me. I'd like us to spend some time today drawing up some rules which will specify what you expect of me and what I expect of you. Shall we start with a round of suggestions?' (see item 22). These suggestions then form the basis for negotiating the group agreement.

The agreement could be, for example, 'You will submit your course work by the cut-off date and I will return it to you, marked, within x days of your cut-off date' or 'You will do the preparatory reading for each tutorial and I will provide guidelines for each set of reading' or 'We all agree to be here at x o'clock each week, ready to start'.

Normally, the very existence of a group agreement, if it has been freely entered into by all parties, ensures that it will be honoured. If it is broken, however, group members need to feel free to remind each other of the agreement and feel willing to accept reminders from others. You can aid this by encouragement and by example.

4 Ground rules

All groups have ground rules though usually these are not made specific. Tutorial groups normally have unspoken ground rules relating to the role of the teacher (as, for example, 'It is the job of the teacher to devise the tutorial programme, open and close the tutorials, etc.') and ground rules relating to the behaviour of the students (as, for example, 'Students are not allowed to interrupt the teacher though they are allowed to interrupt other students'). These ground rules are based on authoritarian teaching methods and actively discourage student participation.

If, instead of leaving your ground rules unspoken, you give some time at the beginning of the course to specifying them, you have the opportunity to ensure that the group has the ground rules it wants rather than a set of rules based on false assumptions and traditions.

Students who are unused to setting their own ground rules may find it difficult at first to see what you mean and will be wary of making suggestions. They may find it helpful if you take the activity in two stages: first explain the principle of ground rules and together make a preliminary list; then, after one or more tutorials, ask them, in the light of their experience, what changes they would like to make to the list.

Their list could look something like this:

Ground rules for this group:

a Don't interrupt other people

b It's OK to opt out and opt in again

c Anyone can suggest changing or adding to the ground rules at any time

d Every group member is entitled to time

e It's OK to ask other people for help

f At any point anyone can suggest that the group moves on

g We start on the hour and finish at ten minutes...