Skill Builder: Archived Page

January 18, 2010

Inviting Group Reflection Creates Group Development

Facilitators who encourage reflection provide groups the opportunity to learn, grow, and change. All groups benefit from reflection. Garmston and Costa remind us that learning is not episodic. It is in reflecting that learning takes place. Allowing time to process the overall performance of the group translates into intrinsic motivation that impacts group craftsmanship.

Group developers can impact group craftsmanship and efficacy through well-framed questions that create dialogue and reflection. Garmston and Wellman write that just as teachers work with taxonomies of both the cognitive and affective domains, group developers can also apply a taxonomy of intervention, seeking to direct training energies to the levels that will produce the most growth. One approach is to consistently provide processing questions that focus group members' conscious attention on multiple levels of nested learning (Garmston & Wellman, pg. 126).

Focusing questions on identity, belief, capabilities, behaviors and environment will keep the group centered on their energy sources both as individuals and as group members. The table (Garmston & Wellman, pg. 127) provides the following examples:

Identity: Given your sense of this being a true professional community, what were some of the ways that this guided your interactions today?
Belief: Reflecting on your beliefs about the importance of collaboration, what were some things you noticed about the work today?
Capabilities: In what ways did your understanding of the processes of dialogue and discussion influence your productivity with today's topic?
Behavior: Given the emotional content of today's topic, what were some of the ways that your managed the internal process of the way you listened to one another?
Environment: What were some of the ways that this seating arrangement supported your work today?

Reflection

In what ways might these levels of learning impact the growth and production of your group?

Garmston, Robert, & Wellman, Bruce (2009). The Adaptive School: A Sourcebook for Developing Collaborative Groups, 2nd ed. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon, p. 126-127.

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